Mark Kausler’s CatBlog

Little Grey–From Box—(Sadly) To Bag

Dear readers, if you don’t want to read sentiment, please skip to the comics section. Otherwise: “He taught Laughing and Grief, they used to say.” Lewis Carroll from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.

Little Grey has come home. I found his little body out in the back yard, while I was preparing to cut grass a few days ago. He was evidently killed by a coyote. I dug a grave for him underneath the lemon tree, not far from the grave of Little Sister, another dear cat who was the victim of a coyote some years ago. That’s a photo of his final resting place above, next to one of my favorite pictures of Grey on our front porch, in his box with the red pillow. I also have included a picture which I have posted before, of Little Grey eating a well-earned meal, with his “catch” going unmolested. Grey was a good mouser and bird-catcher in his early years. For awhile, it looked like he was especially good at catching pigeons. Grey seemed to be coming up with a fresh kill nearly every day, until I realized that he was simply eating the pigeons that a neighbor had shot with his air rifle! As I posted last time, Little Grey was shy with a lot of people, but was never shy with me. He followed me everywhere, and jumped into my lap nearly every place I sat down, including the bathroom! Of course Grey liked to sit on my lap down here in the computer room, purring as I typed. He made me laugh every morning as he climbed the stairs, wide eyed and eager, with his paws taking the steps two at a time, then dashing into the kitchen and greedily chowing down without even looking up. This winter was quite hard on him, he was meowing at the kitchen and front doors quite a lot, sometimes very urgently. As I said last time, he was not box-trained, so we had to let him in selectively and supervise him. For the most part, Little Grey was used to an outdoor life, but lately he was slowing down a little and eating less. We always thought he could take care of himself in co-existing with the skunks, possums, raccoons and coyotes that live around here, and he did that quite well for a long time. Whenever a skunk would show up to eat his leftovers, Little Grey was smart enough to just sit back and relax until the black and white robber had eaten it’s fill. Sadly, he finally slowed down enough that a coyote caught him. I can still hear him meowing everywhere, his spirit is very strong. It’s especially sad in the morning without the little one sunning himself on the back steps waiting for breakfast. Cathy and I miss him very much.

Thanks Diana Rodriguez of the Hampa studio, Dave Nethery and Charlie Judkins for writing sympathetic letters about Little Grey. Your words mean so much at this time, I am very moved that you took the time to care! Grief is such a strange emotion, it just comes over me in waves. Little Grey was such a big part of my life that almost everything around here reminds me of him. No other family adopted him, he stayed near us for all of his life. I’m so glad he was with us for as long as he could be, and at least I know where he is.

“…who had died as he had lived, in absolute love and infinite devotion.” Charles Tazewell from “The Littlest Angel”.

Comics this week are “Pop Korn”, the conclusion from Coo-Coo Comics, #28, August 1946. The wolf is foiled by a loose board on the front porch as Pop happily finishes his detective story. Pop walking along with the rifle over his shoulder, towing a miniature cannon and animal traps strongly resembles Taliaferro’s Donald Duck poses. Pop even says “So..!” when hit by a scrap of paper, just as Donald would do. Even though the story is slight, I love the small town, Centerville atmosphere that Taliaferro conjures up so lovingly with his beautiful drawings.

Marvelous Mike from 2/18 to 2/23/1957 this week concludes the Mr. Kosno story, as the Crumps return home from their Florida vacation. I think that kids could really agree with Mr. Kosno’s line in the 2/20 strip as he reacts to Cliff’s corporal punishment of Merrie: “..how many times we adults mete out undeserved punishment to our children.” Of course to kids, almost ANY punishment felt undeserved, especially spankings! Corporal punishment really seems to have vanished from modern parenting, about the worst a child gets now is a “time-out”. My brother and I were usually careful to tow the mark and avoid the belt when we were kids. We’ll find out what the policeman wanted to see Cliff about next time. Krazy Kat is from 7/10 to 7/15/1939 and the story could be called “Sixty/Forty”. Offisa Pupp, Mrs. Kwak-Wak, Krazy and Ignatz spend the week discussing physics, Pupp running 40 miles an hour, Ignatz hurling a brick at sixty. The boomerang brick in 7/12 is novel, but I like the 7/15 strip the best, as the brick reacts to a “stop” sign.