Memories

I took a bit of time off of blogging to think about Storm, but I'm back and wanted to share some happy things!

Storm was the cat who figured stuff out. When she wanted to go out the sliding glass door to the screened porch, she was the first one to sit right by where it opens. Soon, she learned that the little lever at the top was the first step to opening the door. So when she wanted to go out, she would hop up on the speaker near the door and fiddle with the lever a bit. I'm not quite sure if she was thinking "I know this is how I could open the door" or "Here, mom and dad, first I want you to flip this, then you'll pull the door open."

She also learned the same thing about the garage. If she wanted to go check out the garage, she would stand full height on her hind legs and reach up to the door handle with her "hands" and paw at it. She would even be working on the correct end--the part that moves down when you turn the lever.

The photo of Storm with her favorite toy also brings back memories...from the moment we opened the Christmas presents for the cats that year, that pink and green octopus was Storm's. She never seemed to tire of it. She would take it in her mouth and throw it up over her head, then leap on it before it even landed. Repeatedly. What fun to watch!!

One time she got outside while we were away (darn cat sitter) and we had all of the lights on looking for her inside (not knowing yet that she was out.) That girl came around to the tall kitchen window which is about 1 ft. off the floor on the inside. From the outside, she could reach the lower edge with her front feet while standing full height on her hind legs. She waited there, where she could just see what was happening in the kitchen, and meowed when we came into the room.

Storm was the one who played with her "cousin" Frankie, who never had littermates to show her how to play nicely. So, they developed this game where Storm would run behind the entertainment center in the great room and reach through the 2" hole for wires for the bottom shelf. Frankie would launch herself onto the bottom shelf and the two would take turns batting at each other through the hole...but no one got hurt because the hole limited the attack safely.

Of course Storm and her twin, Tiger would play together the most. So many mornings they would just run from one end of the house to the other, chasing each other, tagging or rolling around at the other end, then doing it all over again. OH, and how they used to go wild over birds and squirrels outside--hunting them together through the windows.

We can really tell how Tiger and Frankie miss Storm; each has looked for her in places we know they would always find Storm. It's very sad to see, but I've also noticed that now Tiger and Frankie will sit at the French doors and "hunt" squirrels together. We also see the two sitting nearer to one another, and have started feeding them next to one another (instead of the twins together, with several feet between them and Frankie). Thankfully, they seem to be developing a closer friendship than ever before.

I think they'll be ok, and I think we'll be ok too, eventually.