Pharaoh.
Baby Boy
Little Turkey
Monkey Boy
Little Shit
Stinker.
Lover Boy
Little Buddy
Little White Lion
Forever Kitten
He had a lot of names and they all fit him, depending on his mood.
It has been two weeks since Pharaoh died, and not a day goes by that I haven’t thought of him and missed him like crazy.
I want to do something special to honor his memory, so after a three-year hiatus, I plan to start scrapping again. I will be making a special mini album of Pharaoh and wanted to share my memories of him here as well.
Pharaoh joined our family in November of 2002. We had gotten his older brothers Phoenix and Romeo a year earlier, in the summer of 2001. We had been talking about getting another abyssinian kitten for some time but then in October 2002 an older Russian Blue named Dusty came into our lives unexpectedly. We had plenty of love to give to our furry family and just a few short weeks after we adopted Dusty, we decided to also buy the abyssinian kitten we had been desiring.
He was just ten weeks old when we got him from the breeder in central MN. He was just a little runt and oh so stinkin cute. Here he is eating with Phoenix, Dusty and Romeo.
I’ll never forget the night we brought Baby Boy home. He was so small compared to our other cats and we were not sure how they were going to react to him, so we kept him in the room that at that time was our office. In there he had food, water, a bed and a litter box. At one point in the night I went in to check on him….except I couldn’t find him…..anywhere!! Where could this tiny cat be? I checked in the vents, I checked in the closet…. he was nowhere to be found! Panic set in and there was only one other place to check…. the big wooden desk. I pulled out the filing cabin drawer and sure enough….. there he was!!?? After inspection I come to find a small 4″ round hole in the back of the drawer that was meant for computer cords, etc. That little stinker had crawled right through the hole from the back of the desk!! Abyssinians are notorious for their inquisitive and highly energetic nature, so we knew we were going to have our hands full.
Almost instantly after meeting Phoenix, Pharaoh recognized his own kind and the two of them bonded very strongly…
Pharaoh also loved his brother Romeo (who was with us until he died unexpectedly in Aug 2003)
Pharaoh was also Dusty’s little buddy
Pharaoh never really grew out of that kitten phase. In fact, we called him our “Forever Kitten”. He never got bigger than 8 lbs at his heaviest and was always a runt. He was such a cute little shit.
One day in 2003 when he was just a year old I caught him taking a nap with all the stuffed animals in our guest room
Here he is lounging next to Bagheera from The Jungle Book
He always had an obsession with the sink. How cute is he??!!
He could cuddle up and sleep anywhere. He had many favorite sleeping spots
Pharaoh was a dreamer. Confined to a life indoors, he spent a lot of time in one of our many windows, watching the world outside. **Make sure to keep reading and you will find a story about his escape one hot April day!**
Like I’ve mentioned, Pharaoh was a freeze baby. He loved to sit on the heating vent in the dining room when the furnace kicked on.
My camera caught him in mid-yawn (atop that heating vent again!)
Every morning since Pharaoh was just a kitten, he used to hang out with me in the bathroom. He would sit in the toilet or counter while I showered and then run off with my hair binder. Little shit! He would come back and hang out while I put on my makeup and did my hair, etc. He would always give me kisses at this time too, and more often than not he would jump into my arms so I would snuggle him.
We joke that each of our cats is another species of animal. Pharaoh is a monkey. With his long, lean body and extra long tail and the tendency to jump around from high places, that is who he was. He also loved to sit on our shoulders.
