With one of my cats, PJ sitting to my right I finally began typing out this Blog. The past week has been full of gardening fun, rain, high humidity, cold weather and todays temperatures pushed me into air-conditioning. The range has been maddeningly painful.
Last Saturday a family of magical beings came by and helped turn over the garden and plant some vegetables. They stayed only about three hours, but during that time I was able to talk to, and walk around with three little boys, while their parents grunted and groaned, as they dug, straightened and chopped up large chunks of dirt and moved around rocks.
When the boys spotted the rocks, the middle one was enthralled by the odd shapes and sizes. He wanted to take some home so they could make their own, Stonehenge under a tree in their back yard. I was in agreement, so a pile was formed and a box appeared from the barn, a sturdy box that would hold all the rocks. Their father didn’t’ realize those rocks, when placed in a box, would weigh a ton and a hernia, until he tried to pick them up.
Being a magical family, the boys had hoped to float the box of rocks above the ground. But alas, they forgot their fairy dust and had to settle on using a simple dolly.
In the meantime, Uriah was being ridden like a horse. A horse that was too tired to stand. He laid on the ground while the youngest boy sat upon his back and held tight to his ears. I was worried Uriah wouldn’t like this, but when I saw his furry face he had a happy doggy grin. Finally, Uriah got tired of the game and stood up. Luckily the littlest guy was expecting this to happen, so he jumped off Uriah and gave him a big hug.
Uriah heard something in the trees and did his slow walk towards them. He kept looking back at me. When I finally turned my back, he slipped in-between the trees. Totally vanishing between the green leaves and heavy branches
Uriah’s normal disappearing act caused great distress to the youngest boy. He called Uriah’s name over and over, it must have seemed like hours to him instead of minutes, until Uriah reappeared to hugs and kisses. Uriah looked up at me, I shrugged and he happily trotted off with the little guy running along behind him.
Because of that extra help, I was able to plant a large amount in a short time.
This morning the rain was still pouring down, watering the seeds and plants, allowing the garden to take root, now, that also means the weeds will have a fighting chance too. I haven’t used weed killers or inhibitors in many a year. I prefer the old fashion wrestling techniques… I pull and the weeds pull back:-)
A migraine followed me around all day. It lifted slightly around dinnertime. That’s when I started hunting out something to eat. In the freezer I found one steak. We have plenty of ice cubes and some chicken, but only one steak left. To defrost it quickly I set it on a plate and slipped it into the microwave.
I walked out of the kitchen and came back two minutes later; Sanosuke was climbing over the microwave. He wanted that steak. I gave him a hug and set him on the floor and removed the steak from the microwave and set the plate on the counter.
I started fussing around the kitchen; I pulled out the frying pan and grabbed an onion. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sanosuke silently jump on the counter. As I turned towards him, he grabbed the steak and jumped from the counter. When I yelled, he held his head up high, so the steak wasn’t dragging on the floor and ran faster down the hall. Michael spotted him and instead of stopping Sanosuke he started laughing. Without hesitating, Sanosuke raced into our bedroom. I was right behind him and grabbed him just before he dragged my dinner under the bed.
Michael was still laughing when I came out of the bedroom. I held the steak out of reach of Sanosuke who followed behind me complaining loudly.
Sanosuke sat on the counter and watched me cook the steak and potatoes with onions. I sliced a tomato and added some corn to the plate. I carefully sliced the steak into strips.
By this time I had three cats watching me. One sat on the kitchen chair the other on the floor. Sanosuke stayed on the counter and glared at me.
I announced to the frowning cats. “Alright guys! You can all have one piece, no more.”
They all stood up, tails flipping and watched as I slowly sliced up a small piece for each of them into tiny cat bites. I gave them each their own plates. Then I took my food and went into the living room.
Ooops! I forgot my napkin. I got up and went into the kitchen for two seconds. I wasn’t looking for Sanosuke; I assumed he was still in the kitchen eating his piece of meat.
What I didn’t see was Sanosuke hiding under the table waiting for his chance. When I got up, he quickly jumped on the table and started eating, fast!
“Bad Kitty!” I yelled when I saw him with his face in my food.
Within those few seconds he ate a lot! I was left with two small pieces of steak. Sanosuke had raced out of the room when I yelled. He knew he did something wrong, but he was just having such a good time he didn’t care.
PJ in the meantime, slipped up from under the table and quickly grabbed one piece of steak and slipped back under the table. When I bent down to check on him, Sanosuke reappeared and grabbed the last piece and raced off down the hall again.
I ate the rest of my dinner in peace.
They even stole the piece of fat I left in the pan for Uriah..
Michael wouldn’t stop laughing. I yelled at him. “If you thought it was so funny, then while Sano was running around the house with my dinner, why didn’t you grab the camera?
