Lake County >> For the past three years, every day throughout the months of January and February, an affectionate cat by the name of Hector brings his owner, Karen Baldwin, a few flowers to brighten her day.
“Every day I get three or four flowers,” Baldwin said. She doesn’t know where the resourceful cat finds the blooms, but she knows he has to venture away from her home, and over a six foot fence, to find them.
“I don’t have too many flowers blooming, I have roses, but he can’t pick the roses,” Baldwin said. Without his owner’s garden to choose from, Hector has to look elsewhere.
“I get up in the morning and they’re all over the floor,” she said. “They’re from the back door all the way down the hall.”
Even when the flowers aren’t blooming, Hector doesn’t give up on his quest to give Baldwin these small gifts. He’s brought her cherries and leaves as well. “He is a really unique cat,” she said. “We just love him.”
Eight years ago, Baldwin found Hector abandoned as a newborn kitten. She was sure he wouldn’t make it. But fortunately, she was able to nurse the small gray and black kitten back to life and he’s been living with her ever since.
“He turned out to be a real gentleman,” she laughed.
So maybe that’s why Hector is bringing her these gifts, as a thank you for what she’s done. “I guess that’s his payback. I saved his life,” Baldwin said.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached 900-2019.
