Simon's Cat

The artist, Simon Tofield, had to have seen Pika trying to get me up. See the "Pika Call" in the right sidebar below.

Hunter & Pika

I have a horrible time naming things. I'm a climber and have done lots of new routes around the world, including some that are now quite famous. When climbers make a first ascent, that is as the first person or team to climb that particular route, they get to name the climb. Sometimes it is simply something like the "North Face of Whatever Mountain." Other times when it is a specific line on a wall or cliff that may or may not have multiple routes, the naming can take on a whole variety of personal, social, literary or political overtones. Often it perfectly describes an experience the climbers had, defines the character of the climbing itself or otherwise sums up something going on at the time. During my climbing career, more often than not, it has been my partner that came up with the name the somehow captured the essence of the climb and the experience. On occasion I don't even send irrelevant emails because I can't think of something for the Subject line. Naming Hunter and Pika was no different. After having them for a few days (more on where and how we got them in a future post), Nichole came up with the perfect names for both. She always felt a little bad for not giving me a chance to come up with a name but when something fits so perfectly it's best not to mess with it.

The name for Pika came first. We was the runt of a big litter and very small, about 0.9 lbs at three months. When we got him he was like a bird with little muscle and thin fur. He quickly began to thrive with us but until he was about 6 months he still needed lots of external warmth. He would sit on my lap perched like a little pika. One of our favorite animals of the alpine mountain world, pikas are small and adorable and make a distinctive high pitched "neeeeah." Pika, due to his small size had a similar high pitched meow that he maintains to this day.

As we drove home after first getting the kitties it was the full moon in October. It seemed like a good omen. Nichole eventually put the connection together that the full moon after the "Harvest moon" (September) is called the "Hunter's moon." Hunter, a svelte and athletic kitty with an impossibly long tail has certainly lived up to his name. We used to live in a condo complex with lots of juniper bushes in the landscaping and a field next door. Hence he was always bringing in lots of voles (they eat the roots of the junipers). Voles by the way are the most prolific mammal on the planet. They need to be, as they are the very bottom of carnivore's food chain. If allowed to live a full life (most of them don't because they end up becoming lunch) they would produce over a million offspring. Later when we lived on two acres on outskirts of Bozeman, Hunter would bring live pocket gophers into the house to show off proudly to mommy and daddy. Chaos would ultimately ensue...

To the victor goes the spoils...

Hunter may have won the fight but I'm the one stuck with the spoils.

Cat Fight

Hunter is usually a total sweetie and doesn't generally roam too far but when he encounters other neighborhood cats or they otherwise enter his territory - our yard, which is not big but two city lots so about 100 feet from the street to the alley - he goes ballistic. Feline adrenaline or something...

Last Friday about 9 pm I heard the familiar screetch of a cat fight and looked out to see Hunter and another black cat, that lives about a block away but is not often around, spiraling around and around Tasmanian Devil style under the street lamp. I rushed out and as I approached them the other cat took off. Yet Hunter, still amped up on the kitty equivalent of Red Bull came after my leg. Not coming after me really but just blindly attacking anything in the rush. Having seen it before (more on that later) I just backed up, held off an onrushing pickup truck and gave Hunter some space to run home. Which he promptly did.

Over the weekend he seemed fine although he had something hard on his neck. I wasn't sure if it was a claw from the other cat or a clot of fur from a wound. A friend asked, when telling him about the encounter, "Did Hunter win the fight."

"I think so," I replied unconvincingly. It seems that he did but with a claw stuck in your throat it sort of throws the equation off. How does the other cat determine if it won? Stick your enemy with a claw. Impressive, indeed. But at the expense of the claw? Too close to call.

By Monday morning I figured I'd better have it looked at. I already had an appointment for 1:30 on Tuesday but I decided to take him in Monday afternoon and leave him at the Vet so they could squeeze him in as soon as possible. Good thing. Turns out he had an 103+ temp and quite the abscess. No claw, just a bad bite. They kept him overnight, only the 2nd time he's ever had to stay over at the Vet (more on the first time later), Poor Guy. Of course Pika was ALL freaked out all night wondering where his brother was. He's been thinking he's next ever since.

But alas, Hunter is right back to his usual self; wanting to go outside, getting in the way at my desk looking for attention, following me every time I go into the bathroom. Oh ya, half his face and throat is shaved down with a big ole' gobbie in the middle. I have to give him meds every day. Just getting pills down is an adventure and hot pack/medicate the wound. All of which he protests vigorously.

The Beginning...

I have been thinking about this blogging thing for some time but have been unsure what, where and how to focus it into something myself, and my readers, would not get bored with.

As I was picking Hunter up from the Vet after his latest neighborhood brawl (more on that in a bit) it occurred to me that these two little guys currently offer much of the interesting fodder in my life, or at least what I usually look forward to the most. Further realizing that cats are infinitely more popular than most of my other esoteric pursuits like mountain climbing, I thought this would be the perfect fit to start my blog.

I'll post photos and tales of our current life moving forward interspersed with stories about the past five years starting back when we got them in October of 2003.
Cheers & Enjoy.