We first laid eyes on Moorka in May of 1988 - she was being offered in front of the Corti Bros. Market on Freeport Blvd. in Sacramento, California. My husband and children and I were out en masse doing what we loved to do together - grocery shop! As we passed through the front doors of the store, we lost our oldest son Michael - who definitely was a cat lover, to a store-box full of squealing, crying baby kittens. Before long, he was lobbying us inside the store to please, pleeeese, pleeez, let him take a special and particular kitten that he saw!
So why am I writing about a Cat on a Real Estate Blog? It is quite simply, really. No house is quite the same as a home that has at least one beloved and respected pet. The name "Moorka" is a Ukrainian name and it means ' ' the one who purrs.' From the moment we relented and our son took his kitten home, that is what she did for us all... she sang and purred. She smiled.
Moorka was truly one of the world's great animals. She had a decent being and a sense of duty and honor. She lived with us on El Prado Way for 19 years and was very much a member of our family. All of us would go so far as to say - she had a spirit, a soul. Even my son Andrij (Ukr, Pronounced Andree) who has a severe cat allergy, had love and respect for her. How can one respect a cat you ask? Let me explain...
There are cats who lounge in front of a fireplace or curl up in an obscure place somewhere hidden in the house and come out at meal time - or maybe our of sheer boredom. From her maturity, she seemed to have a work ethic. She began many a day with a gift - neatly laid out on our front porch mat. She brought us an occasional lizard or dragonfly, mice or rat. As she became older and more adept, she brought us birds too. We noticed early on that the birds she brought, were never the gentle Robin, sparrows or doves who lived in our trees. Quite typically it was a bird of annoyance - a scrub jay or mockingbird. Their bodies were never torn limb from limb - but neatly laid out for us to see as we stepped out of the front door.
When family member became ill or was sad - she would seek them out and curl up in their space - seemingly to say, " I am here and I care...this too will pass." She was like a 'little mother' to all of my children - her children too, I think. She treated me like I was her peer. She greeted our guests and even chose an honored few - whom she would allow to linger with her. Then there was Gary... she found something in him that brought her to his lap - every time he ever came over. She loved him.
When Moorka was about 18 1/2 years old, a county contractor dumped a mountain of concrete in front of my house. It took about a month for this megalith of concrete to be hauled away! Every day when I came home from work, she was perched at the top of the heap - as if guarding from above. One morning as she left the inside of our home 'to go to work,' I watched her as she stopped suddenly and then very quickly went into crouch position - she had seen something in that pile of rubble; a rat most likely. Out rumbled and stumbled, the biggest, fattest rat I have ever seen! He was bigger than our tiny and petite little cat! He must have been on a suicide mission. He paused when he saw her and then turned around slowly - barely making it back into the pile in time.
This 'Cat and Rat' game continued on for several days until the rat became either too hungry or suicidal...but he chose to 'give up the ghost' at Moorka's paw. She looked at him with a look that seemed to say, 'really, really!? That's all you've got?" Ultimately, we think that the rat took her out with him...but in a prolonged and agonizing way. She succumbed to feline leukemia within a few months - even then desperately trying to 'do her thing.'
One of the hardest days of our family's life was burying our beloved friend, Moorka. She raised a litter of kittens who were the prized pets of our neighborhood, a stray kitten found on a construction site and a tiny black Pomeranian puppy - who to this day loves cats.
Our houses do not really become homes until we make a place in them for a pet sharing them with another of God's creatures. In return, we are blessed with love and devotion from the mighty beating hearts of our companions and friends who make our house into a home.
So why am I writing about a Cat on a Real Estate Blog? It is quite simply, really. No house is quite the same as a home that has at least one beloved and respected pet. The name "Moorka" is a Ukrainian name and it means ' ' the one who purrs.' From the moment we relented and our son took his kitten home, that is what she did for us all... she sang and purred. She smiled.
Moorka was truly one of the world's great animals. She had a decent being and a sense of duty and honor. She lived with us on El Prado Way for 19 years and was very much a member of our family. All of us would go so far as to say - she had a spirit, a soul. Even my son Andrij (Ukr, Pronounced Andree) who has a severe cat allergy, had love and respect for her. How can one respect a cat you ask? Let me explain...
There are cats who lounge in front of a fireplace or curl up in an obscure place somewhere hidden in the house and come out at meal time - or maybe our of sheer boredom. From her maturity, she seemed to have a work ethic. She began many a day with a gift - neatly laid out on our front porch mat. She brought us an occasional lizard or dragonfly, mice or rat. As she became older and more adept, she brought us birds too. We noticed early on that the birds she brought, were never the gentle Robin, sparrows or doves who lived in our trees. Quite typically it was a bird of annoyance - a scrub jay or mockingbird. Their bodies were never torn limb from limb - but neatly laid out for us to see as we stepped out of the front door.
When family member became ill or was sad - she would seek them out and curl up in their space - seemingly to say, " I am here and I care...this too will pass." She was like a 'little mother' to all of my children - her children too, I think. She treated me like I was her peer. She greeted our guests and even chose an honored few - whom she would allow to linger with her. Then there was Gary... she found something in him that brought her to his lap - every time he ever came over. She loved him.
When Moorka was about 18 1/2 years old, a county contractor dumped a mountain of concrete in front of my house. It took about a month for this megalith of concrete to be hauled away! Every day when I came home from work, she was perched at the top of the heap - as if guarding from above. One morning as she left the inside of our home 'to go to work,' I watched her as she stopped suddenly and then very quickly went into crouch position - she had seen something in that pile of rubble; a rat most likely. Out rumbled and stumbled, the biggest, fattest rat I have ever seen! He was bigger than our tiny and petite little cat! He must have been on a suicide mission. He paused when he saw her and then turned around slowly - barely making it back into the pile in time.
This 'Cat and Rat' game continued on for several days until the rat became either too hungry or suicidal...but he chose to 'give up the ghost' at Moorka's paw. She looked at him with a look that seemed to say, 'really, really!? That's all you've got?" Ultimately, we think that the rat took her out with him...but in a prolonged and agonizing way. She succumbed to feline leukemia within a few months - even then desperately trying to 'do her thing.'
One of the hardest days of our family's life was burying our beloved friend, Moorka. She raised a litter of kittens who were the prized pets of our neighborhood, a stray kitten found on a construction site and a tiny black Pomeranian puppy - who to this day loves cats.
Our houses do not really become homes until we make a place in them for a pet sharing them with another of God's creatures. In return, we are blessed with love and devotion from the mighty beating hearts of our companions and friends who make our house into a home.
Lovely, and very true - a house cannot be a home without a fur friend.
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