The King is gone...

"The King" © Mike Moore Studios

Bucky Roscoe Stripes Moore left the world a little after 9 this morning. He joined us in 2009. He was King of his domain.

Our family used to own a large liquor store that was the hub of our little community. We worked with a local vet occasionally to help find homes for kitties, we were kinda locally famous for having friendly store cats. We're cat people. I worked the register next to the kennel where the kitten then known as Stripes and a couple of his siblings were showing off for prospective new homes. They'd all been tossed from a car, found, and taken to the vet. The vet called and asked if we could help. Of course!

At home we were dealing with the imminent loss of another feline family member, Roscoe. We were sad, maybe especially our oldest son who'd really formed a bond with Roscoe. We did not need, or want a new cat.

The kitten had other plans. His siblings got chosen first through no fault of his own, a perfect sweet little gentleman. I talked to him while I worked, he reached out of the kennel to get my attention when I wasn't paying enough of it to him. We both knew, deal was done. My wife called a little later in the day to ask how it was going and if we'd gotten them all adopted. "Yep" I said, told her who went where with who. "What about the other one?"

The idea of him coming home wasn't immediately thought well of. "Roscoe isn't gone yet, and you're replacing him?". It changed quickly, and I believe helped us all with that transition. Travis, our oldest son, named him Bucky after the cat star of Get Fuzzy a comic strip he was reading at the time. He also chose to honor our elder statesman Roscoe by attaching his name, and he kept his OG name, adding our last. He's been called, Bucky, Buck, Bucket, Buddy Bucket, Buckethead, and many more.

After Roscoe passed, Bucky was left under the watchful eye of his big "sister" Sandy. She was half his size, but very much in charge...until he got ornery. Younger bigger brother, picking on big sister. She'd scream, we'd scream. He was just having fun, didn't mean anything by it. Luckily as they got older the relationship mellowed and became one of mutual distance for the most part. When she passed, he missed her. He became a bit more of something he'd never been, a lap cat. He enjoyed all eyes on him. Loved the love.

I'm honored he chose me, and chose us all to be his family.

The King is gone.

Gonna miss you Buddy Bucket.

Have Fun.