Lunchbox Liz

Meep is a a golden-eyed cat that came to live with us about six years ago. She was given this name when she became a part of our family because this is the only sound she can make. She is a very odd looking cat who is knock-kneeed in back, pigeon toed in front, and her belly practically drags the ground when she walks. Meep was found in an alley in Vegas at about the age of four by a friend of mine’s sister. She traveled about for a while with the sister and various other rescued dogs and cats in a large house trailer eventually landing on my friend’s doorstep. At my urging my friend adoptied Meep. I convinced her that a cat would be the perfect companion while she was finishing her PhD thesis. I turned out to be very wrong on this point. My friend found that Meep was not the cat she was supposed to have (she does have a very nice cat now named Minky). Meep possesses many qualities that noncat people use as reasons to hate cats. She was stinky (due to an inner ear infection caused by a very bad case of mites), a clothes sucker (probably from being abandoned as a kitten before she was weaned), an obsessive butt pusher (all cats like to show you their backside as a way of saying they like you—Meep is extreme), a very active snuggler (she spoons), and she has a coat of long hair that becomes dreaded no matter how much you brush her (meaning expensive shavings once a year). It wasn’t working.
I then learned that the farm was looking for a house cat to keep down the mice population, so I volunteered Meep for the job. She turned out to the world’s worst mouser. I thought Vegas would have been good training, but apparently not. She would sit by the wood stove and wait for a lap nary batting an eye at the mice that scurried right under her nose and still possessing all those cat qualities the farmers also found her lacking in charm. Meep also developed a series of heath problems. She has fatty liver disease developed from malnutrition as a kitten. The mites ate away one of her eardrums so she is continually fighting a lowgrage infection in her inner ear that also makes her seasick and very resistant to being picked up. She had a broken femur that at some point was pinned badly and she developed bladder stones. In farm culture cats like this are drowned. She came to live at our house.
Over the years most of her ailments have been taken care of with the help of a team very understanding veterinarians. Meep has one quality that makes her very, very special. She has an undying capacity for love. She expresses her feelings in her very cat like way. After all she has been through she loves nothing more than to rub your ankles, look at you with her golden eyes, and meep her little brains out telling you how swell she thinks you are for being her human.

Today’s Lunch
Strawberry Gazpacho

Mix 1 20 oz can of diced tomatoes, 3/4 cups strawberries roughly chopped, 1 grated cucumber, 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh basil, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve chilled with chopped boiled egg as a garnish.