Max's first Christmas

I was digging around my files and found this, Max's first Christmas in 2001. He sat on that box as if he was sure it was his, but no matter how hard I tried, he would not look up when I tried to get pictures.

 

That avoidance would be an ongoing theme throughout his life. You want a picture of my face? NO.

 

He was only 6 months old, long and sleek, and had--not even kidding--a roughly 5 foot vertical jump. We discovered just how high he could jump on a night when the power went out and we placed lit candles on the top of the entertainment center...and =boom= there was Max, on top, wanting to explore, terrifying us because floofy kittens and fire just don't mix.

It made games with the red dot a lot of fun because running that thing up the wall resulted in some spectacular capture attempts.

 

A year later, he was kinda fat. His vertical leap was less impressive by then.

 

Thank Bast.

Adding moderation to the comments

Man, all the years this blog has been going, and Max never added me as a contributing author. How rude. But I was able to sneak myself in this morning, just to make it easier to check things from my own Blogger account.

Since I want to leave this blog up to keep the archives available, I've changed the moderation on comments from 20 days to 5 days, just to cut down on the amount of spam that might show up in them. I've already culled a ton and I know I've probably missed a lot...like who thinks it's a good idea to spam a 3 year old blog post that no one will ever check the comments on?

Max's email address will still be valid and I'll check it every now and then, but not daily. The best way to reach me via him is a message on his FB author page. It's linked to my personal page and I see when there are notifications on it.

I'll also post updates when the next Wick stories are available, and where they can be read. 

Most of the memories that bubble up in my brain--and there are a lot of them--will probably be posted to my own blog...unless people prefer I post them here. Historically, my own blog was filled with a lot of Max and Buddah, and I don't imagine that will change.

I still miss these guys like crazy. We practically have a shrine to them in the living room, between the fireplace and TV. The top picture there is one a friend had commissioned of Max, and the bottom two were painted by the amazing Karen Nichols, owner of Mousebreath Magazine, where Max had his weekly Ask Max column.

The two photos of Buddah...I ordered those late September intending them to be a Christmas gift for The Man, and they arrived two days after he died. That was both rough and perfect timing, and there was no way I could wait to give them to him

Main thing is that this blog will stay put and will not be deleted, comments will be moderated after 5 days, the archives will remain, and there will be further Wick stories.