Stinkerbelle
March 28, 2007 – April 2, 2016
In case you missed it on Facebook over the weekend, or in yesterday’s post, on Saturday Stinkerbelle left us. She didn’t come down from her usual spot atop the kitchen cabinets for snack time, and when Fred got out the stepladder to look for her, he found her curled up in her favorite bed, still and looking peaceful. It appears that whatever happened was fast and (we hope) painless for her.
She’d been acting normal in recent days – in fact, on Friday she yelled at me when I wasn’t fast enough with her snack plate in the morning, and then in the evening she terrorized Alice a bit, as she was wont to do.
I am sure that in the 7 1/2 months since Tommy died, she missed him terribly. I had hoped that she would allow us to comfort her, but she always lived her life on her own terms, and she had no use for attention from me.
Though she mostly kept to herself and was a quiet presence, we will miss her very much.
She’s been laid to rest in the back yard, right next to her Tommy.
Stinkerbelle came to us in early June of 2007, a little more than two months old, along with her two brothers and sister. Her name was originally Maryanne, because we went with a quasi-Gilligan’s Island naming theme (her sister was Tina Louise since Ginger had already been used, one of her brothers was Gilligan, and the other was Spanky because he looked like our Spanky). They were an extremely skittish litter, especially Stinkerbelle. All I wanted to do was get my hands on them and snuggle them, but none of them would go for it at first. They eventually warmed up, and as they became friendly, they went off to Petsmart one by one, with Stinkerbelle going last.
While they were with us, they met Tommy one day. In my memory, they all ran over to him and fell immediately in love, but a reread of the post shows that my memory is faulty – Stinkerbelle hissed and hissed at him. At some point, she must have stopped the hissing and fell in love, because she certainly LOVED that boy.
Once her littermates went off to Petsmart, Stinkerbelle got the run of the house, and she pretty quickly made herself at home. It seems amazing to think of it now, but she used to hang out on the couch with Fred in the evenings while we watched TV, and would let him pet her. She was never really crazy about me – I guess she preferred the menfolk – but she would occasionally let me pet her, and while she didn’t like being handled, she’d allow it.
I don’t remember why Stinkerbelle was with us for so long, but one evening in September she went off to Petsmart. I happened to be cleaning the cat room the next morning, and reported to Fred that it looked like she’d been digging at the door of her cage, trying to get out. That was all she wrote – Fred stopped by Petsmart after work and brought her home.
So smug.
Did I mention that she loved Tommy? She loved him so very much. She would seek him out and snuggle up next to him. She’d push her head under his chin so that he’d lick her ears. She took so much comfort from him. She wasn’t always up in his business in later years, but every now and again she’d seek him out, and he was so sweet to her. She loved to just lay and look at him and give him the slow blink-blink Eyes of Love.
At some point, after she’d been with us for a few months, she discovered that she could get up on top of the kitchen cabinets, and that became her favorite place to be. She’d make occasional trips to the front room to sit up high on the platforms in the corners of the room, or on top of the bookcases, but the kitchen cabinets were always home base to her. She’s the entire reason Fred put the shelves up in the kitchen, because other cats would get up there and get too close to her, and she’d freak out because she didn’t have a way past them to get down. Once the walkway was in place, there was always a way for her to get down.
I loved looking up and seeing that beautiful face glaring down at me. SO much disapproval!
There were these pockets of time when, for reasons known only to her, Stinkerbelle would come down from atop her cabinets and demand attention from Fred. She’d do this for a few days, and then she’d be off again, untouchable as she sat up high watching us go about our lives.
Like I said, I’m sure that she missed her Tommy terribly over these past months, though she never gave any sign of it. Cats are stoic and don’t show their pain easily, and I’m certain that Stinkerbelle would have considered it beneath her to let the peasants know her heartbreak.
She was never so happy as when she was gazing upon her beloved Tommy; as much as we miss her, I love knowing that she’s with him again. I like knowing that he was there to greet her, and that she can spend the rest of eternity following him around and giving him the Eyes of Love.
If you’re of a mind to, donations can be made in Stinkerbelle’s name to Challenger’s House.
They accept donations by mail (check or money order), by phone (Mastercard/VISA), or there’s a Paypal button at the bottom of the Petfinder page.
Challenger’s House
112 Tristian Rd.
Toney, AL 35773
Phone: 256-420-5995
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2015: Not. A. CARE.
2014: I love how Angelo is 100% sure that his presence on the bed is desired, and Dennis’s face tells another story.
2013: “I wish I hadn’t looked.”
2012: Also, they like to bite… everything.
2011: It’s exhausting to be a wee bebbeh kitten, is what I’m saying.
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: The chicks react to worms by grabbing one of them and then running wildly around the pen so that the other chicks think she’s got something really good and start chasing her around to get it from her.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.