New Year's Day, 2024. Our Cat Muffin is Gone

 Good riddance to 2023. 

Steepmeadow is in mourning. 

We lost Muffin on 12/26. So our poor kitty, only 14 years old, is no longer with us. This followed a short battle with constipation and diabetes, and then multiple organ failure. She was a wonderful cat. One of the very best. Always ready with a purr and a snuggle. 

Kiki wrote an obituary:

Muffin

A kitten acquired as the result of an impulsive act. I saw a “free kitten” sign in the Rogers/Princeton/Elk River area of our state. We were driving up to get a couch and I just knew I needed to stop. The home was full of cats, the woman had gathered up a batch of kittens and others from a farm and the smell of the bedroom was able to overpower the smell of cigarette smoke in the rest of the place.  I reached under a bed and like the claw game- I snagged a small one. I wanted a tiny kitten and I got one. Who could know that a 14 year relationship was just beginning and that she would turn out to be our wonderful Muffin?  I held her all the way back to Belle Plaine- she was feisty and wiggly and not really interested in being held but, hold her I did. 

She assumed immediate command over Lucky, the very large dog. She would snuggle up to him and nap whenever she felt like it. He was powerless to stop the ball of fluff. Fruff was not as thrilled but then again, Fruff was known to complain a lot about nearly everything. Muffin was named just for the rhyme. She was a sidekick to Fruff. Fruff and Muffin…Fruff-n-Muffin. Me and mini-me. 

I introduced Muffin to the girls the day we got her by way of a tall tale- “Oh, girls, I’m so sorry! I tossed Fruff in the laundry and…well, she shrunk!” Sonja was speechless for a moment but Ingrid stole the show with great sobs that melted into laughter and delight. Muffin would be put through a daily socialization routine that included Bitty Baby clothing, treats in a doll high chair, and naps in the doll crib. 

Muffin was a nurse to many elderly and infirm animals that came her way. Dogs would get their ears cleaned, inside and out, cats would be licked clean when they couldn’t. She loved her dog, Lucky. She met Andrew, the cat, in 2013 and became an instant old married couple- curling up together and swapping food. Andrew was truly her best buddy and when we had a vet come to put him to sleep at home, she attended the event, fussing over him as he got the first shot, remaining vigilant as we all said our good-byes. The vet had placed Andrew in the basket, ready to go but Muffin needed to crawl up and give him a kiss on the nose before he left. There was not a dry eye in the room, vet included. She became an only cat for quite awhile after that. 

Fruff made her way back to Muffin’s life for a summer, tagging along with Sonja, Muffin asserted that she was no longer a sidekick but the boss of the house. And she sure laid down the law with poor aging Fruff. One might have even called her bossy. A very surprising descriptor for this gentle and accepting feline. She had earned her single status and basked in being an only cat. Eventually, Sonja and Fruff moved out and Muffin was once again, Queen of her castle. 

So wonderful was she, so very delightful was our little triune that we said to ourselves, “If having one Muffin is this nice, surely having two would be exponentially more fun and full of love!” Enter, Zipper. A tiny but mighty force of will that we added to the home in the late spring of 2020.  A covid kitten. Muffin was less than excited about this development but she eventually (and begrudgingly) took on the role of mama cat to help shape his behavior with a firm and hissy hand. As time went on, she dropped the hissing (mostly) and could often be found curled up, napping with Himself. 

When she left us, we realized that this tiny unassuming and gentle cat was really the dominant personality between the two. Sure, Zipper brings the show,the sizzle, the razmataz, but it was Muffin who kept time; a steady beat of routines to each day from her generous purrs that woke us, treat games made more complex by her need for tasty morsels, to bedtime prancing and belly rubs. She created the Princess Bed- the blanket covered pillow above my head where she would sleep and again, offer her purrs as a tiny white noise machine to drift off to at night. She knew when it was 4pm. Climbing on my lap to let me know her dinner should be assembled. She would drink most of the water from the slurry of cat food soup, leaving the meaty bit for her little-no-longer charge, Zipper. Food swapping like she did with Andrew. 

There were so many things that she trained me to do over the years, temporary routines like watching her “shows” on my computer, or doing pilates with Wolfe, and certainly being the upside floor cat, walking on her head. Muffin loved her little red laser friend, Dot. Her mind was blown one Christmas when a laser light show machine cast thousands of Dots across the room. She just froze, unsure which dot was Dot. She loved getting scratched on that very special spot on her back and would reward Ingrid, the one who was best at this, with great and deep throated meows and purrs. She really filled in all the gaps in a day and we find ourselves adrift without her. 

She had many nicknames- Missy Muffin, Miss Baby, Muffy Tupperman, Tubby-teddy, and to many students, she was known as Little Plump Muffin; often as a comparative to Skinny Andrew or Long Strong Zipper. She touched the lives of my students through lessons called, Muffin Math- graphing, addition, subtraction, etc. She also wrote letters and received much fan mail over the years. Many Kindergarten and 1st grade students would ask if Muffin REALLY wrote the letters and lessons and were so relieved whenever I told them, “Yes, Muffin is amazing.” 

A few notes on burning wood for heat are in order. 

1) It is a lot of work.

At least twice, usually 3x per day, I have to venture to the woodpile to bring in more fuel. Actually, this is kind of fun because I get to split wood and spend a little time outside in the fresh air doing a little physical work, which I usually enjoy.

2) It is dirty.

We have a high efficiency fireplace. But even so, when you open it, a little dust flies out. When you carry wood to it, or put wood in it, a little dirt falls off. You might not notice this if, say, you didn't make the decision to install an off-white carpeting. It became necessary to purchase a good carpet washer.

We've been able to restore it to the original shade, but not without time consuming effort.

3) Keeping that fire going is important for it to stay on the affordable side. 

It isn't great to wake up and look at the thermostat and see that it has reached the pipe-preserving 63 degrees, which means that the gas furnace has most likely come on and will again if you don't get that fire going.

This is not bad if you've planned ahead and stockpiled a little kindling from the night before. There are usually live coals in the fire (which, most of these need to be very carefully removed). 

If you haven't put aside a little kindling, life is more difficult. Yesterday morning, for instance, I had to stick my nose out the door into the cold morning air, and, kneeling in my bathrobe, hit one of the smaller leftover pieces with the ax until I had enough wood to get the fire going.

4) It takes a lot of maintenance. 

If you're going anywhere for more than an hour, you want to stoke it up. You want to keep an eye on it to see that it neither overheats nor goes cold.

Still. In the end, you feel mighty for keeping the house warm with something that isn't made from dinosaurs.