R.I.P. Radar
Our friend for the last 17 years, found in a storm drain in Somerville, and made it to us via Kitty Angels in NH. Among other reasons, we chose him specifically because the folk at the shelter told us "He's too timid, If you're looking for a lap cat, this isn't the one, hell just hide and you'll probably never see him."
They we're right, and wrong. The first few weeks, yep, we hardly saw him, and he would manage to cram
himself into the smallest hiding places; We would find him in places we could not fathom how he could have squeezed into. But after the first month or so, he totally changed and decided we were his family.
Somehow, a game of "Spin the Cat" developed, where he would show up to my left leg and wait to be spun around; this eventually "Elevator" forked off from this where he would show up at the *right* leg, and i'd whoosh him up in the air, then back down, while saying "whoosh" or "elevator", and he'd walk away for a few steps then come back for more rides.
He'd run and hide whenever strangers showed up, but was always around for us, eventually being a great lap companion, or hanging out with you while working on the 'puter. As he got older, he became a bit more social around other people.
Took several iterations of increasing security to keep him out of the machine shop; he'd get in there by somehow getting into the basement ceiling joists and tunneling in.
He came from the shelter with the name "bruno" but that just didn't fit.
"Radar" emerged as his true name because when still little, his ears were way bigger than his head and he would rotate them around independently of each other like radar dishes. And surprisingly, it didn't take long before he *knew* his name. We could reliably call for him and he'd come out from wherever he was and find us. Calling out other names or words with the same cadence/tone wouldn't get him; he really seemed to understand the name itself.
He had a good run. Thought he was going to pass back in January, but somehow he rallied and stuck around for a while longer. over the past week, old age, kidney problems, and a large abdominal mass
of some sort finally got him. We took him outside into the backyard grass yesterday. We took him to the vet this morning.
Buried in the backyard next to Tabbytail. Bye Radar. We'll miss you.