Pets – Our technological infirmity

Snowy Woods Road, Tay Creek, New Brunswick, Canada

The years in Cambridge drove my need to escape to wild places, I explained.
Goose, “I was born into the wild so getting close to it makes my fur feel alive.”
Me, “Does your fur feel alive when you go out on the screened porch?”
Goose, “The outdoor air smells different. Sometimes I can smell other animals like foxes. The wildest thing I have ever smelled is that long-haired cat that sneaks around the house. That puffs up my tail.”
Me, “I have always had to travel a little to my wild places but the reward has always been far greater than the effort.”
Goose, “Going to a place where you can focus all your senses on what is around you is very rewarding. If you close your eyes, you can imagine the place you are visiting in a different light. The screened porch in the morning is not a screen porch at all. It is a hill overlooking a grass-filled meadow filled with little creatures and the occasional larger creature that causes my fur to stand on end.”
Me, “Does you mind let you wander the meadow?”
Goose, “Even better, my mind absorbs the meadow environment so when I nap, I am actually out in the meadow hunting in my dreams.”
Me, “That’s very human-like. The older I get the more my dreams try to pull together pieces of places that I have been. I often find myself in a problem-solving situation that I never quite have enough time to finish.”
Goose, “We all try to solve problems in our dreams. I am always trying to open a can of pop-top cat food. My dreams have never figured out how my two paws can do that.”
Me, “You are very talented with paws, I have seen you take your paw and wrap it around a knob on a cabinet door and pull it open.”
Goose, “Yes, my paws are big enough to do that, It is easier if one of my sisters is there to use their paw to hold the door open while I change positions.”
Me, “I haven’t been to my special place in the park here in a while. It is a bench among the tall oaks with a tiny brook nearby. I am hoping that as warm weather returns, I will get back there. I know that I need it.”
Goose, “Hopefully you still have some of those wild places stored away in your mind.”
Me, “Yes, I have written about my special wild placesmany times. Those posts and the pictures attached to them are a great help.”
Goose, “We all need to pull ourselves out of our daily live to get some perspective.”
Me, “I agree. Once I did it so successfully that in my dreams I was flying fifty feet above my life. I still remember how vivid those images were. I could see things I never imagined. This was in the eighties, well before drones. It was very different that any experience in my real life.”
Goose, “Our brains work in mysterious ways. Mine is telling me that I need a nap.”
Me, “Yeah, I think you are overdue.”

At her peak, Maverick was named Field Commander for the Tabby Cat Alliance

On Monday, July 21, 2025, Maverick, one of the most unique felines to ever be a member of our family passed over the rainbow bridge. It has been a little over five years and three months since she joined our family with her three siblings. Maverick came into our world hissing and spitting. She was not amused at being caught in our Have-a-heart trap. She avoided it for a week longer than her siblings who were all caught within a space of hours.

Eventually she warmed up to me and showed a fierce loyalty to me and antipathy to anyone else who wanted her friendship. Our eldest daughter, Erin, AKA cat woman, gave it a valiant effort but Maverick resisted her charms and promises of treats.

Maverick did become a bed cat. For six months or so before she got sick, she would jump on our bed just as I got in bed. She would then head butt me until she got the petting that she wanted. Once in a while she would slip up and actually cuddle by my side. She often spent the whole night cuddled by my wife’s feet on the bed.

Maverick was always the first to go on our porch during cold weather. Her thick luxurious fur seemed to be more suited to cold weather than the fur of the other cats. At her prime she probably weighed more than ten pounds. She was the only one of our three female cats who could throttle Goose, our big male Tabby. Goose never pushed his battles with Maverick far because even though she was considerably smaller, she could defeat him. As the most athletic of our cats, Maverick was great at games involving chasing or jumping. She got into our garage a couple of times but unlike the others she showed no interest in exploring the world beyond our house.

Maverick was happy with her twice daily trips to the screened porch. She could be demanding sometimes asking to be fed far away from the others. She lived by her own rules and expected us to adapt to her quirks. She was never much for variety in her food. Turkey shreds remained her favorite food. She especially good at hiding. When our cleaning ladies would come, she would burrow down into the pillows on our bed until she was invisible. Sometimes in the winter she would come up and sleep on my desk or in one of the office chairs.

Perhaps the funniest thing Maverick did was while we were moving to this house four years ago. We spent a couple of nights in a hotel while we were unpacking things. We would let the cats out of their carriers while we were gone to the house during the day so they could have access to a litter box. The morning we were packing to leave the hotel for the house. We got Goose, Jester, and Merlin loaded but could not find Maverick. We were about to give up when we figured out that she had crawled up inside a box spring mattress.

Maverick might be gone, but we will long remember her green eyes and fiesty personality.

Maverick will always be our green-eyed girl

She will be missed. Maverick and I spent some time together on her beloved screen porch before she passed. It was a good way to say goodbye and refresh memories. The full story of our four tabbies is in the post, The Company of Cats.