Nothing Left But Ashes...

Do you ever hear about someone that is really mean or does something really horrible and you think to yourself “how can there be people like this out there, what posses someone to be so cruel and ruthless?” and then you find out later that they had a troubled childhood or they have some mental illness or they were being blackmailed or… menstruating (can I say that on the internet?). Anyway, you then realize that there’s a reason for it all. Well, as I’ve mentioned many times (perhaps TOO many times) we have three cats – The Tin Man (with no heart) Ashes, The Scarecrow (with no brain) Scooter, and The Cowardly Lion (with no courage) Watson. Now, all of my cats get judged for one reason or another. Watson, for never allowing himself to meet new people unless he has spent his allotted time under the bed first and is sure there is no impending danger AND that he can make a quick getaway if necessary. Scooter, for being TOO willing to meet new people which included jumping up the skirt of one of my visiting teachers when we had just moved into the ward (sorry Sister Cooper) and for urinating on the couch. And, Ashes, for maintaining a statue like pose, using her “angry eyes” to intimidate strangers or… anyone really, randomly hitting Scooter, hissing when people get to close or simply look at her wrong and not allowing anyone to touch her (she’s the only cat I’ve ever seen that when you reach down to pet her, instead of arching her back she pushes it toward the floor) and let’s not leave out the growling when the other two cat’s meow, eat, walk in her eye line or want to sit in the same room as her.

Now, I think Scooter’s issues are self-explanatory and Watson is the only one of our cats that was found instead of “fostered” before being taken to the humane society so even though he was a kitten when we got him, who knows what may have happened to him before the nice people saved him and the crazy people (me) brought him home. However, Ashes is a different story. You see by all appearances Ashes is the perfect cat, she only goes in the litter box, she only eats her cat food, with the exception of when she was a kitten and walked across my Mom’s brownies, she leaves stuff alone, she keeps to herself, she’s quite, she is a very good car traveler and she has NEVER gotten sick so we have had NO vet fees for her in the almost 6 years we’ve had her however… what’s with the attitude? I mean, she was the runt of her litter so perhaps she feels she has something to prove but when she was a kitten she was so playful and fun. She would cuddle up to me and play with my Dad so why the sudden intense anger issues? Well the other day I was telling someone at work how when we lived in Montana we didn’t have anyone to watch her so we would just take her with us on the drive to Salt Lake (at least once every other month). Then I thought about the fact that when she finally got settled in our house in West Valley I went ahead and brought her home a friend… and then another friend – both of which are bigger then her. But, it wasn’t until I found these pictures a couple nights ago that I truly received my answer…. I’m sorry Ashes; I hope someday you can forgive me – and the world for its wrongs against you.

Because one picture like this wasn't enough apparently...
She was stuck in a bag and instead of helping her... we took pictures :)