Monday, August 09, 2010

My Cat Monday: Huckleberry



I’m feeling fed up with writing today, so I thought I’d blog about Huckleberry instead.

As far as Huckleberry is concerned, he’s the King of the World—or at least, he should be. In a well-aligned universe, a cat as big and beautiful as he is--and with such a regal tail!-- would be an only cat. But the Fates were cruel. Instead of being sole ruler of all he surveys, Huckleberry lives with a family that keeps inviting other felines to share what should be Huckleberry’s private fiefdom. The results are often not pretty.



The only cat Huck vaguely tolerates is Thomasina, who served as his adopted mother (we got them the same weekend; he was a six-week-old kitten, she was a two-year-old rescue cat who’d just had her own litter taken away). But even Thomasina only rates the bottom bunk.



Life would be easier if Huck weren’t so smart. He learned long ago how to open doors with lever handles, with the result that I finally gave up and changed all the doorknobs in the house. He’s also refined the psychological torment of his fellow [dumb] cats to an art form.

Yet although tries very hard not to show it, he’s actually secretly a sweetheart. He loves to be carried around like a baby. He even puts up with Danielle dressing him in Santa suits and Mardi Gras hats. (She says it’s good for him to have his ego taken down a few pegs every now and then.)



He would never condescend to sit on your lap or cuddle up next to you. Yet he trails me from room to room all day long, and he pines so terribly when I’m away that I take him up to the lake with me when I go on writing retreats. He’s not exactly fond of the car ride, but he does love being an only cat for a few days.

21 comments:

orannia said...

GRRR! Just deleted my whole post! *sad* Will try to remember what I said...

I'm in love...with Huck's tail! It's gorgeous...as is the rest of him :)

And I completely agree that sometimes cats can be too smart :)

He even puts up with Danielle dressing him in Santa suits and Mardi Gras hats.

He looks completely put out in that photo :)

Thank you Candy! That was lovely. Sorry to hear the writing is driving you a bit nuts - here's hoping tomorrow is better :)

Charles Gramlich said...

Cats know who the real masters of the world are.

Lainey said...

Candy - sorry you're going through a rough patch with your writing. Having furry friends helps a lot in times of stress.

Huckleberry's DNA apparently still remembers that cats were worshiped as gods in ancient Egypt.

Anonymous said...

The cat bunkbed is hilarious. I'll totally have to get one when I get a second cat.

Anonymous said...

He is gorgeous!! We had a cat, Dusty, who could open every door and cabinet in the house and would when he was mad at us. We got baby locks with the levers on the inside for the kitchen cabinets. It only took him about a week until he figured those out too. AHHHHH. We miss him terribly. On a totally different note - I was SOOOO excited to go to B&N yesterday to pick up my paperback of What Remains of Heaven. To my surprise, it is the larger size. AHHHH again. It won't match my others. Will they be releasing a smaller paperback and if so, when? Why do publishers do these things? (OK, so I'm a bit anal wanting my books to match, but they should work with us crazy people). Sabena

cs harris said...

Orannia, it was so disproportionate huge when he was a kitten, we used to say, "Tail, where you goin' with that cat?"

Charles, they do indeed.

Lainey, I'll probably blog about my travails NEXT time--when hopefully I fix them. And Huck would so love to be a god!

Melody, I had that bunk--my younger daughter's dollbed--sitting in a corner of my room with a pile of stuff to go to charity when he was a tiny kitten, and he instantly claimed it as his own. The ceiling fell on it during Katrina so that I had to paint it, and he shunned it for about a year before finally making it his bed again. He fit in it better as a kitten!

Sabena, My condolences on the loss of Dusty; I still morn cats I lost decades ago.

As for the paperback of Heaven, I'm told they're bringing out a mass market paperback NEXT year. They did it because certain stores--mainly Barnes and Nobles, and Target--love trade paperbacks for some reason. But I'm with you on wanting them to match. I have two shelves with all the books I've written--one for MM paperbacks, one for hardcovers. I'm looking at this trade paperback I just received in the mail and going, Grrrr.

Barbara Caridad Ferrer said...

BEASTIE!!

*ahem*

Sorry. I haven't had a cat of my own for some time. Our current cat, Jack-Jack is technically my son's, even though he knows who controls the food supply so sucks up accordingly.

He's also the most brain fried cat in the universe, having eaten through countless Nintendo DS cables, three Apple laptop power cords, and a few computer game peripherals.

None of which bother me other than the Apple power cord. Last time I let the kid borrow my computer power cord.

My dogs on the other hand... They're my writing buddies. And don't eat the power cords.

Steve Malley said...

Awwwwwwww, that was a lovely little perk-up on a frosty cold morning... :)

Jessica said...

Love the pics with Huck! I've never met a cat without a Personality, and they're all very different. It's always nice when we can appreciate their, um, quirks :).

I'm also anal about books and matching. I get very annoyed when halfway through a series, they massively change the cover art (or in J.D. Robb's case, they did it twice...double grr). Weird, but there you go.

orannia said...

"Tail, where you goin' with that cat?"

LOL!

Sabena - I'm so with you. Size does matter. I have MMPs of the earlier books so will wait until the MMP is released for What Remains of Heaven.

cs harris said...

Barbara, we have a wire chewer named Nora.

Steve, what I wouldn't give for a frosty morning right now. I keep telling my kids I want to move back to Idaho.

Jessica, it never ceases to amaze me just how different each cat is. And I'm with you on books matching. Which is one reason it drives me crazy the way NAL has been all over the place with the cover art for this series.

Orannia, I don't blame you for waiting. I don't know yet if they're going to release the next book in trade, too. I guess it depends on how this one does.

orannia said...

I'm sorry Candy. I just realised how bad that sounds to an author. It's just...my OCD tendancies would go nuts if I had a book of a different size. I know it sounds illogical. However, I will make sure my library purchases a copy of the next book...and the ones following :)

cs harris said...

Orannis, I'm serious when I say I totally understand. I just bought my daughter a T-shirt that says, "I have CDO. It's like OCD, only the letters are in their proper order."

Firefly said...

Candy, he certainly looks like he is the king of the castle & no doubt acts like one to I'm sure. And with those looks who can blame him! What a handsome boy he is. Am sure he is a great distraction for you but, lets face it, we all need distractions sometimes!!

Barbara Caridad Ferrer said...

"I have CDO. It's like OCD, only the letters are in their proper order."

I need that shirt.

*unrepentant Virgo*

cs harris said...

Firefly, he's definitely king of the castle--and a spoiled rotten baby. He is VERY unhappy with us for going off and leaving him for the past few days.

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