Noell

Michelle at Scribbit had a post a while back about things she wants to do after her kids go back to school, and one of those items was growing garlic. That brought to mind the time my ex-hub grew garlic for me shortly after we were married and how Noell decided she liked garlic, and then there were a flood of memories.

The first Christmas we were married, ex-hub (ex, from here on out) basically told me to buy my own Christmas gift. (Yeah, big clue right there! lol) He, however, didn't specify animal, vegetable or mineral! Also that year, all my aunt wanted for Christmas was a donation to the local animal humane society. So one afternoon I went out to make a donation in her name, and they had a cage of adorable kittens by the desk. Yes, they knew a soft-heart was coming that day! I'm looking at these kittens, and I'm thinking, ya know, he didn't say my gift couldn't be alive..... So, when I sent my card to my aunt informing her of the donation, I was also able to write "and we adopted a kitten in your name also!"

Noell was about 7-8 weeks old and a black/gray tiger, very similar to the cat we had growing up. Oh the stories we have about her. She definitely used up every one of her nine lives - eating firecrackers, soap and chicken bones, getting caught up in a tree and being unable to get down, getting caught in a groundhog live trap and coming out of it with no broken bones, only bruises, and so on. I could write for an hour and never get down all of her exploits, but I would like to share a few of my favorites:

We lived in a mobile home out in the country when we were first married. For New Year's Day that first year Noell was with us, we bucked tradition and had a turkey instead of pork. We also had an older cat, Emily, and we usually shared a little turkey with her and so did also with Noell. Only Noell couldn't get enough. We putt a little on a small plate for her, and she inhaled it. Again with the next few little pieces. So she had clawed her way up Ex's leg and onto the table, eating off his plate! She not only ate all the turkey he was GOING to eat, she licked off all the gravy and juices. In fact, we have a picture of her on the plate, eating, just a tiny little thing. It didn't take long to decide that, left to her own devices, she would eat more than her weight in turkey, and we put her in the spare room while we finished our dinner. Every time we had turkey after that, we had to put her outside with her own little serving (and no more!) until we were done and the turkey was put away.

Noell always went all out. She loved to chase Emily, our older cat, who was none too happy about this intruder in her happy home. Noell would go in an all out run, going so fast it took her a few seconds to be able to change directions. She chased Emily once but was far enough behind that she didn't see Emily jump up on the dining area cabinet and just kept running down the hall. All of a sudden she came to a screeching stop, all 4 legs spread, little head turning like "where'd she go? where'd she go?" So funny. Noell would also go running down the hall and if you were in the way, too bad. She'd hit your ankle and literally bounce off and keep going. If you were outside on the walk beside the trailer, when she came running down the hall, outside it sounded like a heard of horses!

She had interesting food tastes, too. She loved, loved, loved Taco Bell bean burritos with hot sause. Not plain, not mild sauce, but hot sauce! That cat would eat a whole burrito if we would let her. And then, yes, spend the night outside! And this brings us to the garlic story. As I said, one summer Ex grew garlic in the garden. He tried just 1 plant, I believe, to make sure it would grow in our soil. At the time I worked 1st shift, and he worked 2nd, so one day when I came home, there was a CLOVE on the counter with a note "here's your harvest." I'm thinking, if that is all we get, it's not worth growing it. Turns out, there had been 3 HEADS of garlic when he left for work 3 hours earlier. Noell had apparently eaten a lot and hid a lot. We were finding cloves of garlic for months, as anytime she wanted a "new toy," she would bring one out and bat it around the kitchen. Never did find her hiding spot! And let's just say kitty garlic breath is not too pleasant!

On Mother's Day when she was about 9-1/2, after the addition of twins to the house, a move to a different home, a 3rd cat added and many adventures, Noell disappeared. She had been gone for 2-3 nights in a row before but had always come back. Not this time. We're pretty sure a coyote got her before she even knew what happened. Not that I wanted anything to happen to her, but for all her adventures, it was a fitting ending. And I don't think that she would have adjusted well when we moved 3 months later to town. She was a good kitty, and we'll never forget her!