Whether Pickle’s mood was sweet or sour, Blue Springs resident Michele Nigg loved Pickle the cat until her 2007 death from liver and kidney disease.
Originally named Callie because she was a blue cream calico cat, Pickle entered Nigg’s life in South Dakota shortly after she had graduated from veterinary technician school. The feline quickly developed a personality, Nigg said, loving only her owner and expressing evil toward everyone else. As Nigg’s career as a registered veterinary technician developed, the pair moved five times from South Dakota to Iowa to Arizona to Missouri.
“I miss her terribly some days,” Nigg said. “I occasionally catch a glimpse of her running down the hallway like she used to or remember how she would lay on my chest and gently touch my face with her paw when she wanted to be loved on.”
Almost two years after Pickle’s death, Nigg has started her own business named in the cat’s honor: Pickle’s Pet Sitting. Nigg still works part time at an animal clinic in Blue Springs, but she would eventually like to work full time in her pet-sitting venture. She enters the pet owners’ homes based on needs expressed in individual consultations.
Pickle’s Pet Sitting is available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, including weekends and holidays. Nigg reiterated that she must care for the pets in their owners’ homes since she is not a licensed boarder, though she does hold the appropriate license and insurance to operate a pet sitting business. For more information, call 816-868-6294.
Notes around town
Independence resident Sheryl McClaran e-mailed me last week, inquiring about what had happened to the Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio near Price Chopper on Noland Road where she had shopped for years. I learned that the 4201 S. Noland Road location closed April 24.
Former Independence Merle Norman owner Sharon Kavanaugh said she closed the location after 25 years and she now works part time at the Lee’s Summit location. All Merle Norman locations are independently owned and operated; there is one location in Blue Springs but none in Independence.
Also around town, the Shell gas station at 39th Street and Noland Road in Independence has closed.
ICED update
Tom Lesnak, president of the Independence Council for Economic Development, provided me with several ICED updates. The feasibility study for an Englewood arts district is nearing completion, Lesnak said, and the council will receive a final presentation on Wednesday.
The ICED is also preparing for its next intensive business retention study, which is scheduled to begin this month and will focus on the Independence Square. Since starting in 2008, the studies have examined 23rd Street and Noland Road.
