The first part comes from an old girlfriends complaint that went ” all you ever want to do is to be surfing somewhere”. Well….. ya.

Second tag came from the same source. Because I used to go surfing before work, I’d carry my wetsuit and Work suits around in the car with me and again she said I was the only person who could go from a “wetsuit to a silk suit in 10 minutes and know how to act appropriate to my outfit”.

“Irresponsible surf bum to Businessman in 10 minutes”

A couple of years ago, my sister helped my niece to set up an email address for me that began: Ragaliontrix. Ragalion and Trixie were my cats. When I set up my 43 things account, I simply shortened it to Ragalion’s name. He later died. He’s been gone almost a year now. He was eight years old. He looked a little like he had a mane, which reminded me of a lion. He also resembled a breed of cat called a Ragdoll. I thought it over and made up a name for him: Ragalion.

He and Trixie were littermates.

My now deceased brother-in-law Ramon and a family friend named Paul, had found Ragalion, Trixie, and their sister Molly O’Socks in our garage when the kittens were between ten and fourteen days old. Though they looked like a feral cat we had seen in the neighborhood, we never saw the potential mother again.

We live in Springfield, which didn’t have a no-kill shelter. (Now, we don’t even have the MSPCA shelter. They decided to pull out of Springfield.)

My mother and I raised and cared for the three kittens, who required bottle feedings and other care throughout both the day and at scheduled times during the night. This was time consuming of course. But, my mother and I love animals…and I needed a reason to do more than exist. And so, I ended up with two wonderful loving cats. My mother ended up with one.

Stray or feral cats must choose a kitten that they feel is the healthiest, and provide this kitten with additional resources such as milk. The mother had focused on Molly O’Socks, and so she was the largest and the healthiest at the time. Mother cats don’t do this to be cruel of course, they do it so that at least one of their kittens will live.

This is one of the many reasons that people who feel that spaying or neuturing their pet is cruel anger me.

My city is overrun with cats who were thrown out for no longer being kittens. These of course are the strays. Then these strays have kittens. A kitten born outside, and raised without human interaction, is legally “feral” by the age of ten months. Feral cats can’t become pets. They mistrust and fear humans. They also can’t be in a shelter. They would only fight with the other cats. At best they can be spayed or neutered and then released back outside. Many small, underfunded charities do this sort of thing all the time.

Sorry for rambling…

“History is written by the victors. So let’s make sure we win!”
-Maya Walker (me)