good night, sweet prince

Some sad news... You remember the feral cat that I post pictures of occasionally? Well, he was a regular at our house. I can't tell you how many times I would be at my desk and see him laying on the wicker loveseat on the front porch. Or, I'd be on my way out the front door and he'd start meowing to let me know the community food bowl was empty. We named all the regulars at the community food bowl, and this guy was named "Kyle."

Long story short on the name... On Beavis and Butthead, there was this psycho guy with "Killer" written across his forehead and B&B thought it was "Kyler." Anyway, we once witnessed this cat go after a bird in a tree, so we called him "Kyler" or "Kyle."

Over the weekend, we found Kyle in the alley behind our house. (In Baldwin, all the houses are separated in the back by an alley and your garage is on the back of your house). People like to drive pretty quick through the alleys sometimes, and maybe Kyle was not quick enough. We couldn't tell exactly what happened to him, but he was very much injured and very much gone.

Our boys took it pretty hard because they all liked Kyle, and the cat eventually let the older ones get close enough for a pet sometimes. We held a little service on the front porch in Kyle's memory. I put some catmint and peonies from the garden in the food bowl. We light a candle (and Bowie, age 2) immediately began to sing Happy Birthday. We thought it was pretty cute. He knew something was happening. We said a few words, blew out the candle, and moved the flowers to the spot where Kyle would always lay. We all said good bye, and honestly, got weepy when Bowie waved and said, "bye bye kyle."

We put a garden statue of a cat in Kyle's lazy spot.

Good bye, Kyle. You were a good cat. I know you were just a stray... but we loved you just the same.