The music is "My Way"

Dirty Harry Rushton-Edwards 1985-1998 Blrthplace: Morgantown, Indiana Likes: Hardly anythin'. Ta sit on tha deck. Suppertime. A little pettin' once in a while. Ta not be boddered. Dislikes: Udder cats! Speshully Yackey, tha loudmouf bully!

NO, I did NOT get my tail caught in a corn-picker! And my eyes are bloo--got that? Bloo!

We moved into our present house in September, 1988. Harry was born in this house a few years earlier. When we moved in and the previous owners moved across the road, Harry went with them, being their cat and all. Two years ago, Harry's human mom called me and said they were going to have to get rid of Harry, as he was attacking their new grandson. She asked if I would be willing to take him. Before I could even think about answering, here came her younger son with an armful of Harry. Looked like he was ours--or we were his--from that point on. He didn't look all that great--his fur was patchy from an allergy and he was fairly thin. I guess he wasn't too happy about living with several d*gs and a younger cat who harassed him a lot. Having been born here, he settled in with no fuss, and didn't even bother going back to his previous home.

Harry is a strange cat--strange looking, strange acting. His father, Wolf, was a black Manx. His mother, as you may have guessed, was a sealpoint Siamese. Harry ended up with the best--or worst--traits of both breeds. He's very solitary, and quite independent. He doesn't seem to need a lot of coddling from the humans as our other cats do; or perhaps he just doesn't feel like competing for it. He's docile enough, never starts a fight or even an argument with the others, even when they eat the food from under his nose. But he will never back away if another cat threatens him, like Jackie, who does it a lot. Fortunately I haven't found signs of injury to either cat after these skirmishes, but I'd be willing to wager Jackie got the worst of it.

Harry has fattened up since he came to live with us, and his allergy seems to have cleared. His previous owner had been a vet's assistant, so it wasn't from lack of care that he was in rather poor shape when we got him. I suspect it was somewhat the result of stress from living close to several lively young dogs. He likes his peace and quiet, and gets it most of the time.

On nice days Harry is let outdoors, where he sits on the deck for hours. He doesn't wander--he knows he's home and likes it that way. And we like having him here.

Sad to say, Harry developed an incurable tumor in his ear. It was surgically removed, but grew back in just two months. The vet said there was no hope for a cure--it would only get worse, and was already invading the ear canal. Rather than let him live and suffer, we helped him to the Bridge on October 23, 1998.