The Story of Flip - 2005 to 2023

Eighteen summers ago, in 2005, at an overnight camp in the Pocono Mountains, a stray momma cat left her kitten in the care of a couple of summer camp counselors from Great Britain. The kitten loved to hide under the cabin and pounce on the campers walking by in their flip-flops -- so the foster counselor parents called her, "Flip Flop."  She was a character from the start:

At the time, our daughter was working as a Senior Counselor at the camp. On one of our visits, we got a chance to meet Flip Flop.

Fast forward to the end of summer camp, when the British counselors found out that they couldn't bring Flip Flop back to the UK until they were willing to pay for 30 days of quarantine at $35.00 a day! That was more than both counselors earned the whole summer. By this time, the camp was empty and only the senior staff remained to close up.

At this time in our lives, we already had three cats: Friskie, Millie and Luckie. Friskie was our oldest cat at 11 years, but he had constant health problems. While we were away for the weekend attending a Life on Wheels seminar about full-time RVing, we left Friskie with the vet so they could monitor his conditions. Sadly, we got a call at 9:00 a.m. letting us know Friskie had unexpectedly died in his sleep. Just two hours later, our daughter called and asked if we could adopt Flip-Flop; if so, she would bring Flip Flop home with her. One little friend walked out the door and another walked in; sometimes, you just can't fight karma.

When our daughter left for grad school shortly after that, Flip Flop became our cat. The first thing we did was officially shorten her name to Flip.

The next year Baxter joined the party.  In the photo below, Flip is in the foreground, with Millie and Luckie behind her. Sitting on the back of the recliner above them was our fat-cat Baxter.

Flip always loved looking out the windows. She was never a "people" cat like Baxter. When our niece Chelsea stayed with us, Baxter was enamored while Flip could care less.

When we sold the house and moved full-time into our Fifth Wheel RV, Flip claimed the couch.

However, Flip Luckie and Baxter had to share the bed:

Two years into our RV travels, in 2014, we lost our Luckie Cat.  He was about 17 when he passed away, a little old guy who lived his best scaredy-cat life.

We couldn't leave the cats in the Fifth Wheel while we traveled, so they had the whole backseat of our medium duty truck. Once we moved them from the rig to the truck, we would open their carriers so they could walk around, eat, drink and use the litter box. Flip rarely came out of her box, but when she did, Baxter gave her a wide berth!

Every once in a while, Flip would find something interesting out the back window of the RV. She would chatter and chirp at the critters. There was one road runner in Arizona that would jump up on the bikes and torment her.

While Baxter enjoyed walking around on a leash and meeting new neighbors, Flip never wanted to leave the trailer. We could leave the front door open, and she would poke her head out, look around and immediately go back inside. Having lived her early years outside at a summer camp, she had no interest in going into the wild ever again. The sky was just too big and there are scary things in the woods.

There was no doubt Flip was Queen of the Sofa and Picture Window -- so much so that Baxter dared not share the sofa with her, despite being twice her size and weight.

In 2017, we moved from our Fifth Wheel into the motorhome we now own.  Flip lost her couch, but gained a dashboard!  Now she dubbed herself Queen of the Dashboard.

Sometimes the sun was so hot on the dash, she had to jump down and catch a breeze coming in the front door.  In that case, she deigned to share the floor with Baxter, but you can see who got the softer mat:

Once we bought a sunshade for the windshield, she would spend most of her time watching camp TV, come sun or shade.

In 2019, Ruby entered the mix, a little kitten with Tortitude that we found in the bushes by a hospital in San Bernardino.  Luckily, the bed had enough room for a third occupant, so sleeping was generally a time of peace in our house:

As Flip grew older, she tended to be most content lounging (or sleeping) on the dashboard all day, with stretches only to eat and use the litterbox, before it was time to move to the bed for the nighttime.  At night, she occupied her own (queenly) pillow between our heads or -- when it was chillier -- moving over to Kathy's pillow to drape herself around Kathy's head.  Kathy liked to think that Flip did this out of love and generosity to keep Kathy's head warm, but we suspected that Flip did it to steal Kathy's heat for herself.  As Flip got older, it became clear that she loved any source of heat she could find.

It cannot be said the Flip ever entirely accepted the Youngsters -- Baxter and Ruby; she merely tolerated their existence in the same space.  But she made it very clear where HER spots were, and woe be unto a younger cat that attempted to steal any of them.  

Flip had a very commanding growl and screech that would throw fear into the heart of any being in her vicinity.  She had gotten used to receiving wet food for breakfast as soon as we got up, when we had to feed Baxter medicine and could not deny her similar food.  From that time on, Flip was in charge of the sleeping calendar.  She would move to the bedroom after dinner, and, promptly at 8:30 or 9:00 pm, she would come into the living room and yell at us that it was bedtime. She deigned to accept bedtime scritches from us, and then slept until 4:00 am when she would rise and perform her morning toilette.  If we were not awake by 5:00 am, she would start to cry, causing Ruby to rise and join her in the living room.  The two would conspire to walk on us until David got up (usually about 5:30 am) and feed Flip to stop her demanding screech.  By this time, Ruby would be ready to go out for a walk which, as soon as it was light, David would accommodate.  Meanwhile, Flip would use the opportunity to wake Kathy and cajole more treats.

Life was good for Queen Flip.

When she passed, it happened very quickly.  She had lymphoma, which finally reached her kidneys, and she weakened rapidly.  The vet told us that she was not yet in pain, but would be within days.  He recommended we say our goodbyes to her and let her fall peacefully to sleep.  The little spirit lay calmly with us and closed her eyes.  She was probably anticipating the joys of being Queen of the Heavenly Dashboard.