He answered, “It was just as funny yesterday when he grabbed your salmon.” Michael picked up Sanosuke, and rubbed his tummy.” Hey little guy! What’s for dinner tomorrow?”
Last Tuesday morning I was talking on the phone and surfing the internet, while checking hundreds of emails. When I decided to pull up the Tails web site, which is the Pet rescue place where we adopted Sanosuke in February of this year.
I had sent Tails a copy and link to my Blog story about Sanosuke, the one where I wrote about his adoption. Soon after that Blog posting, Sano’s litter mates were adopted and their pictures disappeared off the adoption site. So when I pulled up their site I was very surprised to see a kitten that looked like one of Sano’s sisters. Her name was Hershey.
I was curious about her history. Why was she still there? Was she brought back? Maybe I was wrong! Cats look very similar, right?
I pulled out Sanosuke’s file and compared the litter numbers; they matched except for the last two digits. Which made sense each kitten would have their own number.
Biting my nails I clicked off the site and went about to reading emails.
Then my curiosity got to me and I called Tails and asked if any of Sanosuke’s litter mates where still there. I gave my phone number to the woman and was told I would get a call back.
Within thirty minutes Tails called back. I was told; one of Sano’s sisters had never been adopted. When the other kittens were adopted they moved her out of the cage into the cat room. It wasn’t a good place for her. She was placed in a room that was being closed off due to a fungal infection.
Ooops!
I was told she was never ill. She never had an infection! Yet, she had to go through the incubation period of nearly two months while she got dipped; physically held down under water with only her eyes and mouth showing. The process can make a cat crazy and this kitten was in a room with a lot of other cats that needed help. They only had two wonderful people to take care of them physically and mentally. Hershey wasn’t given the attention she needed. So her mental health was set to the side while they dealt with other cats, seemly, more stressed than her.
I felt claustrophobic just hearing about it.
Now if you had read my original story on Sanosuke, you would know that he and his litter mates had very little human contact, besides getting medical care and being fed. We were warned he was nearly feral.
Now, here I was hearing that she may never be just right, ‘and’ she will need a lot of one-on-one care. ‘And’ she wasn’t very social. ‘And’ she would freak when someone came near her. I thanked the woman for calling me back and hung up.
Then I hunted down Michael and told him the story.
Michael asked what I was going to do. One more kitten would be an expense. But then again cats are very clean and social animals. But this one may be broken. Then he walked away from me…
It took me ten minutes of thinking.
The cats I had for years were from a mama kitty. She was my daughter’s first animal rescue. My daughter was ten years old at that time. I had been very surprised when that little cat gave birth, in the closet, within a month of coming into the house. Her kittens never left my life. The last one, Sandy died at eighteen while I held her.
I grabbed my keys and headed for the car. Michael laughed and called out the door. “Don’t come back without her!”
When I entered Tails, the receptionist looked up and smiled and asked me if, I was there to adopt Hershey?
Laughing I asked, how she knew? She told me Michael had already called and informed them I was coming for her.
I filled out some paperwork while she located someone to help me.
A wonderfully patient volunteer took me in a room to talk. “When you saw, Hershey how did you get along with her? Was she friendly?”
I had to be honest; I haven’t seen her since we adopted Sanosuke and I told her so. I did ask, if Hershey was the kitten that had been staring at me though the glass wall? She had spotted me when I walked in and we had ‘a moment’ through the glass. I cooed. And she stared.
I was told that was her.
Then, I explained that I was taking, Hershey home to her brother.
The woman looked at me quietly and said. “He may not remember her.”
“He will!” I said with a smile. “I have fed and observed feral cats for years. They know a family member when they are reunited.”
I don’t think she believed me…
She was trying to stop me from being disappointed.
When I said, “They just need to be shown to each other gently and with love.”
The interview was over and I finished signing the papers.
Hershey was placed in a room for me to observe her, and allowing me time to change my mind. I was warned not to enter the room. I was told; she would freak due to her history and lack of human contact, and may hurt me or herself. I needed to wait before I entered the room. She had just clawed the technician who brought her to me
I waited a few minutes for the kitten to move away from the door. Then I entered the room.
I sat on the chair and waited.
She hid behind a chair and stared.
She had a look in her eyes similar to the animals on the commercials that have been abused. So sad and scared! I started talking telling her about her brother. She wasn’t listening to me at all.
Cats need to form a bond with humans in order to see them. Otherwise they have eyes only for other cats. Here she was, stuck in a room with a human. And the only other people she knew would grab her and give her medicine and didn’t have time to play.
Carefully I moved the chair she was hiding behind and picked her up. She was stiff and extremely frighten. I started to rock her like a baby, and then she leaned against me without relaxing.
