RAWHIDE: Tell us about your rescue, Maeve!

MAEVE: I was so scared! My mommy and brothers and sisters left the dark hole beneath the shed without me and I was all alone, so I crawled out all by myself to look for them. I asked this tall thing I later learned was a tree if it was my mother, but it just rustled its leaves at me. Then I asked a fuzzy little thing that humped across the ground on a gazillion legs if it was my mother but it just shook fuzz all over its body. Then I asked a pretty thing sitting above me on the tall thing, but it just sang a song I didn’t understand then flew away. Not my mother. Sigh. I didn’t know what to do. I’d been out from under the shed a long time (half an hour at least!) and could only see out of one eye (the other one hadn’t opened yet) and my voice wasn’t really strong enough to call my momma, so I kinda just flopped on the ground and cried.

And then my NEW mommy, a big, black furry thing with a long tail and a loud barking noise (and reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally big teeth!) gently picked me up in his mouth and brought me to this bright, sunny place that had other furry creatures. And some interesting-looking un-furry ones that walk on only two legs. I know now that they’re humans, but at the time, I didn’t know WHAT they were. ’Course, I could only see outta that one eye, on account of being just under two weeks old, but they were so nice, and they smothered me with kisses and long pets… I knew I was stayin’ from the moment the big black furry new momma (Finn) plopped me right on the foot of one of the humans.

Then they took me to a kinda scary place where I got a nasty shot, but I also got some good milk for my tummy, then they took me home and gave me my VERY OWN bed!Imagine that! Before, I had to share with my brothers and sisters, all curled up in the dark dirt, but now… I had my very own red towel to snuggle in. ’Course, Gizmo, a very fluffy cat who my human momma thinks I might be related to on account of the fact that we’re both part Maine Coon and were born a couple hundred yards from each other (my humans rescued him from a local farm too! They like to rescue furry friends, my humans do), musta not liked that I had my own bed so he crawled in with me. But I didn’t mind ’cause I was gettin’ kinda lonely without my family, but Gizmo and Finn… they became my new family. They were like my mommas. Finn made sure when my humans fed me that he cleaned me all up, and he helped me, well, with “private matters” since my momma wasn’t around to teach me, and Gizmo kept me all snuggled up at night and gave me a bath occasionally.

The other furries, Vixen and Raven, weren’t exactly interested in me, but were nice enough when I sniffed them. Finn even taught me to bark, so now, when I wait outside my humans’ bedroom in the morning (I like to be in their faces too much at night when they’re trying to sleep—silly humans, nighttime is so much fun to run around the house in the dark), I bark for them to feed me instead of purring. Oh, I purr, too, but I’ve found the barking is a nice parlor trick and gets them up quicker.

My humans added another rescued furry to the pack, so now there are 7 of us. The young’un is a bit of a pain in the tush—all hyper and wanting to play and he hasn’t quite managed to figure out his teeth are sharp so I have to swat him to remind him—but he’s learning to fit in. It’s always busy around here, but I found the perfect spot by the sliding door off the kitchen where I sit in the sun all day and watch the birds on Cat TV—aka, bird feeders—my humans have set up right outside.

It’s a pretty sweet life I have now. My human  momma always says I don’t know that I’m supposed to be feral, and ya know? She’s kinda right. It seems like that dirt under the shed was a lifetime ago, even though I’m only 4 years old now.

 

RAWHIDE: What other animals live with you and Judi?

MAEVE: We have “the girls:” Vixen and Raven, almost fifteen-year-old cocker spaniels who are half-aunt/half-niece. Vixen sleeps most of the day and Raven just had a surgery where she had to give them her toe (which my human momma says is better than the arm and leg SHE had to give the doctors…), but she’s doing pretty darn good.

Then there’s “the boys.” That’d be Finn and Nittany—he’s the new kid on the block. Finn’s the border/lab mix and Nittany’s half German Shepherd and the other half’s a mix of hound and pointer, but momma swears the “hound” part is greyhound bc that boy, he has enough energy to exhaust the Energizer Bunny.

Then there’s Gizmo, who I already mentioned, and Pagan. She’s a hang-to-herself little tiny black kitty who’s eight. She’d been rescued from the side of a road after a sad incident with her momma and a car, but Pagan and her littermates were lucky that it happened right across the (busy) street from the SPCA, so a kind volunteer hand-raised them and my momma adopted her from there.

And me. That makes seven. (There’s an empty 55-gallon aquarium in the “terrace level” that I know they’re planning to fill at some point, so it looks like this new house is going to be bursting at the seams with living beings.

 

 

RAWHIDE: What kinds of books does Judi write?

MAEVE: She writes the funniest books ever! Seriously. I’ve caught a few people giggling when they read them. They’re Romantic Comedies. Some are paranormal ones about mermen off the coast of the Jersey shore and genies. Others are about three brothers who lost a poker bet to their sister who owns a cleaning service so they have to be manly maids. And since their last name is Manley, it’s the perfect fit. And THEN, there’s the smoking hot and funny BeefCake, Inc. series about male strippers. Think Magic Mike and… Well, just think Magic Mike and you’ll have a good day, right?

RAWHIDE: What’s Judi’s latest book?

MAEVE: Beefcake & Snowflakes. Isn’t that the best title? Or, wait, the others in the series are pretty darn good too: Beefcake & Cupcakes (I dare you to take a taste!), Beefcake & Mistakes, and Beefcake & Retakes.  You can see all her books at JudiFennell.com  

RAWHIDE: Does Judi have any other hobbies?

MAEVE: Other than taking care of us in between editing and helping other authors self-publish with her formatting business (formatting4U.com)? Mostly house stuff—she’s a great d-i-y-er, which they tell me is a Do-It-Yourself-er, and she loves going to Penn State football games with her very own (and really cool) PSU Guy. He’s my secret crush. Matter of fact, Momma always calls me his girlfriend. And when I left the rose petal outside their bedroom door (rose petals are very tasty—to the point where Momma won’t even buy ’em even though they’re her favorite flower because I’m always eatin’ ’em), Momma said, “Look what your girlfriend left you!”

RAWHIDE: What’s a book that Judi recently enjoyed reading?

MAEVE: She actually did a little retro trip, recently, and read Michael Crichton’s Timeline. She’s currently into Linwood Barclay and Melinda Leigh’s books. I guess she likes to balance the light-hearted fun stuff she writes with dark and scary. I don’t get it, but then, my idea of entertainment is leaping against the sliding glass door anytime a hummingbird gets too close.

RAWHIDE: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

MAEVE: Oh, I could go on for hours. I’m pretty social. But Momma says I have to give her laptop back ’cause she has to get back to work, so I’ll just say thanks for having me!