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...