Shevek

He came into my life on a tearful April day. My grandmother died suddenly a few weeks after turning 80 and we all went to our funeral. One of my dads cousin hitched a ride with my sister and me back to Bergen. On the way she told us that she had a himalayan kitten with a jaw that wasn’t properly aligned. She was giving him away and needed someone to take him. I had been thinking about getting a cat and jumped on the opportunity.

He was charming. The jaw didn’t look right, but it didn’t seem to hold him back in any way.

A few weeks later he was ready to move in and started out slinking along the walls for a few minutes. Then he decided that the place was safe and set about establishing himself as king of the home.

He loved when visitors came, always sitting ready by the door after the doorbell rang. He was good friends with my parents old dog and not so good friends with my sisters puppy. He liked being where the action was and quite often got jealous of books or computers that sometimes got more attention than he did. The tv he didn’t mind as it was far enough away to offer lots of lap space. He preferred to get into places where he wasn’t allowed and made sure to do more wrong in front of Kristin than me, having no respect for mild voices. He loved being scratched between the nose and the eyes and hated getting combed, the latter being a bit unpractical when you are a persian. He didn’t like travelling, but liked getting to places. He lived most of his life indoors, but liked being outside when the opportunity arose. He just made sure to keep within earshot of the house so he could hear us calling. He expected a sink full of drinking water in the bathroom every night when we went to bed. He considered most flat surfaces as potential sleeping places and didn’t hesitate to poke us in the face when we tried to occupy his favorite place in the sofa for a nap.

He was wonderful company for 14,5 years.

Miss you kitty!

Helpful and cute

Kristin is hard at work with our photo album from our trip to the US during the summer of 2008 . (Yes, I know, we’re way behind on our photos – but we’re finally getting a move on)

Shevek is helping as usual. And, as usual, his help consists of being adorable and in the way.

At the moment he’s helping Kristin researching the Huseby family by laying on the book about farms in Tune in Østfold.

Bad fur day

The scene of the deed.

Shevek has a lot of fur, a lot more than any cat should need. During the summer he spends more time outside than during the rest of the year and consequently pick up more dirt in his fur. So, we usually give him a  fur cut on his tummy and chest.

I know that there are people who take their cats to professional groomers for things like this. Shevek doesn’t live with those people. He is unfortunate enough to live with people who take a pair of scissors and cut the fur off without ever considering his vanity. The end result is a cat who looks normal from the back, stranger than usual from the front and taller than usual from the side.

After the fighting and cutting is done he usually retreats into a corner to nurse his wounded feelings, but an hour later I’m usually forgiven.

Do you want to work?

Shevek considers any fairly flat surface in the house (except, possibly, hot electric plates) as his beds. The laptop keyboard is no exception.

Shevek is watching golf

We bought a flat screen TV this winter. Shevek has never been interested in watching TV before, but now he has a table in front of the TV and has discovered the alluring screen. And just like one of his owners he thinks that golf is one of the most interesting things shown on TV. Usually he’s happy just watching, but sometimes he has to put his paw in.

The owners are mostly looking forward to the golf season starting here in Norway, and we’re playing our first round tomorrow.