Our Sweet Cookies

 Hola.

 We have lost our sweet cat, Cookies, or 'Dawg' as Senor and I so frequently and fondly referred to him.

 He died very peacefully in his sleep, and he had been sick for awhile.

Normally I would probably not share something like this, but he was a popular cat. A lot of people knew him in Carnation, and people came to know him on the road during our travels south to Mexico.

 Here in Alamos, he had a lot of friends, and we think he made a lot of friends through the blog, too.

 More people asked about Cookies, the cat, than about us.

In general, he was not the most outgoing cat to visitors to the house.

 Often when we had guests he preferred to watch from a distance, although with certain people he would be very friendly, rubbing against them and practically begging for attention.

He loved catching and eating lizards almost more than he loved laying completely still on the asador with the fake doves, secretly waiting to attack when the real ones came around to eat. 

His day time sleeping arrangements were made under the coolest palms, in the dirtiest dirt, or on his back on the cool cement tile floor, and at night I often found him on top of Senor's stomach, rising up and down as Senor snored away peacefully.

He spent his night time hours in and out, in and out, and he required much more attention than a newborn baby. All twenty-three pounds of him kept our cupboards full of Whiskas, his favorite food next to chips and  cheese licks.

His regular cleaning and washing schedule always occurred, on the bed where Senor and I sleep, at promptly two am and included a thorough licking of our faces and hair.

Cookies had many accomplishments: 'Lizard Slayer', Hummingbird Chaser', Keeper of the Asador', and 'Flower Crusher' are only a few, but his greatest accomplishment will always warm our hearts when we think of him.

 We arrived in Alamos, in June, 2008, with loads of belongings and the two cats, Cookies and Ashes. After we had been here for around a week or two Ashes was suddenly missing.

 For days we called her, we walked the streets looking for her, we had the announcer truck travel through the barrios letting people know that we had lost our white and gray cat who had a tail that curled up high over her back. We were so sad, but Cookies was even sadder.

 He would not eat, he was listless, it was obvious he was heart broken.

Then late one afternoon Cookies was missing.

 We did not see him through the night and through the next day. We didn't know what to think.

  I sat in a chair in the yard and cried. 

We had not been able to part with these two cats that belonged to our kids who had both just gone off to college, we could not have left these cats behind in Carnation, nor could we have given them away, we brought them so far and now, they were both gone.

Late the next evening, Cookies came back.

 He was panting heavily, his eyes were cloudy, his fur was matted, he was drenched from a rain storm. He collapsed at our feet and we rushed to give him bowl after bowl of water. 

We had no idea where he had been or what had happened. We were just happy to have him back.

Around fifteen minutes or so, after Cookies had returned, Senor heard a squeak and looked up and there was Ashes, sitting right on the concrete at his feet.

Cookies went to get Ashes and bring her back home.

Sweet Cookies! August 1993-June 22 2014