I am sad to say that on July 12th of 1997 Gizmo ceased to be a part of my life due to circumstances at that time beyond my control. I miss her dearly as she was my best friend during a dark period in my life and she listened to my dreams, my tears, and my humorous side as if she understood. I dedicate this page in tribute to her steadfast friendship and love that she gave to me and asked for little in return. *Many soft backstrokes and pats sent to Gizmo's way*

To be honest, Gizmo was a cat just like any other four legged domesticated feline. She had fit into the typical "cat mold" . . .had fur, a tail, four legs, purrs and mewed at will, had a knack for landing on her feet, etc. etc ... But to be fair to the other innocent cats populating the world, she also fell in a classification of some yet to be determined style all her own. *chuckle*

Granted she wasn't as bad as a cat I used to have that was named Snarf (gives you an idea about her eating habits, eh?). Now Snarf did help instill a couple of good habits in the kids when they were "littler" ... like eat all you are going to in the first sitting, cause the cat sat regally posed in the middle of the kitchen floor just *waiting* for someone to get up from their seat so she could check out the leftovers on the person's plate. She took this as a signal that they were done eating, no excuses allowed in her book ... you should have went to restroom before eating and told your friends never ever to call during mealtimes. And to be fair to Gizmo, she *wasn't* quite as bad as Snarf was about food ...

*Samantha Stevens' imitation* Well.....
Let me rephrase that ... she wasn't *that* bad when it came to human type of foods ...
*Samantha Stevens' imitation* Well ...

Ok, Ok ... So when I lived in Indianapolis, we *had* to warn folks not to go anywhere near the kitchen entry since she took that as a "clue" it was time for her to eat, regardless *if* you had just fed her or not. Let alone being brave enough to not only enter the kitchen but to open the silverware drawer as well -- where she *knew* the can opener was stored at!! Hahahah!!

As far as human type of foods, she wasn't that bad about it. She didn't bother us for a "taste" or a morsel if we cooked the stuff ourselves. She was more content with her can of cat food at those times. BUT if we decided to bring in carry-out ... well, that was when she had to be "locked up" in the bedroom. She just *loves* carry out! Hahahah!! We even opened her a fresh can of food to try to divert her but to no avail ... and when she was released from her "bedroom prison", she started sniffing around looking for the sacks thinking that there would be something left in it for her.

Gizmo was given to me in the fall of 94, she was a stray that hung around my kid's new grade school. Originally I named her Sinatra cause of her pale blue eyes, but the kids didn't like that name all that well and somehow she was renamed Gizmo. She is a long haired cat that is predominantly white in color (except for her tail and ears have a tinge of an apricot color to them). And some folks who are allergic to cats had no problem being around her, even if she ventured to curl up next to them while they are visiting.

She had an operation over the latter part of summer '95 to remove a "polyp" from her ear (sort of like a tumor and a common-like affliction of cats although she is the first cat I had ever had that developed this). She made it thru the operation just fine. . .but at an undetermined time while they were getting ready to move her to the kennel like area, she went into cardiac arrest and was "dead" for what they think might have been around 15 minutes. The vet patiently worked on her and "revived" her ... then called to let us know what happened. The vet was a really cool guy though, and put her on life support for a couple of days at no charge to us and his assistants took extremely good care of her. I would also venture to think that during this time, she was one of the cats that evoked the most sympathy from an IRC channel -- I would log in and first off be asked how Gizmo was and to let her know that folks were praying for her recovery. *smile* She came out of the comatose state but was totally blind at the time. We were told that this could be a permanent condition or she could regain her eyesight over the next couple of weeks. In time she gradually regained enough of her vision to make out shapes and shadows (so we could feel a little more at ease if we had/wanted to rearrange a piece of furniture) but has not (and most probably, at this late date, will not) regained all of her original sight back. Needless to say, as a result of this, she is sort of "pampered" to a degree by us.

Not to "down" her, she *did* possess some good habits. Like, for example, she is not a counter-top hanger-outer, and I never had to break out my water gun to aide in her developing this habit ... the kitchen counter tops just don't interest her. *shrug* And she doesn't like to lie *real* close to folks at nite and thus doesn't *smother* you or get in the way. And she is a neat eater as well ... *shrug*

But I had also witnessed some of her stunts, some that we couldn't seem to "break" her out of doing. Sometimes I can't help but laugh in memory at her attention -getting antics ... other times I shake my head wondering *why* she did some of the things she does.

Hmmm ... I suppose that I have somehow managed to get your curiosity up as to *what* this cat's somewhat unexplainable habits may have been. Well, she had a few but outside of the carry-out food fetish, she had only 2 habits that are *really* noticeable to outsiders.

The first one was (and one that sometimes has me woken up on the mornings I didn't have to work) that she seemed to have a thing that her litter box needed to be "accessorized" ... with clothes!! Not an odd sight to go into the bathroom and see parts of my or Bry's wardrobe drug into her litter box, and she had this habit for a long time. Now to let me explain to you *just* how nerve grating this could be at times ... we tried to attempt to store our laundry in the area below the vanity, thinking the doors on it would deter her thus help break her out of this "habit". Good idea, eh? Well, we thought so too ... until the next day when Bry screeched out at me to come to see what *my* cat had done, and I went into to the bathroom to see that she had drug a pair of clean folded jeans from his bedroom to her litter box!! Hahahah!! We even contemplated going to a thrift shop to buy her litter box some clothing ... Hmmm, do you think we ought to have named her "Barbie" instead???

