October 2, 2011

• 31 Things About… Charlee

  

  1. Charlee’s real name was Sharlee when I got her, but it just didn’t suit her.  I was thinking about names for her, and changing it a little sounded right.  Plus it reminded me of those old commercials from the 1980’s for ‘Charlie’ perfume when they always said “She’s so Charlie.”
  2. Charlee was listed by the shelter she came from as being 6-7 years old, which was a mistake since she was really only about three when I got her.  Her paperwork shows her birthday, but the shelter people couldn’t read I guess.
  3. When she lived with me, Charlee loved playing with little mice made from rabbit fur.  We played a game where she would go to the far end of the apartment hallway and I would toss them over her head and she would stop them like an NHL goalie.  She was good.
  4. Charlee’s favorite place to sleep in right into the side of someone’s neck, but as she shifts herself in her sleep to get more comfortable she usually ends up on your face, almost smothering you as you sleep.
  5. Charlee’s favorite song is Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.  She always came in the room and meowed when it was playing.  A true Paul Simon fan.
  6. Charlee will come to you for attention and loves to sit on someone’s lap, but she has to do it, you cannot force her.
  7. Every day when I would give Charlee her treats I would put them on a shelf above her head.  She would always stand up and bat them down with her paw.  If she heard the treats, she would go directly to her shelf.
  8. Charlee loves to sit in bookshelves with her bum on the bottom shelf and her front paws on the ground in front of the shelf.
  9. Charlee was the last of our cats to live with George before he died.  They actually got along pretty well.
  10. My dad still calls her Sharlee… but his memory is going and we can’t blame him for forgetting names.  He’s old.  We may have to put him down soon.
  11. Charlee was the first mix I ever had.  She is more of a tortoise shell tabby with a lot of white as well.  Our cats before her were mostly tabbies, and Bubba was pure black.  Her marking are very bold and beautiful to look at and follow.
  12. I got Charlee two days after Christmas.  I had to fill in the adoption form twice as they weren’t going to let me take her since I had lost a cat (Bubba) only a few months before.  When they said that I tore up the form, took another and filled it in saying I had lost Bubba a year earlier.  I wasn’t leaving without Charlee.
  13. Charlee hid for the first day after coming to my house, which really upset me (even though I know this is normal) so I called my little sister.  She came over and within 15 minutes Charlee was up on the couch curling into Megan’s lap.
  14. Charlee never played with Pumba… I think she knew it was Bubba’s.
  15. The night I was leaving for Taiwan she sat with me in my parent’s front room watching me get things ready at the lest second.  She stayed with me until I left.  We’d only been together for ten months but I really felt bad for leaving her.
  16. Charlee loved when I played the guitar, but she would always want to get right up in my face when I was singing and smell my mouth.  It’s hard to play guitar and sing when a cat is doing that, but I loved that she loved the music.
  17. Charlee’s nickname is Tuna, both because she loves tuna and after the old Starkist Tuna cartoon spokesman Charlie Tuna.
  18. Charlee loves to be with my dad all the time… which is weird since he gets her name wrong all the time!
  19. After moving to my parent’s house she became a total outdoor cat, never wanting to come inside.  She loves to be outside all the time, chasing bugs, catching mice and eating moths.  Even in the winter, she wants to be outdoors.
  20. Of all the cats Charlee was the easiest to get into a carrier to take her in the car.
  21. Like most cats she loves to be in boxes, but she always finds the smallest box possible and then squeeze herself into it. 
  22. I had my grandfather’s old recliner in my house which I used to sit in and read at night, but within days of her arriving it became her chair and she would spend her days sleeping on it and standing on the arm of to look out the window.
  23. When I started to get things ready to move and shelves started clearing out (books, Cds, DVDs,) I would find her later on in that shelf like it was new space she had never tried out before.  She tried out each and ever shelf in my house.
  24. She was never afraid of dogs.  Dogs came to our window (my apartment window was even with the ground outside) and she just talked to them.  She even scared my friend Amy’s dog when they came to visit since she just walked around and pretended like she didn’t care Andie was there.
  25. Charlee and Koko have basically sectioned off my parent’s house; Charlee has the downstairs and Koko has the upstairs.  They share the kitchen, but only when they have to.
  26. When I was thinking about adopting a cat I was also thinking about moving to Taiwan to teach so I was worried I was making a bad decision.  My mother told me if I wanted a cat to go ahead and they would take care of her while I was away.  I’m not sure she knew I would be gone for this long, but Charlee loves it with them.
  27. Charlee only lived with me for about ten months, but has been at my parent’s house for five years now.
  28. Charlee would sometimes come with me at night to the laundry room across the hall from my apartment, but only if I left both doors open so she could come and go as she pleased.  One day an old ladies dog from the building came in and Charlee was there.  She chased the dog to the far and of the hallway.  I don’t think the dog ever came to do laundry again.
  29. Charlee was up for adoption during the month of December at a local petfood superstore.  I visited twice a week to see all the cats and play with them and she was there from the first day to the last.  I saw many cats adopted out, but Charlee always remained. 
  30. The day I went to see Charlee after Christmas the girl at the shop told me she was going back to the shelter soon.  They felt she was severely depressed and was non-responsive to people by that point.  She had been up for adoption for almost six months and no one took her in.  They said she would be re-evaluated and maybe put down if she had become too lethargic.  They said she would never make a good pet and would never respond to anyone anymore.  She was just sitting in her cage in a ball in the corner, not paying attention.  I looked at her and almost started crying.  I told them I would take her and they actually told me to adopt another cat.  When I said no, I wanted her, they tried to convince me that it was a bad decision.  I was pissed off and just looked into her cage and said “Sharlee, you want to go home?” She got up, came to the cage and rubbed against it letting out a small meow in answer.  I opened the cage and she curled into my arms like I had held her a thousand times before.  The workers were shocked and I just looked at them and said “Don’t just stand there, wrap her up, I’m taking her home.”
  31. I adopted Charlee only a few days after my girlfriend and I broke up (on Christmas… but she was Jewish, so it wasn’t wrong in her mind) and a few days later she had seen me write on my blog about finally sleeping in the same bed as Sharlee (name not changed yet).  She asked if she had been replaced already and I said yes.  When she asked where I met this girl, I told her at a petstore.  She laughed and said ‘Oh, so it’s only a cat, right?’  I remember looking at Charlee and thinking ‘No, she’s not just a cat.  She’s my cat.  You were only a girlfriend. She’ll last much longer.’ 

  

  

  Charlee in her window and Charlee looking like she is either listening to the worst music
  in the world or laughing at the funniest joke ever!
  
  
  
  Charlee’s obsession with shelf space.
  
  
  
  Heavy drinker and window watcher.
  
  
  
  I always loved her tail curl when she sat.  Such a princess.
  
  
  
  Charlee and her big brother George.
  

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