Templeton and Scout in 2003

Our cat Templeton sniffing the air while laying down in our backyard

My Kingdom, My Kingdom

All of our cats are indoor cats, but during the warmer (and drier) months I let them outside into our fenced backyard for some supervised outdoor play. Templeton didn't just enjoy his time in the backyard, he held court. I love the display of his proud and regal air to the minions who deign to share his kingdom.

Of my many pictures of Templeton, this remains a favorite.

Our cat Scout yawns in front of the quilt rack

So There I Was, Outnumbered 20-to-1

Scout regales us with a story of how she once defeated a whole band of ninjas. Normally with such an outlandish story I'd assume a fair bit of author's embellishment, except that I vividly and painfully remember the first time we gave her a bath.

The first and last time we gave her a bath.

Our cat Templeton peering down from my bookcase

Our cat Templeton sitting on top of my bookcase

Gargoyle

Templeton used to love to sleep atop the bookcases but as he aged he had trouble jumping that high. If he sat beside my bookcase to indicate he wanted up, I'd place him up there for a catnap and get him down when he woke up. On this particular day, I climbed on top of a chair so that we’d be eye to eye when I took the picture.

Our cat Templeton eating catnip with his tongue sticking out

Templeton! Who Raised You?

Templeton sticking his tongue out at Scout.

To be fair to my little gray one, he was just licking his lips after chowing down on catnip, which was usually followed by him laying on his back on the concrete sidewalk and wiggling around, a legacy now claimed by little Sam. While he is definitely his own cat, he does share many of Templeton's traits.

He's a full-on no-apologies I'll-sleep-on-your-legs-until-you-can't-feel-them lap cat, just like Templeton was.

He sticks his head out the door to greet me the moment I come home, just like Templeton did. He then goes downstairs to his food bowl and meows loudly to be fed, meows even if his bowl has plenty of food but he can actually see a bit of the bottom of the bowl, meows just because he likes the comfort of having me come down and go through the motions of feeding him. Just like Templeton did.

He's an excellent groomer and yet never has hairballs, just like … well, Templeton was an excellent groomer.

Our cat Templeton licking catnip off the floor

Ball Game

We have a little plastic ball that you can pull apart and put catnip inside. Templeton loved to chase the ball around, but unfortunately it sometimes split apart when it impacted the wall and sent the catnip flying. This was especially true of the house in Portland where he really got the ball moving on the hardwood. In this case, the ball rolled into the bathroom where it split apart.

Both Templeton and Scout immediately converged on their liberated prize, Templeton sprawled out on the floor to lick up the easy pickings before rolling around to bathe in its aroma. He kept his playful spirit even to his very last days.

Our cat Scout stepping into the birdbath

Where Did All The Birds Go?

Scout can’t quite figure out why there aren’t any birds in the birdbath when she sits beside it, even though she sees the birds playing in the water when she’s watching from inside the house.

Changing Landscapes

We had started giving the cats supervised outdoor time back when we lived in Keizer and that continued when we moved to Portland. Wine grapes lined the backyard, which gave a nice green privacy fence but also were difficult to maintain. My first task when we moved in was to remove the jungle of weeds that had grown as tall as me under the grapes, and by 2003 that part was under control. I wasn't happy with the grapes and, since we weren't planning on my making on our own wine, I eventually dug them up and had all of the debris hauled away.

But they stayed up for 2003, Scout often liked to sit in the grass in the shadow of the grapes that stayed green even during the dry summer months.

Our cat Scout sitting under the grape vines in our backyard

Our cat Scout sitting in the grass in our backyard

	My Kingdom, My Kingdom All of our cats are indoor cats, but during the warmer (and drier) months I let them outside into our fenced backyard for some supervised outdoor play. Templeton didn't just enjoy his time in the backyard, he held court. I love the display of his proud and regal air to the minions who deign to share his kingdom. Of my many pictures of Templeton, this remains a favorite.
	So There I Was, Outnumbered 20-to-1 Scout regales us with a story of how she once defeated a whole band of ninjas. Normally with such an outlandish story I'd assume a fair bit of author's embellishment, except that I vividly and painfully remember the first time we gave her a bath. The first and last time we gave her a bath.