Spring came earlier to Indiana in 1996 than most seemed to think. Disregard Phil the Groundhog's prediction back in February about 6 more weeks of winter, and ignore the fact that we got some snow up 'til the end of March that year. Gizmo stated quite plainly to us here in this small Indianapolis apartment that spring had arrived back in January!!!! Now the cat wasn't a "howler" ... more so like a constant "me-MROW-wing" sounding cat ... *repeatedly* so. *taking a couple of aspirin as we speak* *recalling the roommate as he woke her up several times while stating, "See ... this is *what* "little miss thing" does, she sleeps during the day to keep me up at nite crying and flirting with me"* Now, to make matters worse, with the advent of "Gizmo Spring", she also fell in love. Aw, how sweet I know ... *except* that she fell in love with my roommate!! She sat and looked at him, batting her little blue eyes at him, and followed him around the apartment while rubbing against his legs. I guess that is what he got for having the distinction of being the only male in the apartment. *chuckle* He would have liked to somehow excused this behavior of hers being somehow a result of her going partially blind ... but somehow I don't think the two things were linked whatsoever ...

Now to be fair to Bry, he *did* try to be easy with her feelings and let her subtly know that he *just* wasn't interested in her on the level that she would like for him to be. That although he loves her, it wasn't *that* kind of love and he just ain't ready for an inter-species relationship, having enough problems with the strictly human ones. Hahahah!!

When I moved to Pittsburgh in 1996, Gizmo's temporary "while in transit home" was the first item we had to pack as she disliked the moving activity in the apartment. She sat in her "cage" mewing every once in a while to remind me and FP- that she was indeed disliking her mobile experience. Once we arrived to the house, we let her out in a bedroom to let her start her re-adjustment period by letting her scurry underneath a bed.

She sort of liked Pittsburgh. She started an "affair" with FP-'s computer mouse, hugging it close to her as she stretched out in the one area she was not allowed to be at while on his desk - in front of the computer and its vents. She swatted at FP- if he tried to move her away from it and thus it became a game between him and her as to who was the most determined. She sometimes won these bouts by slinking and "scrunching" herself around the nooks and crannies on his desk until she was back in front of the computer itself, she would look at him sort of smugishly as she instantly flopped down in her reclining regal pose.

She once got out of the house via a bathroom window she found open. She had jumped from the toilet tank to the window sill then up onto the middle slats of wood area of the window only to discover "hey, this top window is open halfway down!!!" Being a curious cat, she climbed up to investigate this neat thing she found and we assumed she fell out of the window accidentally. Don't be alarmed, there was a back porch roof that she landed on that was less than a foot below the window itself. Now we weren't home when she decided to explore the window area, so we didn't hear her try to get back in ...

When we got home, we noticed that she wasn't perched in one of the back upstairs windows to greet us ... but we didn't think much of it at the time, assuming that she was possibly napping. When we called for her and got no answer we started to get concerned and that is when we noticed that we had left the bathroom window open. So FP- went rushing downstairs and started to call for her in the backyard area as I continued to search for a few minutes before I went out front to call for her.

This little old man noticed I was calling what was apparently a pet's name and came over to ask me if I was looking for a small white cat. I looked at him startled then thought perhaps Gizmo had somehow happened by his place and he either took her inside or took note of where she had trekked off to. "Oh, I seen her," he replied, "she's up on the roof!" I looked at the roof of FP-'s house and the man said, "No no, not *that* roof ... the Hunter's roof!" He then pointed to the roof of a house 2 doors down from FP-'s place!! Sure enough, as if on cue, Gizmo came over and stood on the corner of the roof looking down at me as if to say "Hey, there you are!! Man, I been waiting to tell you about these neat places I been discovering..." but by the next day she was more than happy to call an end to her rooftop adventure! *chuckling*

She liked to "test" FP-'s patience levels in the morning, she would sit under her favorite chair while he showered and shaved. From where she "hid" at she would pretend not to watch him but she was 'cause the moment he was dressed in his dark colored slacks and was tying his tie for work, she would slink out and lovingly rub a figure-8 'round the hemline of his slacks!!

She also liked to perform scientific experiments with gravitational forces a la Isaac Newton. She would sit and look at whatever it was near her (preferably a pencil or a pen) and would casually "bat" at it - careful to take her time at doing this in hopes that a human wouldn't interfere with this experiment of hers. Finally she would get it near the edge then she would give it one final bat of the paw to send whatever it was to the floor... then look down at it then at you as if shocked such a thing happened and totally innocent looking as if to say "now how on earth did that do *that*??" We called these "Gizmo's Experiments With Gravity" as we would hear things "clunk" or "clink" onto to the floor.

But I am sure I am not the first to have a cat with a somewhat quirkish behavior in how she compromises living with members of the human species. *shrug*

Last updated October 1997© Carol aka Secretive