In the Beginning...

I had intended to start this series of posts earlier this month but my work schedule and my body wouldn't hear of it. I just crashed in bed so much I never could get myself in front of the computer long enough to do it. I dictated this for the boy from my cell and then just emailed it to myself so I COULD post it on the PC when I got to it. Many thanks to @danapixie, @holliecatrocks and @chloetoby for helping me with all the finer details along the way and to KC and everyone else here on the blog end that helped so much nearly a year ago when I was in full shock and grief that I'd failed to pull the Boo through one more crisis. But this isn't about being sad. It's about laughing at the life he lived and maybe, just maybe, learning something from the quintessential Good Cat VP!
So, without further ado, here's Crown Prince Joseph A Nimbus of Iowa talking about those early days before he even really had a name!
Hello my dear furiends. Today we shall take a trip down memory lane as we approach the one year anniversary of my arrival here at the Bridge. It hasn't been the easiest of adjustments, NOT getting up at 430am to get poked and prodded and stuff like that. But I still do what I can for my family from here although I must say controlling Uncle Curzon's stinkies from here is pretty difficult! But Hollie, NascarKitty, and Tez helped me across and Inigo and Sniffie had my mansion ALL ready for me - well except for my unique touches like my bed and my momentos.
So without any further ado, let's start down memory lane!
I was born just before midnight on a warm late-summer Des Moines, Iowa night. No one knew - not Mr. Cat, not TSB - knew for sure I even existed until August 22, the day before I was born. Jadzia, my wonderful Mom, was still a kitten herself (albeit she was nearly a year old, but us Coonies age slower and more gracefully hehe). Needless to say I hid well, until it was time to make my debut!
There was a terrible storm the night before I was born; it was so loud no one could sleep, not even a kitten fetus! Mom's twin brother, my Uncle Curzon (as TSB always called him when she'd talk to me), curled up with Mom under the table and held her through the night. And that's noteworthy why, you ask? Because he's more scared of storms than anyone I've ever known! But there they huddled in for the night, a scared TSB sitting next to them trying to be brave.
The next day was spent on pins and needles, TSB hovering over Mom like a... well, like she did over me years later, the worrywart she is! Mama started "nesting" as they call it in full earnest, and just before midnight, Mom walked up to TSB and laid down. Well folks very few humans have ever moved faster in their lives! In the flash of an eye, she'd gathered up a couple towels and got them spread out on the floor just in time for Mom to lay down on them, have one more contraction, and out I came! TSB says I came out looking like a black field mouse with a cat face but with the cutest little ears ever! I'm not so sure that's a good thing but considering how much she loved me I have to assume it's at least not a bad thing! She also said that my Mom instinctively knew what to do next, but it is way too disgusting to tell! Once I dried off she realized I wasn't a black kitty, but a grey one! And both hoomins say that grey kitties are the most special! And with Mr. Cat's personality, TSB instantly decided I should be his kitten... Now how she knew so much in advance I don't know, but she was right! Mr. Cat would end up being MY hoomin, but I always loved TSB too! We just had a different relationship, I guess. Mr. Cat let me be my own mancat, while TSB was always "checking" me making sure I wasn't hurt or something... I never fully knew what she was "checking" for but Curzon said she did the same thing with him! She was always hovering over me and Mom, like she was protecting us from some danger neither of us saw! She brought Mom food and water so she didn't have to leave me once we settled in what would be my first "nest". TSB was awesome at making that nest too... It was comfy and hard to get to unless you could get past her! Even when she was sleeping she was blocking the one entrance in! Nevermind everyone else was shut out of the room!

(TSB: as anyone who knows cats knows, male cats tend to kill any kitten in their "pride" that isn't theirs - this is true of wild and domestic cats. I was genuinely afraid that Curzon or the other wee kitten Ollie would do harm to Nimbus or that Jadzia would maul them for trying. I had no clue at that point that Curzon would take so well to the kitten.)
As I said, my Mom was quite young herself, and her body wasn't quite ready to be having kittens, never mind the stress of having 2 other cats, a kitten, another hoomin and that hoomin's two wee ones under one wee roof! So TSB helped Mom feed me those first few weeks and kept me and Mom safe and secluded! But one time she forgot to shut the door when she let Mom out for some alone time and I found my way out of the nest! One of the wee hoomins told TSB that he saw Curzon put me back in the nest... Dang brat spoiled our fun! But it also told her that she didn't need to worry about Curzon, and trust me there was enough to worry about! Having Curzon as a "dad" like figure helped TSB and Mom a lot although come time for TSB to feed me, I'm sure she'd beg to differ! They tended to try to steal MY formula as TSB was trying to nurse me with what little she had - pretty much a straw! Luckily TSB is very coordinated with her back feet and was able to protect my noms from the greedy adults! *giggle*
Now a couple weeks or so before I was born, Mr. Cat drove out to Iowa from Ohio to see TSB, and accidentally left his dress shirt there. Well after I was born, she was holding me (wearing said shirt) to give Mom a break when I crawled into the pocket and curled up for a good wee nap! Until that point I didn't have a name, but after that, they started calling me Joey (like a baby kangaroo). I'm so glad that I grew out of that name! As I grew it just didn't fit that well, but considering TSB almost named me Spock because of my pointy ears (or T'Pol if I would've been a girl), I guess Joey isn't bad! (Note to TSB: for the sake of future kitty's dignity please spare them the Star Trek names! Aren't Curzon AND Jadzia enough? If you don't stop now you'll end up with Kirk and Uhura or Sisko and Ezri... or something even worse - Q!)
Not long after that we were all shackled up in carriers and went on a long, long ride! What indignity for a three-week old kitty! Thankfully Mom and I were together and so she just wrapped me up in her paws and tucked me into her belleh and we slept most of the trip. The hoomins did stop along the way to check on us, and Mr. Cat got a wrapped up tip of a napkin wet and let me suck on that a little because he was concerned that I might still be having difficulties getting enough MommieNoms. But that would be the last time the hoomins would need to help Mom out. Once we got settled into our new home so far away in a land they call Ohio, we were fine. Mom made us a nest under the bed where no one could get us (well TSB could but not easily or quickly) and we settled into our new home!

