“Kingston” has become a famous cat at the Strawflower Shopping Center where he calls the Kibbles & Clips shop his headquarters–but look out, he loves Bay Book and Hallmark, too.

“Kingston,” was an orphan found at Miramar, and his finders were determined to get him a place to stay which turned out to be Kibbles & Clips.

The stores at Bay Book all know “Kingston,” and keep an eye out for the cat’s welfare, calling each other when they see him heading too far in the wrong direction.

(Photo: Sami, my boy cat)

I forgot to tell you that a while back I received a delightful email from Joni Mueller:

“June,” she wrote, “why did you remove Sami’s video [from youtube]? I wanted to share it with a friend who just recently lost her kitty. It was the most precious thing.”

Joni (fellow cat lover)
————
“Joni,” I wrote, “Thank you for remembering Sami’s video. I just uploaded it again
to youtube–here’s the link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPTl7AX61us
Thank you for remembering. So sweet.”
——————-
“June,” she wrote, “He is a precious cat and what makes the video so sweet, to me anyway, is the little chirps of happiness and the interaction with you; he seems like a loving cat. And it’s that same cute noise they make when you touch them while they are fast asleep, a million miles beneath their brains.
Thanks for re-uploading, I’ll let my friend know!
Joni
——

Joni has a website called “Joni’s Universe.” Here’s the link:
http://www.joniverse.com/

She also has a business design website with Ivan Minic which looks pretty good. it’s called Pixelita Designs and here’s the link: http://www.pixelita.com/

Be adventurous…Check out Joni’s sites.

She visits us only in spring and summer. We have no idea where she lives, but she always find her way back to our house. Notice the eyes.

(Photo by Lynn Kalajian McCloskey)

Ok, here’s the (youtube.com) video starring Sami, our Japanese bobtail. Please turn down the sound. I think he should get his own cable tv show.

Bubba, the Swimming Cat Visits HMB

Yesterday, when I walked out of the pharmacy in HMB, I saw a cat on a leash—gently tied to somebody’s green backpack resting on the ground.

I’m a cat lover, the owner of two bobtails, so my heart went straight to this multi- gray striped cat with a tail—not just because it was on a leash, which is unusual enough to make anyone look twice.

But this cat was calm and unafraid– even though I thought it was clearly vulnerable.

Its fur was shiny, slick and clean. And its clear knowing eyes told me, lady, I’m no ordinary cat.

This was a worldly cat, an experienced cat– a wise and patient cat.

All this flashed through my mind when the cat’s owner walked out of the store.

He looked a little travel-worn but he didn’t notice me. To the cat he said, “Is everything all right?�

I guess everything “was all right� because he sat on the cold concrete next to the cat, resting, looking at nothing in particular. I noticed he had a jagged cut above his right eye but I decided not to ask about the wound.

Instead I asked about the cat.

“Isn’t your cat afraid of dogs?�

“He IS a dog,� he answered. “He grew up around dogs. He knows how to handle them. He can protect himself.�

Then he told me the most remarkable thing: “This cat can swim. We were in Santa Cruz over the weekend, “ and the rest trailed off.

“Really?� I marveled, imagining a swimming cat. One of my cats, the girl, tentatively tests the drinking water in her green bowl with one paw, but I couldn’t envision her stepping into any body of water.

Hoping for more stories about this intrepid animal, I said, “You take great care of him.� I thought he must brush him all the time but he informed me, “He grooms himself. He licks himself every two minutes. I take good care of my cat.�

Our conversation was coming to an end but I wanted to know one more thing. “What’s his name?�

“Bubba. We were supposed to go to Alaska, “he added almost absentmindedly. “… catch a flight out of Oregon.�

These two, Bubba and his owner, were one, inseparable, and I left them that way in Half Moon Bay, wondering how these traveling companions would deal with the harsh Alaskan weather in the dead of winter.

But if the cat can swim, I’m sure they can survive anything.

Ours (Burt’s and my coastside Cat, Sami) Photo by Dorothy Brogan (”DB”) of Montara.