Cleo has decided to sleep on my 1901 rocking chair. It has been in my family since a gift at my Grandfather's Wedding in 1901.

An oak rocker, horse hair seat, indeed, I spent hours in it being gently rocked before I was born. I recall going under it as a child of maybe three, seeing it was made in Welland, Ontario, Canada, 1901, June 22. It was pencil marked (and still is). My Cleo cat discovered this rocker at 8 weeks, when she first learned it rocked.

This young cat was all over it, her favorite toy, hell, it was mine when I was five, I wanted (boy thing) to see how fast I could make it go. Pretty much a theme of my life, whether a car, or a boat, or an airplane. How fast can I make it go? Cleo too.

She would jump on the back at six weeks old, nearly toppling the chair as her weight increased, then jump on the front, making the old girl "Rock and Roll", never did the chair tip, the designers put long runners on it.

Now, many years later, my Cleo is sound asleep on her rocker, horse hair seat, oh it has been re-furbished but I ensured it's the still original horsehair seat.

Nine year old Cleo. Same cat. Not a devilish kitten, but a grown up cat, the lead cat of this house, with three below her. She sleeps peacefully in the lead cat space, and no one would dare challenge. No one.

She seldom has to enforce her position, it's understood. You don't tread on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. Believe me, you don't.

It's just a pleasure to see her in the command chair, sleeping so peacefully. At nine, she sleeps deeper, not more. That's the only slowdown I see. When awake WOOHOO! if you do something wrong! This goes for the human as well. She leaves the Rocker at 04:30 to be ready to wake up the human at 05:50, quietly arriving not to wake him up until time (which she does to the minute nearly).

Cleo? Salt of the earth.

Copyright © Bill Mason
April 26, 2003