You may recall the circumstances under which I acquired Tweaker in
March of this year.  He was splattered on the pavement.  He was a
semi-feral barn cat, underweight and unneutered.  

But once he recovered from his bleeding nose, mouth, ears and
eyeballs, he quickly displayed every sign of being the EXACT cat I
could have spent years searching for.

It made me realize that I don't need to compete for shelter cats to
get what I want from the animal kingdom.  All I have to do is adhere
to a morally clean lifestyle, free of treachery and deceit.  Cat Karma
is a powerful force.

Tweaker is a snuggler and a talker.  He is not easily startled, and he
will approach almost anyone.  He quickly adapted to indoor life.  I
figured he would be a good candidate for travel, and yesterday he had
a first-time travel experience that will surely pave the way for
success on longer trips.

The trip consisted of a short drive to Bellingham and a short flight
on an air taxi to the island where I have my compound.  Along the way
I stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a small cat-carrier.  I assembled it
in the parking lot, where I had the first of several Karmic
experiences.  The lady parked next to me was an animal lover.  She
held the cat-carrier steady while I crammed Tweaker inside.  He didn't
want to go in, but he didn't object too strenuously, either.  Once he
was inside the carrier, he was fine.

The lady was on her way to puppy class at PetsMart, and her puppy
looked just like Holly did as a pup.  I let Holly jump out of the car
to say hello to the pup, and it was a joyous experience for both of
them.  It put a happy grin on Holly's face that pretty much stayed
there for the rest of the day.

We got to the General Aviation building at B'ham airport and I began
to haul stuff in from the car.  A lady at the fuel counter asked me
what all I had.  I said it was groceries, a laptop, some clothing, and
a cat in a container.

"A KITTY!!!" cried the woman.  "Can I see?"  And she whisked around
from behind the counter to peer into the carrier.

I invited her to open the door and pet the cat while I went out to get
Holly and the rest of my stuff.  When I got back, she was sitting on
the floor with Tweaker purring in her lap while being massaged by the
lady and stroked by a toddler who was accompanied by his father.  I
released Holly to join in this animal love-fest, which went on for a
good 10 minutes before my plane showed up.  The pilot was an animal
lover, too, and she spent a couple of minutes fussing over my pets
before we loaded the plane.

When I arrived at my hippie commune, everyone was gone to a party, and
we had maybe an hour of blissful solitude.  But pretty soon they
started coming back, and before long, Tweaker was being passed from
lap to lap and loving every second of it.

He ate a big dinner at his regular feeding time and he used the new
litter box I set up for him.  He is settling right in, but he is
sticking closer than ever to his big sister.  Here is a picture I took
this morning:

www.geocities.com/wallofgrays/big_dog_sister.jpg

Joey the pitbull (who my tenants got from a shelter that had turned
down half a dozen applicants) is here, and he and Holly are having a
blast playing together.  The chooks are now safe in their new hen
house and a portable chicken tractor that lets them forage through our
big garden.  Chuck Berry, my tenants' old rottie/samoyed, is still
doing fine, although he has slowed down to the point where he mainly
sleeps all the time.  He is 13 this year I think.

I will take some more happy animal pix and throw them up on the web
this week.

Purrs to all.

Charlie