R.I.P. Pete

20 years ago an orange cat was born in a bucket.  20 years ago our family was at a local restaurant which had a pet store next door.  When the adults were finishing up a pitcher of beer, the children Molly, Maggie, and our niece Meredith , went to the pet store.   I always told them we would not be bringing anything home because we already had many cats.  The kids came running back to the restaurant to tell us there was a cat I needed to see.  I had all intentions of saying no but when Molly held that orange cat born in a bucket and the way he looked up at her with so much love, I couldn't say no.  I went back to the restaurant to tell Mike I had adopted a cat. 

His name was Sunny but we all decided it should be something different. He had so many different names that first week and we were getting confused.  Molly wanted him to be Marmalade, but that didn't work out we were getting tired of trying to decide on one name. I even considered calling him Bucket but I received a strong NO from the family.  

During this time, I was seeing a lot of artwork around town of a blue cat. I loved this art and the blue cat's name was Pete.  I told the family the orange cat's name will be named after the blue cat Pete. They all agreed. I found out recently that the blue cat is now famous and has his own books and T.V. show.

We had Pete before we had internet and a digital camera. This photo is from a kids polaroid camera.

Pete went to cat heaven March 5th 2022. He was 20 years and 33 days old. Molly was 10 and Maggie was 6 years old when we adopted him.   I think back on that day we brought him home and what would have happened to him if we hadn't  adopted him.  Would he have lived that long? Would he have met so many other cat friends and outlive them like he did?  What a wonderful life he had.  His first 16 years he was an indoor outdoor cat but when we moved to Iowa he was strictly an indoor cat. That probably helped lengthened his life.  We were all heartbroken to hear it was his time. Maggie said Pete was the first cat she ever loved! Molly said he was her cat until she went to college. He then became my cat.  That was true. If he wasn't sleeping, he was either near me vocalizing he needed something, or in my lap. Always.

To help me through this very sad time, I collected every single photo I could find of him.  I found hundreds. I won't share all of them but here are some of my favorites.

The photo below is MY MOST FAVORITE PHOTO because this is how he always looked at me. This is the same look he gave Molly that first day we met him.

R.I.P Pete

Color Blind

 My dad was color blind.  As a kid, I thought this meant he saw black and white which I thought would be pretty amazing and boring.   Of course that wasn't the case.  Later I married a color blind Michael.

One time when I took the girls to the eye doctor, Molly was in one room while I sat with Maggie in another.  The doctor had just seen Molly and came into our room and without saying anything, grabbed a book and asked Maggie to look at the first page and then tell her if she saw anything in the circle.  Maggie didn't see anything and went on to turn the pages, not seeing anything in any circle.  I leaned over to see what she was looking at and I could see a number, in every circle.   I was amazed Maggie couldn't see what I was seeing.  Maggie is color blind.  The doctor went on to tell us that Molly is too! Molly had requested she be tested. 

Earlier while Molly was at school, one of her friends had on a tee shirt that confused her. She asked him about it and it turns out it was a color blind test tee shirt.  That is why she requested the test.

The doctor stated it is not common for females to be color blind, especially two in one family.  Molly did some research.  They are color blind, their dad is color blind, I am not but my dad was. This makes me a carrier.  They are always thanking me for that.

After we knew this, we started noticing differences in opinion on colors. Once while at a busy intersection waiting to cross, the orange hand was blinking letting us know not to cross. I just happened to say out loud that we needed to wait for the white man to tell us when we can go.  The girls both said, you mean the green man?  We had a debate all the way home. The internet confirmed he is white, not green. We then went on to the hand. It is orange but they think it is red.  

Imagine the girls in Chemistry class while in school.  Molly could never do titrations because she couldn't see the pale pink before it was too late and became bright pink. Hopefully her job never requires her to do this since she works in a research lab.  Maggie's science teacher said it was nearly impossible for them to both be color blind and pretty much thought Maggie was telling a tall tale.

Maggie still thinks she sits on her green couch.  It is actually brown. And when picking out paint colors with her boyfriend Chase, she was pulling out the yellows when they were looking for pink.  She absolutely has no idea what color Chase's new guitar is.

Mike, Molly and I were at Target and Mike picked out a jacket for himself. When he showed it to me I mentioned that I really liked the green color. Molly and Mike both thought it was black.  

Molly thought she was buying a different color nail polish than what she had on.  Well, somewhat different, Molly.

I often wonder what colors Molly sees while she paints her art. She is creating something that only color blind people see the same as she does.  The majority of us see something completely different.

At first there would be funny arguments about color and I would rarely win since I was out numbered. But now I think the three of them know that the color I see, is not what they see and that I am probably right.

Wouldn't it be funny if they also had synesthesia?

Holiday Week 2021

 The week in December between Christmas and the New Year is when our family gets together. This year was special for many reasons.  Maggie was able to come up from Georgia a week before Christmas so we were able to spend extra time with her.  Adrien, Molly's boyfriend, finally moved to the United States. Chase, Maggie's boyfriend, was able to come up for the week.

We had Christmas in Cedar Rapids at Molly's house. We all then headed to our house for a week of fun. There were six humans and five cats to make the week exciting.  We played a lot of games, did a lot of cooking, and did a lot of eating and drinking.  We also worked out everyday in the basement. Mike has his own little gym down there so we all took advantage of it. There was always snow to shovel and we did go out a little bit. Once to go out for lunch in town and once at Sutliff. We always enjoy photo shoots on the bridge.

Shoveling in Davenport

Drinking some very nice products from France.

Cooking

We had some issues with cats in the basement ceiling.

I invited my friend Kelly over for a meal. Just so happens he is a photographer so we had a fun photo shoot!

It was a really fun week.  The worst part is when everyone leaves to go home. I get extremely sad and just walk around the house.  A day or two later I am back into my schedule and not as sad. I start looking forward to when we will be together again!