When Dad and I were discussing ideas for this week's blog entry, he mentioned that we forgot to note an important 2020 event last time. Bingo. That became today's tale, and it begins a five or six months before Cha-Cha's passing, when a new member joined our family. That's her in the first photo in today's deck. Dogs and cats living together? No, not together but on the same plot. My new sister's name was Nabi, which means butterfly in Korea. 🦋 Let me tell you her tale.
Before I begin, I should mention that Nabi was my sworn enemy. What I mean is, whenever I saw her, I turned into a wild and vicious Chihuahua and went all-in on catching her. 👹👺 It's my nature, I suppose, and it was Cha-Cha's too. She reacted the same way upon seeing Nabi. Chihuahuas and Terriers can have similar temperaments, which probably explains why we got along so well after an initial feeling-out period. Oddly, Cousin Ddori, whose DNA originated on the island of Malta, reacted differently. Could his island heritage have something to do with it? Who knows? All I know is he seemed to realize Nabi was a different breed, possessing many amazing capabilities we couldn't match, like her lightning-quick reflexes and and jumping ability. Deeming her worthy of respect, he quickly grew to accept her. Samchun, Ddori's Dad, probably had something do with it, too. He's the one who found Nabi that first day in the fall of 2020.
She'd descended the steep rock mountain in our backyard, injured after doing battle with a snake. He gave her some food and water, and treated her wounds. She was no older than four or five months and recovered quickly. Dad says her home base until then may've been one of the nearby farms I pass on my daily walk, many of which have growing houses that attract rats and mice.
One meal soon led to another. The next thing you know, Nabi set herself up in various spots on our property. Under the wooden deck built below our solar array. Under our sun room. Numerous places in our backyard. In front of our house on the road or under our car. Sometimes when I went outside I'd catch her scent, do my Hulk act and end up defeated and disappointed when she leaped over the fence or disappeared where I couldn't pursue her. Some days she simply strolled across our front lawn while I was lazing in the sun room, rubbing my face in it. One day I saw her food dish and realized she'd officially joined our family. Chihuahua's get jealous easily, and I'll admit I didn't like her because she stole so much attention from Mom, Auntie and Samchun. Dad kept his distance, and he just told me he knows about my jealousy streak and didn't want to make the situation worse!
Nabi started eating many healthy meals at our house, but that didn't explain why her belly kept growing and growing. You've seen the photos and know by now that she had kittens. Five of them, three boys and two girls. To prepare for their birth, we closed down Dad's outdoor exercise room and family noraebang (Korea's name for karaoke) box and converted it to Nabi's house. Then, to guard against the monsoon rains and, eventually, cold weather, Samchun enclosed it with plastic panels and extended the roof. The kittens were born healthy, and within a few weeks were crawling and jumping all over the place! To say that my backyard had become hell on earth tfor me is not an exaggeration. I can't explain why I didn't manage to gobble up at least one of them. Samchun had something to do with it. He often laid roadblocks so I couldn't reach the backyard. Dad followed me like my shadow when I went outside, so I didn't have many chances.
A month or so after the kittens were born, we arranged for Nabi to get checked by a local vet and he recommended she get neutering surgery. The surgery went well, but Nabi had to live in our outdoor storage closet for ten days while she healed and put up with the neck collar. So, to prepare, out came all the tools and equipment, and up went several contraptions and even a cardboard tunnel, all built by Samchun, so Nabi could recuperate and her babies could visit. During this period, Dad took me outside on the front yard on a leash, not knowing what kind of feline shenanigans might be going on around the corner.
Nabi healed quickly, and soon after her recovery, she began teaching her kids how to live life as a cat. They'd depart early in the morning and return late that afternoon, having spent the day doing cat-commando exercises somewhere else. Of course, one important skill she scheduled up front was mountain climbing. The entire troop would climb the precipice and return the same way, making a racket in the leafy vines on the way down. I'd see them then and bark like mad, but the fence protected them and they ignored me. Meanwhile, we'd found two people to adopt Nabi's girls. Nabi seemed to take this in stride, and she focused on training her boys.
Early one day in early fall 2021, Nabi took her boys up the mountain but came home after dark alone, hungry and exhausted. Samchun believes she'd found homes for them somewhere in our neighborhood and escorted them there over the course of an entire day. After that, Nabi was alone again. She'd fulfilled her maternal duties to her breed and would have no more babies. She could sit back, then, and enjoy the bottomless bowl of kibble and other delicacies we stocked for her, play with toys to her heart's content, and occasionally tussle with me.
But that's not how the story ends.
One day in mid-November 2021, Nabi returned home and began throwing up. Soon we realized she'd been poisoned. Nobody knows how it happened. We figured she'd mistakenly eaten some poison set out by one of the local farmers, perhaps to kill rats or other field vermin. Samchun rushed her to our vet, got her medicine and it seemed like she was on the road to recovery. But a few days later, on the night of November 20, 2021, Nabi spent a few moments with Auntie then jumped over the fence, went up the mountain she'd first arrived by, and never returned. Dad tells me that kids like Nabi have special instincts. They can sense that something bad is going to happen, and they depart the scene and go somewhere to be alone. He reminds that I do the same thing when my stomach hurts, not up the mountain but under the kitchen table. Dad says Nabi might've sensed that the medicine wasn't working, and her instincts sent her in search of a commanding spot high on the mountain where she would feel safer.
2021 had began with the sad event of Cha-Cha's passing, and now it ended with Nabi's final ascent. But the cycle of life continued. On cold days, Ddori and I snuggled in blankets inside the house. When spring 2022 arrived, cherry blossoms bloomed again and we ventured outside. One day that spring, Mom created a new garden for me in the front entrance of our house. Every day since then, except during winter and on rainy days, Mom and Dad set up my garden station, complete with an easy chair and steps, so I can keep watch for the always active monsters.
That ends today's tale. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for visiting my blog.
Tango 🐾
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