#kudzuthecat

I attended a dear friend from college's wedding over the New Year and some of the other guests who also knew me in college seemed more excited to tell me how much they love my #kudzuthecat posts than to catch up with me personally. In fact come to think of it, that was the extent of most of my conversations with acquaintances I haven't seen since college, "I just love your cat!" So I decided to write about our precious boober-kitty. 

We think Kudzu will be 8 sometime in August this year, and as Markus puts it, that makes her older than we are (assuming the rule about 1 human year = 7 dog years applies to cats, too?).

When we first moved up here the vet warned me about letting the cat outside, even though we live in the "city" of Northampton, just off of a busy street. Both the assistant and vet convinced me that Kudzu would die young if we let her venture outside the apartment, probably within minutes of opening the door, actually.

"I'm not sure what kind of wildlife you have in Mississippi..." Link to Google search results

So, for the first several months we hoped our basement would be enough adventure for our sweet little fuzzy-pants. And it was. She would hang out downstairs for hours and return covered in cobwebs.

But after a while, even our not-so-new-anymore apartment and basement weren't enough space for two humans AND our sugar-britches. If you haven't caught on yet, we don't live above a bar anymore. More on that good news later...

Once we settled into the new place we started letting Kudzu venture outside, and I'm pleased to share that:

1. She's still alive
2. We even survived 6 months of winter i.e. it was too cold to be outside and even she knew it

Once we figured out how to turn the heat on and realized that the fancy silver radiators in each room weren't just for looks, we knew everything was going to be okay.

The other day as I was unloading the car from a grocery store run in the rain a neighbor approached me from the next house over. I heard her say, "excuse me? Do you have a cat?"

...hmmmmmm...

"Yes," I replied, a little hesitantly

"Well, I just thought you should know," she said, "when I was coming back from work the other day I saw a cat messing with a raccoon".

I see... "This cat, was it a multi-colored cat, like a tortoiseshell calico cat?" I had to be sure, Black cat and Grey cat wander this neighborhood too.

"Yes."

... "And, when you say 'messing with', what do you mean, exactly?"

"Oh, well they weren't fighting, and the raccoon didn't look sick or anything like that," she said very reassuringly, "but there was undoubtedly an altercation. I just thought you should know."

"Well thank you for letting me know!" I said relieved, as I continued to load grocery bags onto my arms. "In the mean time, I will be sure to speak to my cat about the company she keeps." 

I couldn't help it. Also, is this what it's like to have kids and then send them to school?

Kudzu's next veterinarian appointment is coming up in the next month or so. I'll be sure to report that not only is she surviving outdoors, she's making friends!

We're "Regulars" (!!!)

When Markus and I first visited Northampton, the weekend before my interview on May 20, 2013 - yes I keep up with dates like that - we had breakfast at Sylvester's Restaurant.

Little did we know that two years later our favorite waitress, Caitlin, would refer to us as "regulars". It was all we could do to contain our excitement until she walked away to put our orders in.

To be honest I think Markus would prefer to be considered a regular at a few other establishments around town, specifically those with PBR on tap... But he was pleased enough with our very first brunch spot.

Caitlin told us she was moving to Alaska for the summer season and although she was super pumped, she was not happy to leave behind her cat, Biscuit. Another cat person! Yaaassss. I knew what Biscuit would look like, I just had this feeling - but before jumping right into Biscuit's business, we asked Caitlin what her plan was, where she would be based, when she would be back, etc. and then, "Caitlin, what color is Biscuit?"

Side note: Do y'all know my dream is to have a second cat, an orange cat, named #cornbreadbiscuit? Get ready...

Biscuit is exactly as I pictured, orange and white and adorable. I don't know how she'll manage being away for months and yes, I did think about offering to cat-sit but assumed she had that pre-arranged considering she was leaving in two weeks. 

Who would have thought we would be considered regulars somewhere this early into our tenure in Noho?

"Um....don't you guys go there like, every weekend?" No. Lately we've been rotating with Jake's.


...


I let Markus read this post before I published it. He said, "I would like to be considered a regular at places that sell PBR on tap instead of somewhere that sells biscuits, but whatever, I'll take it"