During this time I could hear the sound of the puppies and dogs from the doggie area. I wanted to go see them, but not today.
So many animals calling out for someone to love!
When I brought her home, Michael grabbed the carrier from the care and carefully set it down in the living room.
Tomoe hissed and hid.
Kenshin glared and hid.
PJ walked up and said, hello. When she hissed at him, PJ looked like his feelings were hurt.
Then
Sanosuke, slowly
walked up
to the carrier.
They touched noses, and made happy sounds. She reached through the bars and gentle touched Sano’s head. He rubbed against the cage as she cried loudly from inside. Sanosuke sat and watched, as we set her up in a cage in the living room. He never stopped taking to her!
They remembered each other and both are very happy. We changed her name to Kaoru…
Helping an animal doesn’t mean you have to adopt. You could volunteer, or donate money, or cat and dog crates, or baby blankets or new toys.
If everyone can save just one animal, just one.. Just think how wonderful that would be!
When I took these pictures, I had to keep telling Sano, “don’t touch!” As soon as I put away the camera he knocked over the vase and started playing.The vase is on the floor because no one would stay away from it as it sat on the table. Safer on the floor! Poem for Jingles Thursday’s poet Rally:-)
It was only eight o’clock at night. I needed to bring Uriah inside. He was still outside in his kennel.
A couple hours earlier I tried to coax Uriah in the house. But he wanted to sit outside. With the sun setting, coyotes would be coming closer to the house, so I locked him inside his kennel.
It was time to bring him inside. I flicked on the outside light and without waiting for the light to come on I stepped out the garage door. I was met by a wall of darkness. I looked down at my hands and could barely see them. A heavy fog had settled in close to the ground, which caused a curtain of blackness to fall over everything. Silence assaulted my senses. For a second I contemplated going back into he house until the lights came on. I shook off the uneasy feeling and clutched my ski pole.
I walked forward, then turned to the right and headed around the back of the house towards the dog kennel. I hesitated again! The silence was over powering! I called to Uriah. He didn’t answer. I looked up at the light; it was taking its time turning on. Maybe the dampness or the cold air was the reason. Or maybe I was being paranoid! It takes time for that light to heat up. I couldn’t hear anything moving around out there in the dark. But something felt wrong.
I laughed off a trickle of fear and called to Uriah. He didn’t make a sound. Something else did in that heavy darkness! An odd, growl and movement, then the sound of a branch breaking came from the direction of the apple trees.
I stopped and peered into the foggy blackness. Silence! A deep heavy silence!
I told myself, if there was something out there I should be able to hear it again and there wasn’t a sound anywhere around me.
“Hey Uriah! I really think I should have waited for the light to come on.” He didn’t answer me. I knew he was alright, I was talking to him through the window earlier; as it got colder I closed the window and watched him as he stared out into the yard.
I shuffled to the kennel door, opened it. Uriah stood there watching me but didn’t make a move to leave.
I stood at the open door and waved at him to leave. “Come on! You have to come inside!”
Uriah turned away from me and stared out into the yard towards the apple trees. He was pacing in place.
I turned and looked out over the wall of blackness. A chill ran up my spine and I fought the urge to step into the kennel with Uriah and close the door. Not a smart move! I would be locked outside, not inside the house.
Then I just made a bad mistake! I allowed fear to creep around me…
Animals can smell fear. Uriah came up to me and leaned against my leg. Great! He was nervous too…
“Ok, here’s the plan. We walk out of here. You pee! We get into the house fast! Just pretend we don’t think anyone is watching us.”
Brave Uriah whimpered and looked out towards the apple trees, again..
I muttered. “That’s not helping!”
I coaxed Uriah out of the kennel. He stayed as close to me as he could get -behind me and under my coat. I didn’t like this situation…
Then I got mad…
“Alright! Whoever is out there, get the hell out of my yard!” Uriah perked up immediately and walked in front of me and wagged his tail.
Then I heard a clinking sound, similar to tags on a dog collar. I thought I was imagining that sound. But Uriah’s head turned to the sound as fast as I had. It came from the apple trees…
I yelled out into the darkness and stepped forward. “Uriah are you going to pee now?” Then I turned towards the driveway and started to walk.
Uriah followed. I stopped, he urinated and we slowly waked back to the garage.
I kept thinking. “I am not afraid!” Still, I could feel that tickle of fear creep up again. Fear is one scent I really didn’t want to send that out into the yard. Once an animal catches a whiff of fear, he will attack. I was so glad there wasn’t a wind and we were nearly in the house. And I wasn’t sure what type of animal was out there watching..
Uriah pushed past me and was inside before I had the door fully open.
