DEAR SANTA AND MISS JO READERS: MISS JO AND JEFF’S FIFTH Christmas in San Francisco is a little somber since two days ago their beloved black cat Bubba died.
So Miss Jo apologizes to one and all that her planned snappy holiday missive has lost its zip and you’ll have to wait a year for a full telling of the two Js’ second SF Xmas when a rat jumped from behind the toilet as her niece Ella Una was dropping her drawers.
You see, Bubba, 18, was the straw that stirred the drink in the two Js’ household. Lanky, with a swan neck, Bubba used to pal around with sidekick Rudy Kazootie, 8, another black domestic short hair. They were a pair o’ bears, as Jeff liked to call them.
Bubba started out as Jeff’s kitty, for the price of $5 as the last kitten in a basket at the Takoma Park, Md., farmer’s market, outside Washington, D.C. He next did a stint— really a stretch— as the dapper companion of Jeff’s mom, Virginia, in a D.C. efficiency.
Bubba also will be remembered as the kitty muse to Virginia’s longtime beau, Tony Cichielo, who painted him with a devilish look on holiday and birthday vignettes where everything was the cat’s fault.
Bubba next moved in with the two Js in D.C. That’s where he became fast friends with Rudy Kazootie, who lived across the hall as the right-hand-man of Miss Jo’s mom, June. It was Bubba who taught scaredy-cat Rudy it’s okay to trust the two Js and you might even get more food.
Neither cat had been outside or been around other animals. Their friendship was magical. They followed each other from apartment to apartment and down the hall to smell the pee spot left by the dalmatian puppy neighbor. From the viewpoint of June, an octogenarian with Alzheimer’s, the cats were brothers she had raised.
Of course, when the two Js and June moved to San Francisco, the Bears came too, where, like their humans, they got a new lease on life.
Bubba will be laid to rest at the Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park and Cemetery in Napa County.
7 Comments
so sorry to hear about Bubba.
the photos are a great memorial — we love reading missjo’s!
I am so sorry to hear about Bubba.It has been so long since i had a pet, but i still remember how it feels when you lose one.
mustafa
I am so sorry for your loss. We are dealing with a 13 year old cat who arrived at our doorstep just as our daughter left for college 13 years ago. He is a very trusting soul and must stay indoors at all times and only be out with our supervision. He is dying and it hurts something fierce. We lost our other wonderful cat during the summer to an aids like disease. That too was so hard. They are such members of the family, especially where the only child has grown and gone. I know you must be very sad right now.
so sorry to hear about bubba. he certainly added style and spunk to the cats of the 5th floor. will make a cat ofrenda for him.
Ohhhhh.
( I’m so very sorry to hear of Bubba’s passing. What a wonderful and special little friend, who brought joy and happiness to so many(ital.) over the years. It is so nice, fitting and proper that Bubba’s eternal rest will be in such a bucolic and tranquil locale such as Napa. The warm and wonderful memories will live on, and on.
RIP, Bubba! Puts me in mind of Tom Kat’s passing so many years ago. These snaps are certainly magical, though, and a great way to remember a great kitty…
Awww Miss Jo, So sorry about Bubba. Good for him for having his final rest in a place as beautiful and heaven-like as the Napa Valley.