RIP, Golgi, wherever you are...

The one member of the family that I’ve never introduced you to has disappeared. He’s been gone for 60 hours, something that he’s never done. Since he was such a hedonist, and loved sleeping on the bed with the dogs during the day, I can only infer that he’s no longer around. Last night, I went out to see if I could find him, and the Golgi presence is gone from the world. In preparing for this post, I discovered that the only pictures I had of Golg were from when I lived in Reno, with his late dog, Ceili. She passed on 4 years ago, and left a huge hole, somewhat filled by Lyra, whom you’ve met.

Golgi and Ceili

I got Golgi and his brother Quark after my cat, Sigmund died. Amy (purple fuzzy mittens)was instrumental in bringing them home from the Humane Society for me, and getting them settled, as I had taken the previous day off, and then the HS said they had to re-treat them for ear mites, could I come back tomorrow? Not with my psycho boss… I had the kittens for 2 weeks, trying to think of names, and then one night, in a tequila-inspired haze, came up with them.

Golgi was an indoor cat for most of his life, until I got tired of his peeing on my stuff when he got his nose out of joint. The final straw was when he peed on some brand new roving… Out he went. He didn’t really understand, but enjoyed having the great outdoors and the accompanying rodents to play with. It wasn’t until later that I found out that he needed to be an only cat (when my munchkin, Otter died), and that solved the peeing problem.

Golgi and Otter



When I moved to Walton, Golg was the first one to figure out the dog door (before Harry, the border collie, even). He enjoyed his freedom, survived a bout with bad cat food (almost died, actually), and generally had a great life. He loved hanging out on the hay in the barn, waiting for rodents to appear. He would follow me into the back pasture while I was feeding or filling water troughs, enjoying the company. If I sat down for a minute, there he was, with Lyra wanting to be in my lap too.

When Lyra arrived, as a 7 week old puppy, he never unsheathed his considerable claws on her (he weighed 16 lbs.). He let her roll him around on the floor, and when he’d had enough, he’d bite her cheek until she let go. He put up with Harry, but he adopted Lyra as a replacement for Ceili. Sometimes, it seems as if she is Ceili reincarnated – weird.

Anyway, I’ll miss him. He was a good cat. I will have to replace him, probably with more than one, because I live on a farm, and have lots of juicy rodents to keep in check.

RIP, Bud…

Added:  Dad emailed me a picture of Golg taken when Dad was helping me recover from surgery.  I took the picture because my dad doesn't really like cats, but Golgi didn't care!