Puttin' on the Mitz

Mary-Denise Smith, a copyeditor/proofreader to food & garden bloggers, shared this story about Mitz:

"When I first bought my house in Old Greenbelt, MD, I’d scoured the shelter web sites, looking for a kitty. I saw this lovely orange tabby named 'Sheila' who would be available for adoption in early February. The very day she was up for adoption, I put my application in, only to be told she’d already been spoken for! No!


"Then a couple weeks later, my colleague asked me if I wanted a cat. Without thinking, I said 'Sure!'. So a few nights later, she and her mom turned up at my house, dropped 'Miss Mittens' off and left in such a hurry I didn’t even have time to open the carrier!

"This little squeaky voice comes out, and I opened the door and there’s this orange tabby, all scared and upset and lonely looking. She didn’t rush into my arms, but she was quite ready for pats and cuddles and treats. I had trouble saying 'Miss Mittens', so shortened the name to Mz Mitz. Some folks called her 'Mitzy', which is appropriate, I guess, because she does this cute little side step dance when she comes in the door, like Mitzy Gaynor making an entrance.

"A few days later, I was putting her carrier away and noticed the envelope full of her records, opened it and POW! This was 'Sheila' from the shelter! My colleague’s mom had adopted her, discovered she liked the idea of kitties more than she liked kitties themselves, but didn’t want to give her back to the shelter because she was afraid she’d be euthanized! (She’d been dumped, and a couple neighbors fed her til she got pregnant, when they turned her in to the local shelter.)

"So we were meant to be.  

"Mitz was about two years old when I got her, and once we settled in together, it was like we’d been buds forever. So that means she’s almost nine now.

"Then, in 2017, I lost my home. I sold it and all the contents. Mitz went to live at Pam Stegall’s farm up in Rising Sun, MD - Calvert Farm, otherwise referred to as Kamp Kalvert for Kitties. Mitz and Pam’s husband Paul became fast friends, and Mitz now rules the garage, forklift and pickup truck. The school kids who come to the farm every day (it’s the local school bus stop and afternoon hang out) just adore her and she basks in all the cooing and patting.

"Mitz likes water. She’d play in a light rain, and sat on the side of the tub when I was in the shower, batting at the stray drops. Snow, however, is the work of demons. 

"She learned that daffodil greenery tastes foul, and that licking toads is a bad idea. She used to sit on the top of the compost bin and gossip with the neighborhood deer, but had nothing good to say with/about the local raccoons. She’s a mighty mouser, and even though shrews are not tasty, she’ll catch them just to prove whose yard it is. She mostly left birds alone, but not always. I had to keep her in the house with the robin, dove and wren nestlings fledged! I don’t think she ever bothered the woodpecker chicks.

"She was a great supervisor when the Greenbelt Woodlands Committee would do invasives removal in the area behind my house. She and a local poodle would sit on the log pile and watch the proceedings, and Mitz would 'comment' as folks walked by.

"M has a thick, thick undercoat, so in Spring shedding season, it looked like a Husky or Golden Retriever lived at my house with big tufts of creamy fur hanging off all the low branches and chair bottoms!"