The Rankin Zoo 

Charcoal died this morning. It was a freak accident - we were moving around some furniture and he must have been caught up in it. I think his neck was broken and he died, but he really didn’t suffer at all. But how he died really isn’t important.

We got Charcoal from the Houston SPCA in February, 1996 as a kitten. He was probably born about this time of year in 1995 - so he was 10 years old. Before we got him he was very sick as a kitten and was hand raised by one of the vets at the SPCA. We went to get Charcoal because B had given me Misty as a birthday present and we figured she needed a friend. When we got to the SPCA the only kitten they had was Charc. At first I was like “I don’t want a black cat, they’re so boring - lets come back some other time when they have more kittens to choose from.” But, since we were there we decided to have them bring Charc to us so we could meet him.

Well, he was just the sweetest kitten either of us had ever seen. He was such a lover - he walked all over us, purring his heart out. So, despite being a boring black cat we decided to take him. My Dad actually suggested the name “Charcoal” and it sounded good so that’s what he got. We usually called him “Charc” or one of many other silly nicknames. Of course, he turned out to be the greatest cat ever - everyone loved Charc! He and Misty got along great, playing all the time. They kept me up late at night playing, and then tried to get me to sleep in by snuggling with me in the mornings. Charc always was a snuggler - he was snuggled up in bed with us last night.

Charc had some interesting talents. In his younger years he was great at catching his mouse toy as it flew threw the air - almost doing a flip in the process sometimes. He would also retrieve the mouse (usually) so you could throw it for him again. He also had the odd habit of coming to you when you whistled. So, if you ever needed Charc all you had to do was whistle a little and he’d come running. I think he actually hated the sound of whistling and he came when you did it with the hopes that you would stop. It was pretty funny to be absentmindedly whistling some tune while cleaning the house only to have Charc come up and try to get you to stop. Maybe it was just my whistling.

One of Charc’s great traits was his desire to bring us things. I think most cats bring dead birds and mice, and Charc did bring us quite a few dead voles, but he also brought things like sticks, rocks, plastic bags, and one time he even brought us a yarmulka (no idea where he got it from). Of course his greatest feat, which he hadn’t done in a while, was to bring us the newspaper. We get a free weekly community newspaper and for a while there Charc was good at bringing it to us almost every week. He would pick it up at the end of the driveway, somehow get it over or under the fence into the back yard, drag it up on our back porch, and then do his best to get it in through the cat door. Usually it ended up just outside the cat door. One time he brought us 3 or 4, I guess stealing them from the neighbors.

I know we will all miss Charcoal very much. It’s too bad that Coral won’t really remember him - although I’m sure she’ll hear many stories about him. She can say “Charcoal” and I know she loved to pat him and hug him - but she has a few more cats to pat and hug so she should be okay.

We love you Charc.

Yesterday we were at Home Depot with Coral looking for light fixtures for our addition. There were a couple of pigeons in the store, which seemed odd. We see finches in there all the time, but pigeons are pretty big birds to be hanging out in Home Depot.

Anyway, Coral seemed interested in the birds and so we let her walk over to them in the isle. As she got closer they would hop away, occasionally actually taking flight to move back a few feet. She basically chased them all the way to the end of the isle, where they flew up into the shelves. I called her back to me and discovered that the birds had pooped on her! I guess when they flew up to get away they went out over her and dropped a dirty bomb!

Coral didn’t seem to mind - but it was a little gross.

Coral has started talking to the cats - in their language. Tonight, about an hour after Coral had gone to bed, B heard her fussing a little. This isn’t too unusual so B decided to wait a bit to see if Coral would settle down.

A few minutes later the fussing stopped but B could hear a cat meowing out in the hall. This is a common occurrence in our house, of course, but it does sometimes wake up Coral. So, B stuck her head out into the hall and could distinctly hear a cat meow - coming from Coral’s room. After each cat “meow” there was a Coral “meow” in response. It went something like this:

Misty: “Meow”

Coral: “Meow”

Misty: “Meow”

Coral: “Meow”

Misty: “Meow”

Coral: “Meow”

You get the idea.

Turns out there was a cat locked in Coral’s closet and I guess after an hour of being in there decided she wanted to get out. Coral, being a friendly person, decided to have a cat conversation with Misty.

Anyway, we released the cat, rocked Coral a bit, and all is quiet again. Meow. 

Coral has been enjoying her rocking horse (or the modern version of it) lately. She has tried riding the dogs, much to her enjoyment (and their displeasure), but she needs my help to pull that off.

As you can see, she needs a haircut. And, I’m not very good at putting her hair up so she usually looks like a monster when I’m taking care of her.

She’s also start bossing the pets around. “Off” or “Out” is a common command to the dogs and cats. Buttercup’s licking is now often met with a stern “No!” along with a shove to the face. She also doesn’t like them playing with her toys.

Her vocabulary continues to grow, which is fun to hear. We need to be careful with her pronunciation of one of her new words: “fork” - she’s still working on that one and it can be a bit embarrassing they way she says it now. We have a similar problem with “sit” but it’s not as bad.

Thanksgiving? Well, on Thanksgiving Eve (yesterday) we did get some snow. It didn’t really stick to the ground but we got about a 1/4 of an inch on top of our picnic table. We’ll have to see what Mother Nature can put together for Christmas in a few weeks.

Today, Tim and his family are swinging by on the way to Andrea’s mom’s house. We’ll show them how the addition is coming along. Then, we’re heading over to Mimi’s house for a cozy Thanksgiving of just the three of us and Mimi (and Stu and Lucy).

We made a short visit to Chapel Hill this weekend to see B’s mom and sister and to see my sister and her new fiancee! Coral had fun hanging out with Meme and Aunt Iris and, of course, Cody (the dog). Coral also had fun visiting with Em and Jon and, more importantly, Sierra the African dog (Em and Jon were dog sitting).

We drove down Friday night and Coral slept in the car. When we were down there Coral was too excited to sleep much but overall she was a pretty good kid. We went to a couple of different playgrounds, which she enjoyed. She also had fun during our trip to Lowes. She can have fun pretty much anywhere that she’s able to run around like a maniac.

We drove home Monday afternoon and were excited to check out the progress on the addition. Well, not tons of progress but at least some. This morning when I went in to get Coral after she woke up her first words were “Bubba?” She misses her dogs, who are at the kennel, but she’ll get to see them this evening.