Ode To A Cat

In Memory of "Turbo" "The King of CATS!"

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!

There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat. ~Tay Hohoff

There is something about the presence of a cat... that seems to take the bite out of being alone. ~Louis J. Camuti

A cat can be trusted to purr when he is pleased, which is more than can be said for human beings. ~William Ralph Inge

What greater gift than the love of a cat? ~Charles Dickens

A meow massages the heart. ~Stuart McMillan

Cats never strike a pose that isn't photogenic. ~Lillian Jackson Braun
and One cat just leads to another. ~Ernest Hemingway

I love cats because I love my home and after a while they become its visible soul. ~Jean Cocteau

When you're used to hearing purring and suddenly it's gone, it's hard to silence the blaring sound of sadness. ~Missy Altijd

We're going to miss you Turbo! Especially me! Who will keep me company when I'm sitting on the ground hoeing the flower beds. My lap will be sadly empty! No cat has been loved more!
Rest easy next to Goliath and don't torment him too much!

"Come Turbo, Let me bury you in the leaves."

I'm an intense lover of animals! It's the farm in me seeping out the cracks of my being. When you grow up on a farm, you can have all the animals you want; it's an unspoken law! Maybe that's why I love animals so much. My father was the greatest in respects to bringing home unwanted creatures, I could have brought home a stray elephant and he wouldn't have cared, just so long as it got along with all the other animals. Luckily I was satisfied with cows, horses, rabbits, sheep, chickens, dogs and last but not least, cats. It's hard to say what the most endeared animal on a farm is, but cats have to rank right up there at the top. Cats and farms go together like bread and butter. It's impossible to have a farm and not own a million cats. That's because when somebody doesn't want their cat anymore they just get in their car, drive until they find a farm, open the door, kick the cat out, and drive away. Everyone knows farms are just "Cat Orphanages." It doesn't matter, nobody cares, a dairy farm needs an endless supply of cats to keep the mice away. There are however, strict cat labor laws on a farm; a cat must earn his keep, there is no such a thing as free milk! Perhaps having all of these cats around on the farm while growing up is precisely what has led me to always own a cat. Over the course of my life, I have never 'not' owned a cat, well, that is until yesterday. I am so sad to say, my cat died yesterday. Desi came home from school at three o'clock and found Turbo (the best cat in the whole universe) dead on the landing inside my garage. He jumped down from his bed and just laid down and died. The shock of finding him like that and having him gone has crushed my very heart. It's bad enough missing Goliath but now to have Turbo gone as well is more than I can take. Turbo was every bit as much a cat as Goliath was a dog! I can honestly say I have not owned two finer animals! Seth said Goliath was probably lonely and Turbo him home, well, they were best friends. My kids all say they don't ever remember life without Turbo. Somewhere back in 1995 Gavin knowing he could bring home anything and his mother would let him keep it, brought us home a kitten. Our very best cat named "Crash" had gotten hit by a car. It seemed to be his lot in life. When we brought Crash home for the first time it was because he ran out in front of my car on Pleasant view drive and had a little tug a war with my wheels and somehow managed to survive. Being so small and so new to life, I nearly died to think I ran over a kitten! When I took his little crumpled body to the front door of his owners home, they wouldn't take him, (for rude) so I brought him home, nursed him back to health, and we named him "Crash." Then we kept him for a decade and he died. The second time he decided to run under the wheel of a car, he didn't fair as well as the first, hence, Gavin decided after he was gone we needed another cat. The funny part was, you could hardly tell Crash and Turbo apart. I think they were two cats with one soul. Maybe cat's really do have nine lives. I hope so! There's nothing I'd like more than to see Turbo strolling up my sidewalk tonight, wanting to come in out of the cold. Turbo and Crash looking identical is maybe the reason I don't remember much about the day Gavin brought Turbo home and bequeathed him his name. Turbo was like the sheets on my bed. He was just always there and you didn't really notice him until you got right up next to him. That's when the warm and snugly feelings would seep all through ya, just like when you go to bed at night and your hands and feet can't resist the feel of the soft cotton fibers. Turbo was just the same, as soon as he rubbed up against your leg, it just gave a person the urge to reach down and pet him. He was oh so soft, and so inviting. He could reduce my stress by just coming near. For Christmas I felt bad about his life in the cold and lonely garage, so I bought him a nice cushy bed, oh ...... how he loved it. Every time I went out in the garage he was right there curled up in it and he would lift his head to greet me. I don't know what I'll do with out his cats prints all over the hood of my car. And who will love me so unconditionally as he did? I can't stand it. I'm down to one animal, "Winston" and some fish. My soul is in serious mourning! In the spring, could someone please give me a cat that looks just like Turbo? Please, I'll pay you for it! Turbo, we miss you, I miss you! I loved you! I loved every thing about you, paw prints and all!