the Cats

the Pacer farm may be a virtual entity, but its cats are anything but.

Chessie

Chessie's position as cat-in-residence predates even the first Pacer.
she comes by her name from several directions: she lives here in Town along the railroad formerly known as the Chessie System, she has a striking resemblance to her namesake from the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway advertising campaigns, and she was born in a marina on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

she has the classic abyssinian frame and markings, and the personality to match. our vet catches it precisely when he refers affectionately to her breed as "crabyssinian". yes, she is a dreadful thing, but at the same she is also very dear to us.

she seems to return the favour; whenever we are preparing to travel she becomes so upset at the sight of luggage we are obliged to pack furtively, out of her sight.

in some ways she is more catlike than many other cats; she is elegant and graceful in her every movement. her ears are highly expressive, more so than those of other cats we have known, and at times she has a way of drawing herself up and regarding her surroundings with a gaze more owlish than feline.

like many cats she can be fascinated by water. when Taunton was little, whever he was in the bathtub she would pace around the edge, carefully monitoring the situation.
more recently she has determined that the water dish, no matter how frequently filled with fresh water, is actually stocked with cat poison. as an act of simple self-preservation she insists upon drinking from a spigot turned down to a trickle, or to a dribble, or best of all, down to drips. this may seem like an excessive indulgence (indeed it is!) but in her position as First Cat she is entitled to a few perks, and has great need of them, for she is not alone ...

Peaches

Peaches is not, properly speaking, a Pacer Farm cat. he is a lodger, one who has been on the property for five years. he has spent the time making every effort to become a permanent fixture.
master Peaches first showed up to take a cure in the country. the prescription was for fresh air, plenty of exercise -- and less exposure to the cat food dish.

he matches Chessie's brainy, aloof, catlike reserve with a clueless hedonism that reveals a doglike nature. not many other cats wag their tails to express happiness, or crave human attention as much as Peaches.
no feline reserve for him -- his favourite pastime is catching people strolling through the Circle to make them pet him. of course they have come to admire him -- why else would anybody come to a place as obsure as this? so seriously does he take his responsibility as greeter, if he has the misfortune to be inside when strangers approach he cries piteously at the door to be let out.

his affability shrouds a true brainlessness. it is not at all uncommon for him to scamper into the cottage along with somebody coming in, and then proceed without breaking stride to the other end in order to ask to be let out again. his shortest elapsed time for this is approximately 25 seconds.

Sergei (honorary)

photo: M^cCann / Brasunas family

Sergei

Sergei was a beloved neighbour, to whom we extended the courtesy of honourary Pacer Farm cat.
when we first met Sergei he was already getting on in years. as he got older and more frail he remained delightfully affectionate.

in the morning he would come creaking down the road behind the cottage, heading for the Pacer Farm's back-porch cat food dish. it usually took him five to ten minutes to make the trip. the dish was originally set out for Peaches, who often takes his meals down the road on Alice's porch. we don't know where her cats eat -- it could be anywhere.
after a repast of some crunchies Sergei would then go around the side to get a good drink of scummy pond water before heading for home. about an hour or so later he'd be back to repeat the cycle.

despite his age and advanced decrepitude he always preferred to remain outside regardless of the weather.
Sergei passed away peacefully in his sleep, curled up on his people's front porch, early in the morning of January 15^th, just around the time the ice storm brought the mulberry tree down onto the cottage and Pacers. the tree has been cleared away and hauled off, the cottage and Pacer will be repaired, but without Sergei the place will never be the same.

Other cats about Town

for information on some of the other cats in Town, visit the Cats of Washington Grove page on the Town of Washington Grove web site. as far as we can tell, Washington Grove is the only municipality with its cats on the web.

Kittens in foster care

from time to time we are blessed with kittens in foster care. it is important, and quite difficult, to pass them along to permanent homes before they bond with us (or, more importantly, before we bond with them).

currently available ...

yes! a new litter of kittens is on the property. there are two females and one male (Ramona, Jane and Momotaro).
photos will be posted soon -- watch this space.

Ramona, Jane and Momotaro

alumni society ...

Chocolate

Chocolate, a striking tortoise-shell female, was placed through the Montgomery County SPCA during the April 1999 household cat show. she was the mother of the kittens below.

Primo (L) and Secundo (R)

Chocolate's kittens were placed in February 1999. they were born in an apartment in the District of Columbia and had become homeless due to illness on the part of their human, who became unable to care for them. they are shown here in their favourite spot: perched atop the computer monitor, from which they could chase the cursor on the screen.

in the summer of 1998 the transient foster kittens were a litter of six orphans from southern Maryland. they were
   Barbara and Runt,
   Cecily and Gwendolyn (a/k/a Shadow and Flash),
   the two ten-day-older boys

in the photo below the kittens were on their way to a veterinary checkup

dome car passengers enjoy panoramic vistas as tour guide points out scenic attractions along the walkways

Documentation

for detailed information on cat installation maintenance, please refer to the user installation and maintenance documentation available from the Hacker Cat site.

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