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Saturday, April 21, 2012

Help arrived, just past the nick of time….

But, no mind, Artemis or Butler or Holly will certainly sort it out.  If Fowl escapades delight an eight year old grandchild, do listen.  If eight is the number of hours to drive to Wisconsin, you may want a back up listening plan.

Two or three years ago at Ann’s, we went to a neighboring farm to bring home a litter of kittens.  Back in the kitchen, we set about naming them.  My fail safe sexing test, lift the tail and locate the peas, indicated we would be naming three girls.  To complicate the job, all Ann’s cats must have a Z in their name.  I recall a cat named Pez, later honored with a switch plate that says Chateau du Pez.  I fell in love with a little Siamese with a stubby tail, Zephyr.  There was a calico named Ziggy or Zaggy.  She’s still there.

But, what to name three little girl cats.  One black kitty had four white paws, so Ann immediately named her Maize.  Elizabeth was an easy choice for one.   She was an all black.  The last little calico we named Hazel.

Ann and her husband rescue dogs and cats so often the vet became their personal friend twenty years ago.  When the three little girls kept their life altering date with the vet some time after they came home, he had no reason to doubt the gender attributed to each one, until he had Elizabeth upside down on the table.  Let’s just say her name is now Lizzy, short for Lizard.  Maize did not suffer a name change only because of gender neutrality.  Except for neutering, Hazel remained intact.

I seldom see Hazel or Lizzy when I visit; either they have many farm chores to attend to, or they don’t like me.  Maize arrives from nowhere when I come up the drive, and is up for any walk I take.  My personal farm escort.

Behind the barn


Old out building


Stop for a nail job

Ann’s road


I don’t go in the road


Zola, the porch potato


8 comments:

  1. Great story telling, and wonderful photos. Poor Elizabeth/Lizard. Little did he know that he had been misunderstood all along.

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  2. What sweeties...how I wish I could have a cat again.

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  3. Cute cute cute! All our boys have a hard "C" sound in their names...except William...he told me his name was William....he looked like a William..so who were we to change it!
    Jane x

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  4. What lucky kitties to be rescued and given a safe home. I love fun, quirky names on cats. They often live up to their names. I always like to name my cats 'people names' but wait for awhile to get to know them. Deb =^..^=x6 (Mr. Ed, Lily, Cali, Sierra, Annie & Audrey.)

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  5. I have taken in many strays including my current cat.

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  6. What beautiful cats. Thank you for sharing them with us.
    We acquired Jewel as a rescue cat. About a year later Jazz (another rescue cat) moved in. Both had been named before they came into out lives.
    The cats before them all had M names (another co-incidence).

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  7. How interesting to have all your kitties with a z in their name! It makes for a challenging name selection. Well done!

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  8. My Dad took our cat to have her spade. (He is a vet, but his practice is a large animal practice - mostly) The vet took one look and said, "Mark, this is a male." Dad was quick with his come-back. "Well, whichever it is, fix it!" I think I know now why he preferred large animals . . .

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