The purr-fect place to shop for plants

By gqlshare on August 1, 2024

As we all know, the way things begin is not always the way they finish, and what may seem like a modest little molehill can quickly mushroom into a thousand moles running around your backyard.

Or 25 cats.

Kristine Hill for example, once had a neighbor lady with two cats. Ho hum.

Is there anyone who doesn't have a neighbor lady with two cats? Please raise your hand if you've never lived near a lady with two cats. Or even three.

Also, please raise your hand if you don't know what happens if a neighbor has two cats but does not bother with the spay-and-neuter stuff. And then the crazy cat lady (sorry, but really) keeps not spaying and neutering her dozens of cats for many years.

Welcome to Whispering Winds Nursery down on South State Street and within easy walking distance of the nutty old neighbor lady who, when county animal control officers finally stopped by to have a look, had 60 to 80 cats, population growing. By the week.

Mid-day snack. Kristine knows every puddy tat's name

And since the cats lived in close proximity (that's what neighbors are, after all) some of those cats came a-wandering over to Whispering Winds Nursery. Uh-oh.

"The first cats we saw were kind of feral-ish," recalls Hill. There were maybe five or six of them coming from that trailer park over there. I rounded them up, got them spayed and neutered, but they just kept coming.

"I kept getting them fixed but it just got out of hand. Completely out of hand." Hill said that about a year ago the county began taking care of the pregnancy problem(s) and a few months later the lady running the cat farm died. That's when an official cat count was made, and 60 to 80 was the estimated number.

So at least county help was on its way, although Hill's work was just getting started.

"The cats just kept coming," she said. "Some of them had medical problems and some were pregnant. I took the mama cats home to have their kittens, and then I found homes for all the kittens, because I knew no one wanted to adopt a feral cat."

Also, offering room and board to a couple dozen cats can get expensive in a hurry. Not that Hill is complaining, but still: 50 meals a day??

Right now she is CAO of her own cat garden, lounge, parlour, cafeteria and taxi service. The taxiing begins every morning with whoever arrives at the front gate. First, open car door to unlock gate, leave car door open for 15 seconds to close gate. Then drive a dozen or more cats down the hill to see what's for breakfast.

"They rush over and hop in the car," she said, usually into her Honda, then get ferried about 100 feet each morning. This kind of attention to stray animals suggests there are people on the planet that, when surrounded by 25 cats, are far more patient and generous than you or I.

And one of those generous, patient people, says Hill, is Julie Knudsen, who has a Cat Rescue organization dedicated to exactly what you think. Hill says Knudsen not only rescues cats, but is known to stay up all night long bottle feeding kittens by hand.

So it's all good down at the nursery, where visitors never have to go far to encounter a friendly, happy cat that would like to be scratched behind the ears or have a tummy patted. Cat biscuits also welcome. Adoption is a possibility, although what cat would leave the leafy, jungle-like splendor of the Whispering Winds Nursery to go live with you or me? (Plus, Hill is reluctant to let any of them go.)

Overall she thinks the addition of a couple dozen cats has been a great experience, and even good for business. People love bringing kids to the kitty cat zoo, which has become as big a destination point as the best place to buy flowers, herbs and trees.

So go on down and see for yourself. Whispering Winds is right across South State from the old Water Trough bar, and when you arrive a golden tiger boy named "Tri" (rhymes with Try, and is short for Triangle in honor of his white nose patch) will meow Hello and welcome you in.

"Tri is our Walmart Greeter," said Kristine. "He loves everybody and is always first cat in line to say Hi."

And it probably wouldn't hurt to bring in a nice big bag of cat chow or kitty treats as a gift. I know 25 residents and one human who will purr big thanks.