The Story of Charlie

Perhaps one cannot understand part of the culture of The Rustic Grape without knowing Charlie.  Charlie adopted us about 6 weeks ago, and will soon be moving to her permanent home with Karen.  We sure will miss Charlie around the shop, but know it's in her best interest to have a better home like setting.

Anyone who comes into The Rustic Grape knows that Carla, Kristina, and Karen find that wine and animals make the world go 'round.... along with a fair dose of kindness and good jokes. The gals discovered Charlie, then unnamed, a few months ago.  She was half her size, and was perceived to be a boy kitty.  After a couple of weeks of nourishing her with salami and leaving water outside, the name Charles was decided for the friendly, yet skiddish feline. Charles quickly started imposing in on the shop more and more, and no one really seemed to stop the cat.  Naturally, the girls did what all animal loving crazy cat people would do, they purchased cat food, flea meds and wormer.  Convinced that we were wrong about the gender, it was confirmed, that Charles was a girl.  The name quickly changed to Charlie.  

The gals down at the shop became more and more lenient with Charlie, as she moved the modems and boxes of wine glasses to create comfortable bed area away from heavy feet and clinks of glasses.  She would drift in and out of the exhausting snoozes to greet customers, meow for food, receive pats on the head, and solicit new customers with her intoxicating personality.  At one point, all who visited the shop were convinced that Charlie was pregnant.  They were all fooled as it was discovered that Charlie had become a happy and fat cat. 

In the meantime, Charlie has been escorted, rather unwillingly, to the vet, and has been giving a sparkling clean bill of health.  The girls have absolutely fallen in love with their rotund kitty.  Y'all have just a few short weeks left before Charlie will be moving to her new home!  Make sure to come in for a strained meow, and stay for a glass or two!