He loved to be held close to the heart. He was a lap cat and always wanted to snuggle. Part of this is because he was a perma-freeze baby, part because he just truly liked to be around us. Since he was a kitten he had the habit of jumping up into your arms, even if you were standing! I could never read a book or work on my laptop without Pharaoh being part of the mix. I admit it was kind of annoying some of the time and Pharaoh got shooed away quite a bit :( He was always into everything!! Even though he had a million toys, he could entertain himself with just about anything. I smile thinking about that little stinker in all my ribbons and supplies when I was an avid scrapper. At the time it drove me crazy!! One famous line in our house was “You’re lucky you’re so cute, Pharaoh”
As sweet as Pharaoh was, he was also naughty at times. I’ll never forget one unseasonably hot day in April, 2004. I found the following story in an e-mail that I sent to friends and family on 4/29/04
So, you know how it was really nice out yesterday? Before I left for work I opened a window on the 2nd story of our house just slightly. At 3:30 pm while I was in training at work the vibrate on my phone started going nuts for about 5 minutes. I snuck out into the hallway to check my voicemail and it’s E saying, “Pharaoh broke through the window screen and jumped ship.” This is when panic set in. Anyone who knows anything about abyssinians knows that they are one of the smartest, most highly energetic and curious cat breeds. Apparently once Pharaoh got outside he didn’t know what to do…my cats have never been outside other than supervised visits on the deck…he sat outside the window on the lower level while his brothers sat on the other side of the window keeping him company. So when E discovers the broken window screen, he sticks his head out the window, sees Pharaoh, and pharaoh takes off, knowing that he was in trouble. So where does an indoor cat go when he discovers freedom for the first time?? THATS WHAT I’D LIKE TO KNOW! I rushed home from work, grabbed some pictures and paper, and started putting “Lost Cat” signs all over the entire neighborhood. The community in which I live has many townhouse developments surrounded by wilderness in every direction. I literally walked around every space within a one mile radius over and over, calling for Pharaoh and jingling his favorite cat toy, posting posters, handing out fliers, having the neighborhood on the look-out, knocking on neighbors’ doors, and filing police reports in Washington and Anoka Co until 9:45 last night. I was exhausted all day before this from getting less than 5 hours of sleep to stay up and watch my T-Wolves and had a bad case of allergies, so you can imagine how I felt after pounding the pavement for nearly 6 hours in 90 degree weather, with my emotions on high. We had many fears that someone had found him and would keep him, he would get hit by a car, he was totally lost and would never find his way back to our house when every other house looks exactly like ours, or he had been eaten by a large bird or something. The worst part was our other cat Phoenix, frantically searching the house for his missing brother. Phoenix already lost his best friend when Romy died last summer, I couldn’t bear the thought of him losing his brother as well.
I came home, put some tuna outside the lower window and laid down to think. I was thinking about the upcoming storm that was predicted for last night and just prayed he would find his way home or someone would call with information. I knew the little shit was terrified, but also afraid that he might like this newly discovered freedom in the wilderness of Hugo and not come home.
Well a little after 10′o’clock, the phone rings. My neighbor’s dog was going nuts and when he went to check to see what it was, he saw Pharaoh!! We all quickly went out with our flashlights and tried to catch the scared little guy. He ran into the open garage of some neighbor I had never met, so I knocked on the door, asked the guy to shut his garage and let me come in to get my cat!! Poor Pharaoh was cowering under the car and didn’t want to come out! I eventually got him out and brought him home. What a reunion! Phoenix was so relieved he practically licked all the fur off him (LOL!) and chased each other around the house. I think Pharaoh was very happy to be back home and we were all able to get a good-night’s sleep!
Ahhh, if only I could re-live this adventure through Pharaoh’s eyes so I could really know what he was up to or thinking about! - Kristi
Yes, Pharaoh was a little stinker. I am glad I had that story saved in my work e-mail archives ;)
Remember a few months back when that little Turkey ate through this bag and box of chow mein?! I LMAO every time I think of it. Apparently he found chow mein irresistible. lol
Speaking of food, he always had something to say and he said it persistently in his high pitched little cry….. especially if food was involved. Or if he wanted food to be involved! He wasn’t shy if he thought he was going to get something out of it. He would try to be nonchalant and affectionate if food was around, but we could always see right through him because we knew what he really wanted!
There is so much I could say about this very special kitty, so I will take the liberty of adding to this post as more memories come to mind. I also hope to start working on his scrapbook…. possibly even this week!
I miss that little stinker
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)
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