Good morning! Is that cat out there?

*peeks through blinds* Yep, I think she sleeps there every night. The raccoons don’t bother her in that spot.

Hmm, we need to have a hard discussion, don’t we? I’m going to post flyers for her around the neighborhood this morning.

I was kind of hoping we wouldn’t have to do that. Are you going to take her to see if she has a microchip?

Yeah, I wanted to call the humane society beforehand, to see if I needed an appointment or anything, but they never answer the phone or return messages. It would have been too hot to take her last week anyway. I’ll call around to see if some other vet place can scan her.

I’m not sure I like the name Murray for her. Where did that name come from?

I don’t know. I was seeing a lot of Bill Murray in the news lately, about the places he shows up at unannounced and the kind, nice things he does for people. I think the name Murray just stuck in my head and I thought it was good. Would you rather it be something else, for a cat that’s not ours? Because she’s not our cat.

I think I want to discuss that more.

Her name?

No. That’s she’s not our cat.

And just then, the phone rang.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A Colehaus Cats flashback:

2022 – No post
2021 – A Random August post
2020 – No post
2019 – Art in August, Cat-Style
2018 – No post
2017 – No post
2016 – No post
2015 – Flashback Friday
2014 – No post
2013 – A Thank YOU!
2012 – No post

We strongly believe every garden deserves a garden cat and this year, visitor Murray fills the bill and then some. She has just enough interest in what Mom’s doing to offer an opinion (“Shouldn’t the tall yellow flowers go there, next to the short magenta ones?”) and stays out of the way when the big guns come out – shovels, rakes, Saws-all power tools (“No, ma’am, I’m not certified to operate that!”). But she’s not too far away. A cool nap in a cool spot fits perfectly.

This past weekend, Mom thought she’d try to find Murray’s REAL home. She figures it’s somewhere on the next street over and down the hill. Remembering her experience trying to find Teese’s home back in 2017, in which more people told Mom to get off their property than to bother to look at a simple photo, she though she’d post a flyer on NextDoor to ask around. She knows full well most people haven’t even heard of NextDoor but it’s worth a shot.

And you know, several people claim she’s their cat. The fact that some of those people live miles and miles upon miles away, and none of them live in our development is a little disheartening. One name stood out as someone who trolled and ghosted Mom two years ago about a tall, potted lilac Mom was trying to find a free home for, and months later, did the same ghosting routine on a motorcycle helmet Mom sold elsewhere. So, Mom’s not about to hand over a cat to just anyone who says she’s theirs. Nope. Mom says she’s going to have to take Murray to the local humane society for a free scan for a microchip.

The next disheartening thing is, if she has a chip (Murray, not Mom), they won’t tell Mom who Murray belongs to, for privacy reasons, and that’s understandable. They will call those people listed on the microchip, that is, if someone actually registered it. Unfortunately, in our area, less than 20% of people respond to a call about their lost pet and less than that want their pet back, particularly cats. Nationally, just 38 percent collect their lost cats after getting a call about their microchip.

So, if Murray has a microchip, Mom will respond to all those people on NextDoor, telling them to expect a call from the humane society about their cat. And then, we wait. Will someone come forward? Will multiple someones come forward? Will there be a brawl in our driveway over collecting their lost cat? Will they have missed Murray? Will we finally learn Murray’s real name?

Enough worry about all that. Here’s a photo of a bowl of donut peaches sitting on our counter. We had no idea these were so juicy and delicious, because they certainly don’t look it!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A Colehaus Cats flashback:

2022 – No post
2021 – Craziness
2020 – No post
2019 – No post
2018 – Wednesday Words
2017 – No post
2016 – No post
2015 – Ruby Tuesday
2014 – Stories with Maxx
2013 – No post
2012 – No post