Fear-filled Phantasms: Ghosts of the Past....

Every day that goes by, is a day we're closer to death. I scanned a number of pictures while visited family this past week... many of them were old snapshots of cats who lived in my house with me during the 1980s and 1990s. I loved everyone one of them, but they're all dead now....

First, there's Misse.








She was the first cat I had when I came back to live in the US. She was loving toward me, but onery toward most other people and cats, so she got the nickname "Crabby Tabby."

Misse was clumsy, near-sighted, and, despite bad tempers are supposed to cut your life short, she lived to be well past 22 years old.

Then there were Dusty and Melvin. Dusty was Misse's kitten, and she came about because Misse was so scrawny when I took her off the street that I thought she was a kitten and that there was no hurry to get her fixed. Ooops. Dusty lived to be 18 or so. Melvin was part of a litter that a stray had in one of the upstairs closets. He always wanted to be Dusty's friend, but she couldn't stand him; he would always wait until she was sleeping and then creep up and lay down next to her. Melvin lived to be about 20.

Maude and Mindy were sisters from the same litter as Melvin. (And the mistake made with Misse wasn't reapeated; both girls were fixed in plenty of time.) Friends their entire lives, they both lived about 15 years, passing away close to each other.



















Rufus was one of the most loving creatures I've ever come across. He loved everyone and was loved by everyone--even Misse tolerated him some times. He baby-sat the litter that got dropped in my upstairs closet when the momma cat went out for a bite. He was old when he moved into my house, and he lived there for seven years before passing away.

Below are Melvin and Rufus with Doc Brown (center, rear) and Ophelia, the last of Melvin's sisters. Doc was another cat abandoned by neighbors, and he lived with me for about ten years. Ophelia vanished when she five. She was last seen walking north along the top of the back fence.



And then there's this guy. Time has left absolutely no trace of him....