465. Two Cats: At Rest Now in "Cat Heaven"
In memory of the two sweet cats "Choolie" and "Ondra" that were such an important part of our lives for so long...

This is the same stamp that many pre-AQ letterboxers from southern New England may have gotten when it was planted at Rocky Neck in Niantic, CT many years ago. When we heard through the grapevine that someone was removing boxes from certain CT State Parks, we managed to rush over there and salvage the box before it got taken out. Just for a limited time, however, we would like to make it available to those who didn't get it previously, at the place where our dear cats are now buried.

Yes, we would probably say that ever since Pete's folks died many years ago, our cats were the closest thing we had to "family". Soon after we were married, they were the very first thing I went out and wrote a check for - to the Charlestown Animal Shelter in 1992 - and they quickly became the heart and soul of our home. Ondra was the seemingly more robust and outgoing of the two, and lived into her 17th year, until Sept. 15, 2008. Choolie was the one that surprised us, however, for although she was very shy and the "runt of the litter", she lived well into her 20th year, until she passed away quietly around 1AM on February 1st, 2012. Right up to near the very end (about 100 in "cat years"), she was still purring, still snuggling, still eating with us at the kitchen table, and even still taking care of Pete by sitting next to him the whole time he had the flu for most of January. We loved them both dearly...

To find the place where our cats are now buried, go to the first paved dead end street east of the crossing of the Pawcatuck River off of Burdickville Road in Charlestown, RI, turn south, and stop near the first house on the right. Find a large oak surrounded by a ring of rocks, and circle to its northern side. Then continue following the tree line a few steps west, then north (being careful not to step on a tiny 4" pine from "Back to Our Roots" in Vermont that is trying hard to grow there along the way!;-) to where a happy face pumpkin near a holly tree watches over two flat stones marking the graves of our two sweet cats. Behind the pumpkin is where the two cats box will reside until the end of February 2012, if anyone might care to come and visit!

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