Pumpkin, AKA Furry Mither

I guess most people give nicknames to things they love. So it is with our cat. Her given name (as decided by Danielle) is Pumpkin. This, owing to a small orange splash on her face. Her name should have been Fluffy as she is the furriest, silkiest cat known to humanity. She was discovered by us nine years ago - the day after the death of another family cat, Sammy. Sammy was Stacey's mother's cat and we inherited him and Misty (still another cat) when she died. Sammy got sick and died and we buried him in our backyard. On the very next day, Pumpkin appeared on our deck. Dani brought her inside. I was adamantly opposed to adopting a new cat - we were down from three to two and, I opined, that was more than enough. Found! posters were hung throughout the neighborhood in a quest for the owner but nobody claimed the abandoned puss. Of course, within three days I was hooked on her (the rest of the family had been convinced immediately) and Pumpkin joined our family.

Now she is our last cat. Misty and Baby, the latter being our original, unadopted cat) died last year at grand old ages. Pumpkin is now reckoned to be about 10.

She has many nicknames. There's her real name, Pumpkin and then various variations on that theme: Pumpky, Pumpy and Pump. There's Fluffy (which she responded to when we found her so that might, indeed, be her original name). I have also referred to her as Walking Rug which she resembles. A visiting cousin calls her Tiffany or Tiffy, for short.

But her latest moniker, given by me, is Furry Mither. This has to be pronounced with a Scottish brogue as "mither" is Scottish for "mother." Click here for a pronunciation guide. There is no why or wherefore to that appellation except we saw a very funny William Gilbert (as in Gilbert and Sullivan) play recently, called Engaged which used that phrase in a most comical way. I find I obsessively grab hold of words and use them over and over (to the great distress of people around me). And so Mither or the fuller title, Furry Mither is Pumpkin's new handle.

Yesterday we found a cardboard box wholesaler in Red Hook and brought home 100 boxes, flattened. They are standing, on edge, on our front porch. These are to be used in packing for our impending move. For those of you who are not familiar with the peccadilloes and vicissitude of felines, they have various and sundry locations where they like to hang. They will then suddenly and without any reason that we mere hunans can fathom, change these venues every now and then -- we not know when or why. The Furry Mither, as cats wont to do, has now made a stack of these boxes her new favorite hangout.


The Furry Mither has now adopted the cardboard box stack as her new perch.


The Furry Mither on her new favorite spot.