An Olive tree story

An olive tree.

In the Netherlands people love gardening and the last winters were perfect for gardeners. We were happy as well.  So we were getting bold and planted palm trees and olive trees in our gardens and they were carefully tended.  Despite of good care one olive tree grew more and more homesick and missed his Italian hills. One day we had to dig out the tree, but we couldn’t cut up this beautiful tree and we took it home.

Ivan had a brilliant idea. We were going to make a cat tree! A wild endeavour because it took 4 adult men to carry the tree home. Ivan was convinced that our Bengals would love this tree. It took a year before Ivan could carry out his plan and it took very heavy material and clothing with protective layers. When the roots were cut off the tree was still very heavy, but manageable and Ivan and Torsten started to get the tree into our house. Ivan wasn’t willing to cut off any of the branches, so they tried to fit the tree in all different ways.

Their activities and discussions attracted the attention of our Bengals and of course they had their own ideas. Sitting on the stairs they observe their people, but they kept a safe distance.  When the tree finally reached his final destination, more heavy equipment was needed. Than the olive tree was standing majestically and we were all impressed: Ivan, Torsten, all the Bengals and I.

Sammy was the first one to investigate and the others followed quickly. They enjoyed the new possibility to climb a tree and jump on the cupboard. 



 Guinevere was especially interested in the former tenants of the tree; she was convinced that they still lived in the tree. She scratched the bark in search of insects and when she couldn’t find any she bit small pieces of bark a walk proudly with her prey.

It was quite an adventure but worth the effort. You just need a few very strong and very crazy Bengal lovers and of course Bengals who immediately show their enthusiasm. Good job Torsten and Ivan!

This was a really happy Bengal Day.:)