Farewell, Machiko

There are two tribes of cats at Jimbo's house: the inside cats and the outside cats. The outside cats are allowed and encouraged to come inside, but they prefer the outside life. The weather is pretty nice year round in Malaysia, except for the rains, so this isn't really a problem. They have really nice trees to climb and bushes to sleep under, out of the sun. When the rains get really heavy, some of the outside cats come in to stay dry. I think Machiko may have been one of the outside cats, because all of the pictures of him, except for the ones where he is sitting or lying in boxes are of him outside. There were thirteen cats until Machiko went to the Rainbow Bridge. The family adopts all the strays who come to their house. One of the reasons they do this is because some the shelters in Malaysia have real problems when it comes to taking care of their charges. All of the cats get vet care and are fixed and find love, food and water in abundance. Machiko had lived with the family for eight years. His health started to fail recently and he just passed away quietly. The family are really missing him.

                                      Machiko loved to sit in boxes.
                                      It's one of life's paradoxes.
                                             Outside he loved to stay
                                              But he would come in to play.
                                      Now he's at the Bridge with plenty of boxes.