April 26 would have been Taffy's 25th birthday. Taffy was a grey squirrel with razor-sharp teeth who I never actually had the pleasure (?) of meeting, though Bess spent many quality months with him, bottle-feeding him, raising him from a baby, and fondly recalls the times he bit through the flesh of her fingers "right to the bone"... aww... what a little imp! Even after he grew up and she released him, he kept coming back to her, presumably because he had a taste for human blood. He lived to be six years old, which is actually pretty good for a squirrel in the wild... Bess' blood must have nourished him particularly well.
April 25 would have been Sam's 15th birthday. Sam (whose registered name was Jemchipsa Skytarget) was a purebred Ocicat, and was one of the six cats that Mad Bess brought with her from Blighty when she fell for your Captain's quirky yet apparently irresistible charms. How can one sum up Sam in a single blog entry? Can't be done. One of his many aliases was Mr. Moleskin because of his unusually smooth coat texture. He had approximately 50 other aliases describing the many facets of his looks and absolutely unique personality, too numerous to even touch on here. For instance, he liked to open cupboard doors, climb inside, and sit silently in the dark for half an hour or so, staring into space, just chillin', having a bit of a meditate. He had "territorial issues" which no amount of medication seemed to alleviate (which is all Nicky's fault but we won't open that can of worms right now... will we, Nicky?... Will we???) Sam didn't say, "Meow," like a normal cat... instead he said, "Muhhh!" in a voice I've never heard any other cat use. He just wanted to be a friend to all the other cats, even the few who for some reason shunned him, and liked nothing better than cuddling up with them on the sofa or wherever. Sam died at the far-too-young age of 11 because of a blood clot... I can still feel his silky moleskin fur though. Later, buddy.
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