Meet the Critters #4
Barn cat George - our first employee
Back in July, a crazy old cat lady somewhere in Wilkes county died leaving behind a dingy single-wide trailer hoard that was home to thirty-odd cats.
The orphaned felines were brought to the Humane Society of Wilkes for adoption. Giving homeless animals names with clever backstories helps with marketing to find them new homes. Since it was July I was in the middle of indulging in my one spectator sport obsession: following the Tour de France. I suggested naming cats after prominent Tour riders, past and present.
Over the past few months this peloton of cat-cyclists have made individual and small-group breakaways to new homes. Eddy (Merckx) and Greg (LeMond) went dominantly off the front without looking back. The most aggressive cat of the bunch Bjarne (Riis) elbowed his way to the front of the pack and found a new home quickly. The largest cat of the bunch, Big Mig(uel Indurain) powered his way over rugged terrain to settle into retirement on a ranch in the southern part of the county. Little Marco (Pantani) sprinted off up a steep climb to a cabin into the Blue Ridge Mountains to luxuriate with his new family. The speedy tabby Pete(r Sagan) and a Manx named Cav(-endish) rocketed from behind a cloister of lead-out kitties to claim homes in a dead 1-2 sprint. Jacque (Anquetil) and Bernard (Hinault) dependably ground their way through the competition for honored spots on the sofas of new homes. Lance scored arguably the top home in the whole county (though with considerable pharmaceutical help). Jan (Ullrich) was of course adopted hot on Lance’ heels. Most visitors to the Humane Society agreed that Fabian (Cancellara) was the handsomest of the whole bunch and he of course had no problem finding a new home.
Last to go were the young upstarts Tadej (Pogačar) and Jonas (Vingegaard). They both have bright futures and many exciting years of chasing mice to come.
The whole peloton of adoptees was accounted for except one - inexplicably, the friendliest cat of the bunch, ol’ even-keeled George (Hincapie).
So George (HinCATpie) came to live at our place, to play domestique in the barn protecting our stored feed from attacks by rival squads of mice.
Here’s a short clip of me checking in on George after his first night in the barn.
We’re keeping him cooped up in there for a couple weeks so that he gets the idea that “this is home.” Then we’ll let him out to patrol the premises.
Allez, George, allez!