Outdoor cat

How can you not love a cat like our Coonie?  Actually, we are his people.  He found us.  He was starving when he came along with his big, blocky head and skinny body - so weak that he could barely stand up, shaking on wobbly legs, to drink the little bits of warm milk and canned cat food we put out for him - just a little bit at a time to get him used to food again.  I didn't think he would live.  But he did live so then I told my son to name him - his name is Coonie.  He has lived under my front porch ever since - it has been several years now!
*
He is a wild cat, make no mistake about it.  Mean!  He bares his teeth and hisses at just about everyone.  And what a great hunter he is - guarding our front porch from all sorts of animals like racoons and muskrats.  There is a muskrat that lives in the ditch across the driveway and I have seen Coonie charge the muskrat - but the muskrat doesn't want to run away so they collide and go flying up in the air and then retreat in opposite directions.  The boundary is drawn though - the porch belongs to Coonie and he isn't going to share!  
*
When I go outside in the morning to sit on my chair and have my early morning cup of coffee, Coonie is always there to greet me... with a hiss and a meow.  He likes me and will let me pet him (always from the back so he won't lash out and scratch).  Most of the time though he sits just far enough away so I can't reach him.  If he hears my voice outside he meows and comes trotting over.  When I walk over to the neighbors he follows along like a dog, sits up on her hill waiting for me and then walks back home with me.  When I go away my friends report that they will see him sitting on the porch looking at the kitchen door, wondering why I don't come out, I suppose.
*
I hate leaving him all winter in Canada, but what else can I do?  He would not make a pet for anyone.  If I brought him to Cape Cod he probably would be eaten by a coyote within a week.  I arrange for people to feed him every week and he also goes next door to the neighbor - I bring her several LARGE bags of cat food before I leave for the winter.  On the very coldest of Canadian nights, she can coax him inside and he bolts for her basement, but in several years, only a few times has he come inside.  Some cats are like that - they are outdoor cats.  My neighbor has one cat that was a wild cat and decided to move into the house.  She has another cat that was an indoor cat and he decided to become an outdoor cat and no longer steps foot in the house.  All I can say is that Coonie's life is now better than when he first found us.  Look how big and strong he is now!  All muscle.
*
I was in Canada a few weeks ago checking on my place and took this photo of Coonie.  He was happy to see me, in his own way, and I was happy to see him.  Pretty soon I will be heading up there again for the summer and we will enjoy many early morning coffees on the porch together.