Rob Chambon of Bicknell, Indiana, USA, recently posted this lovely essay about his late cat to his Facebook page and agreed to share it here as well.
Rob wrote: "Cabbie Girl, my faithful and loving companion, is gone. She has left
me today to pass into another realm where, in the words of a beloved
friend, she is now running freely amidst butterflies and fields of
beautiful wildflowers, forever without end. She came to me in the fall
of 2007, abandoned by her previous owners. I don't know if I found her,
or she found me, but either way, she touched me deeply. Cabbie filled a
void in my life for all those glorious years she stayed here with me,
often times running out to greet my car as it turned into the driveway. I
could always count on her being near at all times, sleeping as she
usually did, on my deck beneath the lights of my tree.
"Countless
times over the years, Cabbie would follow me into my woodland garden,
waiting patiently for me, while I toiled away at building another
section or adding more plants. She was there almost from the very
beginning, seeing for herself how the garden was expanding, and often
times giving her a new place to roam. I'd turn and see here there, lying
on a rotting log, or resting on a cut up tree stump watching me and
waiting to once again follow me out of the woods when I was through. I
shall miss those moments forever.
"It's truly amazing how much we
can be so touched by loving animals like this. They give us
unconditional love and fill voids in our lives like nothing else can.
Cabbie, I am so very blessed with your presence these past nine years,
but it was time to let you go, dear girl. And so, with that said, I
finish this message, with tears in my eyes, saying goodbye one last time
to the finest pet a guy like me could ever have. Goodbye dear girl, my
beloved Cabbie. I love you so much and miss you terribly. You are free
now."
Choose
a wide, shallow pot, such as a bulb pot, to sow the seeds in. Fill it
up to about an inch from the top with potting soil, then sprinkle the
grass seeds over the top. Aim to space the seeds about 1/4 inch apart.
Sprinkle about 1/2 inch of potting mix over the seeds and press to get
good contact between the soil and seeds. Water well and place where it
will get at least a half-day of sun. Keep evenly moist and seeds should
germinate within a week. Wait until the grass is a couple inches high
before giving it to your cats to nibble. Water regularly and feed with a
fish emulsion solution every couple of weeks. If you plant a container
every 4 to 6 weeks, you'll have a steady crop of grass to keep your cats
happy.
While
cat grasses are fast-growing and tasty (if you're a cat), they are
annuals, which means you need to re-sow seeds in order to keep them
continuously growing. Catmint (Nepeta mussinii) and catnip (Nepeta cataria)
are herbaceous perennials, meaning that they will die back to the roots
in the winter, but re-sprout from the same root system in the spring.
They also both contain the organic compound called nepetalactone, which
is known to attract felines. In other words, catmint and catnip are
recreational drugs for cats.
Claire Splan is an Alameda native with a deep appreciation for the joys of gardening
in sandy soil and a Mediterranean climate. She says of her blog, An Alameda Garden, "This is where I share my
gardening successes and frustrations (of which there are many), as well
as news of gardening events and developments in and around the San
Francisco Bay Area. I love writing and talking about gardening and am a
member of the Garden Writers Association, but I also enjoy writing
fiction and other types of nonfiction."