 This pic and the one below are two of the first pics taken of me in Oh-io! Wasn't I such a tiny little feller?

 My first (actually 2nd, 1st wasn't photographed) experience with water. No one told me to drink it, so I put my paw in it! How indignant, to get wet! And every time TSB sees this pic she laughs at my big back paws... something about Uncle Curzon...

 Me an Uncle Curzon shortly after the move

 Me and my Mommeh before we even had furniture!

A couple weeks later Mr. Cat brought home this massively big and apparently heavy box which had a long rectangular tube in it. TSB said it was their "computer desk" but how something so massive fit in something so flat I don't know! Anyways, the tube was much too small for anything but a cat arm to get in and much too long for two cats to take swipes at each other in. But it was the PERFECT size and length for a wee just barely seeing little mancat in training like I was to crawl in and lay down to watch the show: Angry Twins! Yes, I was smart even as a wee one much to the disgust of my Mom especially! But the hoomins loved it so much they even videotaped a wee bit of it (it's not digital sorry)! But it was all good. Before long I was going out on adventures across the kitchen and getting spotted by an ever-present Mom and getting dragged back to the nest or crawling all over and then snuggling in for a long nap with Uncle Curzon.
I had lots of adventures that I think every kitten has to some extent or other if they're so lucky as me to be born into their forever home. Yes, many times my adventures got cut short but sometimes I got lucky! Once I figured out what my claws were meant for, there was no stopping me! I spent what seemed like forever at the time trying to climb up the loveseat! When I got older though I mastered the art of the jump by analyzing the situation and then nailing the landing precisely. (See, Mom, I WAS paying attention!) I also loved following Mom a lot, though water took a lot of getting used to! Mom did have to show me the finer art of drinking and not just get your paws wet. I even followed her into what the hoomins call the "litterbox" and then proceeded to get all the compliments as I got older for burying my treasures! I was even so nice as to bury the twins' too! That made me something of a hero around these parts! But I didn't do it for any other reason but that the twins are VERY stinky!
(TSB: he isn't exaggerating there! Curzon is just outright stinky but given an upset stomach or diarreah, and Jadzia will kill you with stinkies!)
Once I was strong enough in my back legs and a little bigger, I started learning the high art of THoE solo! It's hard to do when you're just a wee mancat in training without a lot of weight to throw around! There were lots of miscues and abrupt stops (doors in the way) as I learned how to stop and turn on a dime. But luckily for me, shortly before I was born TSB bought a string on a stick kind of toy we all call the whip and I took to it instantly. She taught me how to turn on a dime, to stop and study before making a move, and to control your prey once it's caught! Unfortunately, she forgot to tell me that not everything that the hoomins use is edible! I was a curious kitten, and I don't think I ever really outgrew that. But when I was young I nommed everything, from the computer chair arm to hoomin toes (only once each mol) to the wee leftover piece of the bar of Ivory soap! It was nommy too apparently because they couldn't seem to keep me from it that day! Thankfully that too was just a fluke, one day only, because I think TSB was getting frustrated! TSB says maybe it was just a phase as I was "teething" whatever that is.
I was in a hurry to grow up though; maybe subconciously I knew I wouldn't be around as long so I had to live fast! I nursed as long as I could get Mom to let me (TSB thinks that's why I was so big). I made sure to play even if it meant making it a wee harder for Mr. Cat to change his guitar strings. I boxed with Curzon a lot so that I would be a pro by the time I was a full grown mancat! TSB told me the twins could play rough, so I had to learn quick! She also wrassled with me a bit as a kitten so that I'd have plenty of practice and muscles!

 I snoozed with Uncle Curzon lots when I was young after we got done play boxing. I was safe from my Mommeh for a bit! He was a pawsome kitteh-sitter!

 Oh yesh, I had some wild hippycat fur when I was a wee one! Look how tiny I was! Boy that didn't last, did it TSB? (Nope, sure didn't boy!) She called this my Einstein stage...

Join me again soon for another installment of my story!