End of an Era: Flashback To 2008 and Our First Cat Post
Merlin here, all misty eyed with nostalgia on a moody Monday sharing our very first cat post from 2008. As many of you know we’re reinventing our other blog Boomer Muse. On June 25th our host Godaddy is shutting down a web product we’ve used since 2008 for our writing website LaylaMorganWilde.com and our photo quote blog, Boomer Muse. The migration to WordPress is proving more complicated and it’s possible some of our content will disappear into the ether forever. We have thousands of posts and countless images which need to be migrated manually 100 posts at a time. And we haven’t even begun so it’s going to be a crazy week.
My poor mom Layla is so exhausted and could use some purrs. She’s redesigning LaylaMorganWilde.com from scratch and will include Boomer Muse as part of the site. When it’s up and running we’ll let you know. Paws crossed we won’t lose the 250 cat posts. In any case, she’s excited to rebrand herself and do something fun and creative. She’s tried keeping cats off Boomer Muse but come on, cats are in her blood, right?
Boy, we’ve come a long way from this naive post (what a horrible post title!) but look how adorable I was as a kitten! My sister Coco was still alive and Domino was feral and our first Cat of the Week. You could tell from day one I liked to talk but oh my whiskers, how did I get so fat? And *sigh* I was so handsome as a young teen at 9 months! Well, that’s ancient history now. Layla is eating her words, hehehehe when she mentioned she could never adopt another cat. Never say never.
Cat Saturday #1
Welcome to our first edition of Cat Sat. It’s all about cats on Saturday AKA Cat Sat. If you are not a cat person, you may want to leave. There will be photos of my cats and other kitties met by chance or design. If YOU have a special CAT and would like it be a contender for CAT OF THE WEEK please send me a jpeg. Only subscribers to this blog are eligible. Thanks!Cat quote de jour
“Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance.”
“Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance.”
– Dan Greenberg
Let’s begin by introducing my kids, I mean kittens. My two Siamese cats Merlin and Coco are siblings born on Oct. 2, 1994. Okay, so 14-years-old isn’t exactly kittenish, but to me they are. The kittens were taken at six weeks, before heading to four separate homes in their first year. I adopted them at age one, giving them their forever home.
This is Merlin as a young adult and a more recent pic of Merlin channeling is inner warrior but the truth is he’s a momma’s boy. I know all mom’s think
their kids are the most beautiful, but come on, isn’t he handsome? He’s my favorite but don’t tell his sister Coco.
The always elegant Coco, this summer on the porch. She is equal parts sweet and bitchy and the dumb blonde of cats. Sorry, Merlin got all the brains. It’s a good thing my cats rule the roost. They forbid me to bring any other pets of any kind into the house. Just as well, or I’d be one of those crazy cat ladies with 100 cats.
Instead, in 1997 I founded a cat rescue organization called Annex Cat Rescue. I no longer live in Toronto but the work of rescuing abandoned cats, finding homes, spaying and neutering ferals continues with a dedicated group of volunteers. It gained charitable status and consumed every spare moment of my life for years. My home phone number was the contact number and I fielded every single call. No cat was adopted without being interviewed by me. This is before we had a website or even email. It was grassroots, with a group of volunteers making catnip toys in my living room for fundraising and a network of foster homes in the neighborhood called the Annex. I’m proud of my legacy and delighted they continue to grow leaps and bounds. http://www.annexcatrescue.on.ca
What my cats deemed acceptable is allowing a feral, part Snowshoe? cat take residence on our covered porch. His name is Domino and he’s come a long way from the terrified, starved adolescent of almost two years ago. For the first time ever, Merlin and Domino hung out all afternoon. Not quite snuggle buddies but huge progress from past hiss fests. I thinks it’s very gallant of Merlin to befriend such a wild boy. Now if only he can convince him to come indoors.
Domino has endured bloody fights, frost bite and homelessness. I feel he deserves to be our first CAT OF THE WEEK. This was taken last year before he lost part of his ear. 
34 Comments
Cynthia Southern
Merlin, Domino and Coco are such adorable cutie pie kitties in these pictures. Thanks for taking us on this trip down kitty cat memory lane.
Katnip Lounge
Oh my! Merlin, Coco and Domino as mere sprites!
We send purrs and positive vibe for the move. Whether real or virtual, moving = upheaval.
meowmeowmans
It’s so nice to see this long ago post, and to learn more about how the cats came to be a part of your family. Good luck with all that transition…
Beverly
How sweet! Pix stay forever young.
I pity you moving everything. IT can be dreadful.
Penelope
Yikes! Working in software, I feel your pain! I can’t tell you how often I’ve had to hand move databases over the years and it is NOT a fun process.
We send you strength (and patience)
Nellie’s Mommy
Caren Gittleman
I greatly enjoyed this post, so much fun to go back! My heart goes out to you…with my ongoing email issues I feel like staying off the computer forever. I don’t envy you!!!
Skeeter and Izzy
Technology be damned!!! It is good when it works but sooooooooooooooooo stressful when it doesn’t! Good Luck.
We love the post and think it was wonderful simply because it is about cats, more specifically your cats…..no right or wrong way to do it.
