Word of the Day

Re-enjoy - To read a great book or watch a classic movie again and again

I lost another battle with the raccoons. This time it wasn't really my fault. I got distracted. By a cat...and adolescent cat. Our place here in Wisconsin is actually a bit in the back of beyond. It's always a bit startling to me when I actually see a cat that isn't a wildcat or a dog that isn't one of my own. Anyway, HTP and I and #1 son were enjoying supper when #1 son says, "There's a cat on the driveway." Now, living here in the back of beyond, I immediately had to check this out. If #1 son had said that there was a deer in the driveway I wouldn't have blinked an eyelash. Anyway, there's this cat in my driveway. I figured. Good. Maybe it'll kill a few of those nasty little chipmunks that have been raiding my garden. I returned to my meal.

In the meantime, I was dancing with sprinklers all day. The timer went off and it was time for me to move the sprinklers again. The cat was still hunting. I noted its position and minded my own business. I also noted that this was one noisy cat. Noisy cats don't actually catch their prey but I didn't really think too much of it at the time. I went inside to enjoy the new episode of Monk.

The timer went off and I decided that it was time to shut down the sprinkler dance for the night. Noisy cat was really making a racket by this time. Curious, I decided to check it out. Ok...let's be honest. I'm a real bleeding heart when it comes to animals. However, I was really having a heated argument with myself. Cats are cats and this one probably wandered in from a neighbor's dairy farm. Right? This poor cat. It came up to me and wound itself around my legs. I hardened my heart against its antics. It reached up and did that "sharpening its claws" thing on my leg. Groan.... Moan.... Dang it! This cat had been de-clawed. There was no way that I could ignore the fact that a de-clawed cat had wandered into my universe.

Now, HTP isn't fond of cats. Actually, HTP isn't fond of ANY animal. He humors me with the dogs. I'm sure I wrote a blog about the one and only cat we owned. Although I actually think he mourned when that cat died, he never really admitted to liking that cat. I often wondered if Lucy's un-cat-like behavior was a result of HTP's threat that "If that stupid cat gets into one thing, causes one minute problem, she's out the door." Anyway, I figure Lucy deserves a spot at the feet of St. Francis. She NEVER got onto the furniture or onto the kitchen counter or table or shredded drapes. EVER. Even when I had tempting shrimp cocktail up there for company. She was truly a saintly cat.

But...on with my tale. My cat tale. Here's this de-clawed cat out here in the back of beyond. Please note that in a prior blog I mentioned coyotes. I couldn't leave it out there to fend for itself. Sigh. I picked it up. I could just feel the bones and the woodticks. I brought it inside. On a side note, I'm a good wife. I popped into our office and warned HTTP that I'd brought a cat into the house...his domain. He was otherwise occupied with his computer. There is a God. Anyway, I have to admit that although I wouldn't actually mind adopting a cat, OK....I don't want a cat. I have two dogs and that's really enough right now to offset my Mothering instinct. However, I did call our local sheriff to see if he had any ideas on the subject of abandoned and lost cats/kittens. This wasn't a full-grown cat.

He told me that this cat might belong to a neighbor of mine. Now....I have to admit that I'm a bit of a recluse. A hermit...so to speak. I do not know my neighbors....willingly. It's not that I don't like to interact with people, it's just that...OK...I like interacting with people but then I'm not really all that good at it. I'm not really shy but after a while I tend to run for cover when it comes to dealing with people. I do a lot better with animals. Anyway, our sheriff knows EVERYONE! So I knew that he'd be able to help me on this. He told me that a neighbor of mine LOVES cats and maybe this cat belonged to her. I dug up #1 son and we went over to meet the neighbor.

Meeting the neighbors. Now...this is why I don't do this sort of thing. #1 son drove me over there with said abandoned, de-clawed cat. I swear I had some Hitchcock theme music looping as theme music in my head. We knocked door...OK...I knocked on the door, #1 son stayed in the car with the engine running. No response. There's a beagle running loose in the front yard. There's a truck. The garage door is open. I hear dogs barking out back. I see cats wandering inside and out. There's a cute little beagle outside (lightning flashing as a backdrop to the coming storm) and this poor dog is belly cowering. I see a litter box decorating the yard. I see pink flamingos. At this point I'm ready to jump in the car and run...and I want to take that poor little beagle with me. As a good citizen and a cat-lover and an animal-lover, I conferred with #1 son and we figured that we should leave a note...moan...with my phone number. Moan...HTP hates security lapses like that.

I have to admit that I didn't get a really wonderful feeling about my neighbor. When I went to pat the beagle it cringed as if I was going to kick it. There was neglect and "cat-lady" indications everywhere. #1 son was ready to adopt the abandoned kitty right there and then. HTTP would have loved that. Anyway, it was decided that we'd have to keep the kitty for the night.

Now, this is where I had to teach #1 son all about "making do". He mentioned driving into the city to pick up cat stuff. Litter, box, food. I nixed this. Pointing out the numerous card-board boxes that we keep in our garage because...well...I don't know...you just hate to throw that sort of thing away, and the bountiful supply of sand that the glacier saw fit to dump on our property, I noted the we had a litterbox. Food? HTP bought some tuna by mistake. I buy the nice albacore chunk white tuna. He bought the chunk light tuna by mistake. Kismet.

We decided to house our little rescue cat (noisy cat) in my laundry room. We set up our improvised litterbox and food. She (I actually checked this morning) into the tuna with gusto. I left #1 son and said kitty/cat playing in the laundry room. It stormed out last night. Lightning, thunder, rain. I'm glad rescue kitty was inside last night.

So...That's why I forgot to bring in the bird-feeders and the raccoons won another battle. Anyway, the war continues. I brought the feeders in tonight.

This morning I got a call from my neighbor (The Cat-Lady). DD Daughter needs to know that this could be her someday. Anyway, I'm talking to my neighbor. She tells me that this isn't her cat. On top of this she tells me that she'd be happy to adopt this cat her husband messes up one more time and ends up in jail. Blink!!!! I guess her husband has a drinking problem. One more DUE and he's landing his rear-end in jail. (Mentally, I'm backing myself back into hermit'sville) But, I have this abandoned kitty in my laundry room and I live with HTP. Then...she tells me that she's got a daughter who might want this cat. See me grasping at a rescue line dragged behind a boat heading in the opposite direction.

The end of it is that #1 son took me back over to the neighbor's house and we ended up depositing the abandoned cat over there. I got to meet my neighbor who seems to be a really nice person. If you know me, you know that I have a huge collection of frogs. My neighbor has a huge collection of cats. It actually was a bit scary...but...I suppose all my ceramic frogs would be a bit off-putting. She showed me around. She had one closet that had six litterboxes in it. Every room was a cat room. She had six real live cats and one of them was very preggy. And...she has a tattoo of little cat paw prints around her ankle. OK. Time to go home. #1 son had the engine running for a quick get-away. The last I saw, the abandoned kitty was digging into a huge supply of cat-food at my neighbor's place. I know she's found a wonderful and caring home.

Oh...and both my scary cat-lady neighbor and me agreed that it really sucks that there are heartless people out there who figure that it's OK to abandon cats, worse still de-clawed cats. That poor cat was starving and had no way to defend or feed herself.

Murphyism of the Day

Grossman on Menckem

Complex problems have simple, easy-to-understand wrong answers.