Kindness, Love, Inspiration.

The Life and Times of Spumoni

Spumoni was quite an athlete!  You might find him perched on top of a door or leaping to the top of the fridge in one.  He loved to play games that involved running, jumping in different directions and trying to grab things.

When he would run around the house it was like watching a Parcours star on an obstacle course.  Think American Ninja Warrior kitty style.  Bouncing off the couch to the coffee table, then flying across the living room into the office up and down off the desk and on it went.  If only we had video from back then…

As he got older Spumoni became more sedate but never lost his curious nature.  Fortunately, he had a rather conservative level of curiosity which kept him from getting into trouble.  But, there was one night that a rabid looking possum came up the steps and was hanging out on the balcony outside our front door. 

I heard this hissing sound and ran into the living room to see Spumoni and the possum eye to eye through the sliding glass door.  The possum was staring at Spumoni who was hissing and baring his claws.  I tried to call Spumoni away, but he felt it was his responsibility to protect the apartment with Tanya and me inside.  Finally, the possum departed and Spumoni stood triumphant in the moonlight.

In his last year of life at the house in Incline Village, Spumoni became friends with a blue jay.  This rather extraordinary occurrence took place every morning from spring to fall when the sun would hit the deck.  The same blue jay would fly onto the deck into the sunlight by the easternmost living room window.

That particular window was Spumoni’s favorite place to hang out in the morning.  The sun beaming through the glass onto the carpet made for a nice warm spot as you can see in the photo.  Spumoni and the blue jay would appear to have this telepathic conversation each morning.  No sound came from either creature.  They would spend several minutes each day gazing at each other with little movements every now and then.  After a while, the blue jay would nod his head to Spumoni to say good bye and fly away, to return the next day. 

Moving to a new place was not Spumoni’s favorite thing to do, but he handled it well on 3 different occasions.   It was always better to sequester Spumoni in a separate room while all the activity was taking place.  Then I’d put him in his pet taxi for the trip to his new home.   With everything already moved into the new place it made him feel more at home and he was excited to go exploring.