Luvs
Skeeter and Izzy and the Feral Gang + Twig and Peanut and Romeo >^..^<
jansfunnyfarm
It’s fun to go back and remember past posts. Sorry you are having to go through so much work on your other blogs. Some changes make life easier and some pile on the work. Good luck.
Sometimes, Cats Herd You
Ouch. Having to figure out what to do with an old web site on such a timeline is painful. There is software out there usually referred to as “web site rippers” — or more politely, web site copiers — that can pull a whole web site down to your hard drive. The head peep hasn’t looked at them in years, but would something like that be helpful to at least preserve your content if you don’t have time to hand-copy the posts over to WordPress right now?
Angel AbbyGrace
Such great memories. I hope you are able to save as much (if not all) of the Boomer Muse when you move it to WordPress.
Sally Swanson
Beautiful pictures of your little ones! Merlin is right. You can’t do without cats on Boomer Muse!
Chris Davis
Ah, so sweet – lots of memories. I love the photos, too. Six years goes by quickly, doesn’t it?
Brian Frum
We enjoyed that flashback and we sure hope the techy stuff goes smoother.
maggie
Nice look back, Layla. Photography is such a blessing. Being able to revisit our younger cats through photography is such a pleasure.
Hope the transition goes well and you don’t lose any of your wonderful photographs.
Flynn
That was lovely to see your first post. I didn’t discover your blog for several years. Good luck with the changeover.
Carolyn
I loved reading this post. I think I do remember way back when!! I wish you a smooth transition and Austin sends his best purrs for you ! xx
The Swiss Cats
It’s funny to see how one of our favorite experienced blogger cat began ! We send your mom tons of purrs for her blog migration ! Purrs
Sue Brandes
Wonderful post. I hope that goes smoothly for you. Sounds like a lot of work.
Tamago
The migration process sounds lots of work! I hope you won’t lose any posts.
The baby pictures of Merlin and Coco are so adorable 🙂
CatInTheFridge
ack. How terribly stressful! Is there a way you can back up before you migrate so you can save things if something goes wrong? Good luck!! We send lots of purrs and support! – Alana ad Crepes.
Layla Morgan Wilde (Cat Wisdom 101)
No idea. Que sera sera and thanks!
Oui Oui
Oh, we love this post! And it’s so nice to see where you cam from. 3 lovely blue eyed cats! How lucky you were (our mom loves blue eyed cats). Good luck transfering everything over. Our mom would dread doing that!
easy rider
What a great post and what wonderful kitties. I sadly can’t purr, but I will send some tail waggs to your mom and a big hug :o)
da tabbies o trout towne
doodz….we loved thiz post…..all wayz fun ta see what otherz rited way bak….N maybe yur mom can due sum copy & paste on yur postz…send em ta her self in email & save em that way …then her can werk on them when her haza wee minit…we did thiz with R stuff on blogger….copy & past & email….granted we due knot haz NEER az manee az ewe, but they bee “safe” …… case blogger goes spazzy for any reezon….tell mom ta eat sum trout……it wil give her a boost oh energeez !! ♥
Kathryn
What a delightful post. I remember reading this way back when. All the kitties are and were lovely. And Dom Dom, always love Dom Dom.
What type of Siamese?
We only had Sealpoint, (5 total) when I was growing up (Tawny, Ginger, Siami, Kitty, Kitty II)
Layla Morgan Wilde (Cat Wisdom 101)
Merlin is blue with lynx point and Coco was chocolate.
Kathryn
oh cool!!
The Island Cats
That was a fun post! Thanks for sharing it!
We purr that all goes well with the blog transition. It does sound like a big job.
Sammy
Oh what fun to read your first post…..the “baby” photos of Merlin and Coco are so sweet and Domino – well – he’s gorgeous to this day. I know it’s got to be a ton of work to change the blog over – has to be a tremendous project – but the main thing is you’re moving onward…..and those of us who love you and your blogs are very happy about that!
Hugs, Pam
nadbugs
Best of luck with the tekno challenges, dear Layla . . . . When you get done with all that, would you consider giving a shout-out to the Animal Bill of Rights? This is an effort that needs the big blast that you can give it. I’ve written about it in my latest post but I’m afraid my little blog is just a blip in the ocean . . . .
Katie and Cocco
Wow I can’t believe how much work it will be to switch over! That sounds like a full time job. Good luck.
It was so great to read this post. Love the pictures and what a start to what it has now become. Xo
Zoolatry
Aaah … great photos (and as usual, great writing!) … we would NEVER be so “brave” as to repost our first (and hugely embarrassing) post.
Life moves forward … we dare not look back, at least when it comes to the internet.
Pawesome Cats
I loved reading this post and meeting your fur kids again. Good luck with migrating the posts to WordPress, we moved our relatively young blog to a self hosted site a few months ago and it was a nightmare even with professional help.
Sparkle
My human feels your pain – she has a nearly thousand page website on a topic she doesn’t even cover anymore, but which still gets some traffic, and if she wants to move it to a more modern platform, it will have to be done manually since the site was hand-built in html. My own blog had to go through this process, and it was not fun! Plus it sounds like yours is even worse because it is built on an out-of-date platform with a database that won’t play nice with WordPress.