This morning was gorgeous, humid, but a beautiful day. Every bird bellowed out a tune. The rains had stopped for now and I could see clouds moving in from the west, not the heavy menacing dark clouds, just a soft grey over cast type, the ones that will defuse the bright sunshine and hold in warm air.
I walked over to the path, hoping to be able to take a longer walk. I had my camera out I took some pictures of moss, melting snow and water. I was able to get a lot of pictures of water. The path was overflowing. I could see the line of water running through the neighboring fields.
I headed back to the house.
All three of my male cats were sitting by the kitchen door. The screen was keeping them inside, as they sat and stared out at me in my bright orange coat.
I have small red garden shed that had seen better days. The roof is leaking and with the past few years of flood waters pouring though it, the walls are rotting. I moved the square paver stone that held the door closed and I pulled the door open. A rush of rodent odor over powered me, and I stepped back and took a deep breath, then went in looking for a rake. I untangled the old red rake from the garden hose and quickly shut the door and pushed the rock back into place.
Uriah followed me as I scraped around the flower beds that bordered the front of the house. Three sections set in-between each five foot evergreen bush.
I had cleared a lot of the leaves out in fall, so I only had a sprinkling of dried leaves from the Tiger Lily’s and Catnip. As I cut away last years died leaves from the Lily of the Valley, I was surprised it hadn’t disengrated into the soil.
Uriah always helpful laid in the flower bed right on what I was clearing off. He wanted a biscuit from my pocket. I know! I was training him to be in the way, because every time I told him to move I would toss his milk bone over my shoulder. I quickly ran out of treats, at that point he fell asleep and I worked around him.
From between the soil and rocks tiny black spiders poured out over my hands, as a large black ant raced away from me. I was near the old bird bath, the top section sits right on the ground, I have to remember to bring out a pan of warm water and rinse it out. Right now it has dark water from the leaves that sat in it all winter. A black toad, the size of my hand slowly pulled himself out of my pile of grass and leaves, and lumbered back into the garden to the bird bath…
A fog rolled in over night and hung on through the morning, the sky a grayish white that shifted downwards and covered everything. As I walked around the back path, I stopped and listen to the birds. They were heralding in spring.
Rains had started yesterday so the ground had a mushy soft coating like frosting on a cake and ice hard underneath.
I side stepped muskrat holes, coyote and raccoon scat.
This is a muskrat hole I have been avoiding all winter, still the snow hangs on around it…
As I headed back home I hesitated along the northern section and tried to pull out movement in the underbrush. Two days ago, when I walked this same area I stepped into a cloud of skunk perfume. I gagged and blinked, Uriah who had been right behind me, slowly backed up and grimaced, then took off on a run, back towards the house.
Chicken!
I really wish I could move that fast.
Luckily the spray didn’t hit me directly so I was able to smell and taste within the hour.
Michael kept coming up to me all night and sniffing, then asking if I smell a skunk….
Today I didn’t see or smell a skunk. But the birds were in full song, especially the Black birds! The cardinals live in the trees near the house. The past few days the geese have been flying low, honking and filling the sky with their V shaped formations. I pulled out my camera and started video taping the birds. I edited them, and added a short poem.
I had a wonderful birthday! My husband took me out for a late lunch at Red Robin, their specialty is burgers. Then he bought me a camera I am trying to figure it out. Luckily, the cats are just as interested in the odd sounds it makes, as much as the wrist strap that I keep forgetting to put on my wrist. Every time I came near them they stopped and stared.
Even though I hate hair dye, it is time to try again. I saw the necessity when I turned the camera on myself. I had just washed my hair, what a lovely picture …No it wasn’t! I just couldn’t figure out how my Grandmother appeared in the room! I do miss her!
We also went to the Petsmart where we met Doug; he was working and told us about his seventeen cats he saved from shelters. So many people with kind hearts, they do without to help injured and homeless animals.
My morning walk outside was like walking in a cloud. Standing out in the yard I faced towards the west, the house was in front of me, it was similar to standing in a steamy bathroom. I should have felt down, with all that grey and off white. But I didn’t! There was a feel in the air, anticipation of tomorrow. Something was happening somewhere and I wanted to see it unfold.
The snow was melting underfoot. I checked out the low area near the trees to the north. I expected water, but I was met with ice. The ground was frozen solid. All the dry air that held in the sub zero temperatures at the beginning of the year had pulled out all the moisture under the snow. So the snow and rain hasn’t caused any flooding, yet.
The first picture, I took by the front door. You can see the cement front step, the snow and the darkness with the fog beyond.
I added a picture of Kenshin; I like how he seems to blend in with the rug.
He has blue eyes not red, I need to fix that.
Tomorrow I will follow Uriah around. I just hope he doesn’t try to bury the camera.
