Feline Funeral

Today is the day when my the ashes of my co-worker Moses will be interred in a scenic, peaceful spot on the site he moused for fifteen years. I imagine the memorial service will be a lot less sad than the immediate aftermath of his death- fifteen years is a plenty of time to accumulate happy memories. Moses is universally missed. Even though I am working graveyard shifts this week, I plan on returning to the workplace for the memorial service.

Fred and Ginger have been doing double duty, mousing in the building where they originally worked, and in the building in which Moses held court. Ginger, being a mischievous sort, made the transition more easily... when Moses was still around, she'd try to sneak into his territory on a regular basis. Fred, a much more mellow cat, didn't try to move in, and subsequently took a lot more coaxing to enter the building. Fred follows me around the site like a dog, and eventually followed me into the formerly unfamiliar building.

A week ago, I was helping one of my co-workers, who is relatively new to the site after having worked a few years at another of our sites, close up shop for the day. When we wended our way to the main building, the Visitors' Center, Ginger followed us the entire way, and decided to hold court, whereupon she became very popular. My co-worker asked me if she thought that Ginger would "replace" Moses, who also held court in the Visitors' Center... I thought about it for a second and said, "Moses was irreplaceable, but Ginger and Fred will carve out their own niche."

We have had a long and storied line of cats on the site- the sort of cats that have memorial services in their honor.