Virginia is for. . . Pets

Bob and I are currently almost a week into our Charlottesville (locally C’ville), Virginia, house sit. It is a beautiful area — lots of trees, very clean, and surrounded by former presidential estates, and lots of orchards, wineries, breweries, cideries, and distilleries. The city itself has a population of about 50,000. It is the county seat of Abermarle County and is home to the University of Virginia.

(Side Note: In local news, the city has recently changed the name of one of its downtown areas from Lee Square to Emancipation Square. In addition, they have decided to remove their large statue of Robert E. Lee and this has sparked some contentious demonstrations from the KKK and the alt-right movements. We missed the one in July and will miss an upcoming one in August, for which we are grateful.)

On a happier note, we met our homeowner family — mom, dad, and two precocious little girls on the eve of their departure for a Mexican vacation, part of which will include swimming with sharks. We are caring for their 2 dogs and 6 indoor/outdoor cats (to the extent they want to be cared for) while the family is gone.

The two dogs are quite easy — a couple of walks, some food, and equal amounts of attention, and they are good. Both feel free to let you know if they feel you are not paying attention.

Roger (for Roger Federer) is a golden labradoodle. He has the most human- looking eyes — like he can tell what you are thinking/feeling.

Velvet is a 9-year old mix. She is the alpha dog of the two.

The cats are all mixed-breed rescues. They come and go at their leisure with one pretty much living next door. Some tend to be more inside and others happier outside. Five are male and one is female.

Anderson (for Anderson Cooper) is 7 years old. He likes to strut around a bit outside but is also inside often as well for strokes and to have us turn on the faucet for him to drink out of. He and Leona are our most frequent feline companions.

Leona is 6 years old. She is a cat that knows what she likes — your coffee or food, drinking out of the faucet, and treats from the cupboard. She is a regular purr machine and is mostly inside where she can be attended to.

Sanjay (for Sanjay Gupta) is 7 years old. He is definitely an outdoor cat. While we see him inside to feed, we most often see him outside where he accompanies us on our walks with the dogs. He sometimes gets swooped at by birds, but it doesn’t seem to bother him.

Derek (for Derek Hough — from Dancing with the Stars), is 1 years old. He was adopted last year with Rafa. He is about equally in and outside, though we rarely see him inside as he likes to stay under furniture.

Rafa (for Rafael Nadal) is 1 years old. He is mostly outside.

There is also a cat named Miles that we caught a fleeting glimpse of on our first night here with the homeowners. He was on his way back to the neighbors. Per the home owners, he has apparently decided there is too much activity in the house with the family so has adopted the neighbor but comes back every so often to eat.

Downtown Charlottesville is lovely and has lots of reminders of its connections to 3 former presidents — Jefferson, Monroe, and Madison — as well as reminders of its participation in the confederacy during the Civil War. It has a lovel pedestrian-only mall with unique, local shops and restaurants.