The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky

 

As always, Periwinkle paced back and forth in front of the Teleportation Tunnel waiting for Stinky's arrival.  She hoped he wasn't disappointed in their Adventure since the one he arranged last week was soooo exciting.  She was a lucky girlcat to have a boyfriend who took her to Disney in PARIS!!  If you missed it last week, click HERE to see it. 

With a WOOOSH, Stinky tumbled out of the Teleportation Tunnel and flew into Periwinkle's waiting paws.  They spent some time whisker kissing and catching up and then Periwinkle led him back to the tunnel to teleport to their destination.

When they stepped out, Stinky was surprised to see they were in Key West.  "Wow, there is so much to do here, where do we start?" asked Stinky.

"We are going to go visit some cats" said Periwinkle.  Stinky looked a little disappointed since he lives with the other Kitties Blue and sees cats all the time.  Periwinkle giggled and said these were super special cats.   She took his paw and led him to their destination.  Once he saw the sign, he understood.

Periwinkle said they were going to visit the very special polydactyl kitties at the Hemingway house and learn more about them.  Both had a moment of sadness when they remembered their polydactyl friend Sammy who had gone to the Bridge a few years ago.  They also thought about their friend Ernie from the Island Cats who also has those special paws!  Stinky mentioned that Ernie is a regular at the Sunday Selfie hop.

As they walked, paw in paw, Periwinkle told Stinky about the cats. "The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum is home to approximately 60 polydactyl (six-toed) cats. Cats normally have five front toes and four back toes. About half of the cats at the museum have the physical polydactyl trait but they all carry the polydactyl gene in their DNA, which means that the ones that have 4 and 5 toes can still mother or father six-toed kittens. Most cats have extra toes on their front feet and sometimes on their back feet as well. Sometimes it looks as if they are wearing mittens because they appear to have a thumb on their paw.

Ernest Hemingway was given a white six-toed cat by a ship’s captain and some of the cats who live on the museum grounds are descendants of that original cat, named Snow White. Key West is a small island and it is possible that many of the cats on the island are related. The polydactyl cats are not a particular breed. The trait can appear in any breed, Calicos, Tabbies, Tortoise Shell, White, Black, etc. They vary in shapes, sizes, colors and personalities."

They had so much fun seeing the kitties.  They laughed that this one obviously took lessons from Reesie and Raz about going on the table!

This one was showing his pawsome paws off while snoozing in his little house...

They passed by the pool and Periwinkle shared a little history.  "The story is that the swimming pool which replaced what had been Ernest’s personal boxing ring was contracted at great expense by Pauline after she found out about her husband’s affair with Martha Gellhorn, his third wife to be. When Ernest came back from assignment to find out the exorbitant cost of the pool, he was reported to have thrown a penny onto the ground in front of Pauline, saying, ‘you’ve spent all but my last penny, so you might as well have that!’ Pauline had the penny set into the path where it lay. It is still there today."

They both agreed it wasn't very nice of him to do that to his wife.

Stinky was impurressed with Periwinkle's knowledge of the cats and the history of the house.  One of the cats was drinking some ice water and stopped and said how excited he was to meet the famous tabbies.  He even shared his water with them.

Stinky hopped up on the desk to see the typewriter that Hemingway used.  

They also passed a photo of Hemingway.

The two headed back outside and all of a sudden Stinky took off.  Periwinkle found him up in a tree with a handsome ginger kitty.  "Those big paws make climbing a lot easier," said Stinky.

In the house for one more look, they passed some kitties snoozing on the bed.  All of a sudden they both realized they were tired too so they joined them.

It was time to head home so they said goodbye to the kitties and hopped back into the Teleportation Tunnel.  When they got back to Periwinke's house they visited with her Mom and fursibs and she showed him the basket the Easter Bunny left them.  Stinky was surprised Periwinkle's brofur, Raz, hadn't torn the basket apart for the treats since he was a Treat Hog!  They both giggled at that.

They shared a quick snack outside.

After some quiet time whisker kissing and enjoying each other's company, it was time for Stinky to head home.  He thanked Periwinkle for the fun afternoon.  "It was hard to come up with something after that fabulous trip to Paris that you took us on last week" said Periwinkle.   Stinky blushed and was very pleased that Periwinkle had a good time and he told her so.  With one last whisker kiss, he stepped into the Teleportation Tunnel and with a WOOSH, he headed home.

Want to learn more about the Hemingway House and cats?   Here's a video that tells a lot about the cats.

To read more about Hemingway and the cats, click HERE.