Close Encounters of the Feline Kind

As some of you know, and as some of you may care, I have been having some interesting cat encounters as of late. And now that I think about it, it was really unreasonable to expect those days to be over......





So the story goes that we had family and friends on our boat on the lake. It was time to find a place to anchor and have lunch. Dear husband was under the impression that he could decide where to hitch up for lunch. Seeing that we had a boat full of people, I let this slide even though he was going very much away from my usual coveted lunch spot. So here we are zipping along in the middle of the lake, when I see.....

Of course this is not the real picture of the real cat we saw in the middle of the lake. I am still cameraless. And picture dear kitty from behind- one little wet black head and two little wet black ears. Farther away. My sister (we are both stricken with cat-love but are both on spouse imposed cat-max) spots him too. Dear husband had a stroke of sanity and pulled up next to him and I grabbed a beach towel and scooped him up. Kitty was big. I would say part Siamese and definitely not feral. Thank god for big favors. Now we had to deal with the age old question: What to do with a scared, wet cat on a boat with 8 people in the 100 degree heat?

Dear kitty was amazingly calm. Dear husband and dear BIL were silently panicked. Who was going to end up breaking the cat laws of domestic bliss? We decide to head for the marina to find the Lost Kitty Stand. Actually we find two park rangers and tell them about dear kitty. They tell us they find all kinds of critters in the lake, mostly snakes that crawl on boats which then are trailered to the lake. The critters jump off in the water, unbeknownst to the boat owners. The park service does have a wayward animal station and they would take care of dear kitty and see if anyone comes looking for him. Dear husband and dear brother-in-law heave a sigh of relief. One dear ranger said his kids had just convinced him to get them a cat. So if no one claimed him, he would take him home himself.

So we took stock-

cat inflicted scratches- 0

wet beach towel with cat hair- 1

lost cat found and safe- 1

our own desperate housecats who do not appreciate how good they have it- 3

So now I will be forever searching the lake water for wayward cat ears......................... we should rename the boat Destiny Cat.

Getting Inked and Getting Patrick

We have a couple of new additions. First- the cute one. Dear husband relented and agreed to *gasp* a new kitten. His name is Patrick and he has been here one day. He is pretty cute, don't cha think? He is just the right mix of cute, playful, purry, curious, hyper, naughty and sleepy. The jury is out with our veteran cats. One is still in full hiss mode and the other is warming up to the little guy.

Dear husband was sweet. "Did they potty train him yet?"

Next up is my new ink. I am getting a tattoo on my stomach. You would think my mid-life crisis would have been over with the boob job and the tummy tuck......... Anyway, breast cancer is the gift that keeps on giving. I was given a 24" scar above my pants line from the reconstruction. Hated it-looked like a shark attack. So cherry blossom branches are in the works. No black and very few blossoms are planned. I have all the main branches and some leaves done. Note inflamed areas. I had no idea tattooing was so painful- like a sunburn for a few days.

If you look close you can see the scar lurking. Trust me, it is much more noticeable in live flesh. And the tattoo is prettier in person too! It will probably be done in a few weeks.

Asphalt Jungle

Before I start on my new topic, I wanted to give an update on Squirrel's baby doll. Today, I spotted her sans giant pull-up. She has butterfly and heart stamps all over the back of her head and neck. I am not sure what she and Squirrel have been up to recently, but she (baby, I think her name is WooWoo) looks pretty tired.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.................



I have seen some pretty interesting things on the road. Literally on the road, in our very neighborhood. We moved here almost three years ago. While we were building our home, I would drive by daily during chauffeur duty. One day, as I am driving up a steep hill, I see a squirrel or something on the road. Expect it to move quickly away, doesn't move...wait it will run any minute....OMG! It is a tarantula in all it's glory. And no- it did not move more than an inch. Luckily, I had room to maneuver around it. I later told our builder that some one's pet tarantula was running around loose. He laughed and said they live here. What??? I think I had seen a few tarantulas- but they were always in a glass CASE at the ZOO.
Now, three years later the tarantulas and we are friends. They are actually interesting, not that aggressive and only come out August and September. I have made friends with much worse....

Last summer, I was zipping down the driveway to get the kids from school. Luckily I wasn't changing the station and my brakes were working pretty well, because stretched out across the driveway, soaking up the sun, in all it's glory, was a 5 foot king snake. Now, I did not know it was a king snake at the time. Not a snake expert. But I did know it was not a rattle snake. OK... I am waiting for him to move. Waiting.......move the car a little more..... Not moving.....looking my way, but not moving. What the heck am I going to do now? I am armed with a purse and maybe a flashlight. I get out and kind of stamp my feet and he slowly slithers over the curb of the driveway all the while staring at me with his beady little eyes. The scary thing is the second he was entirely over the curb, he became completely INVISIBLE in the grass. Remember, he was 5 feet long. There could be dozens out there for all I know. Found out king snakes are harmless and do eat gophers, so I consider him a new friend as well.


Well, of course animal traffic does get weirder. The other day, I was driving down the road. *Funny how it always starts out that way* and I see a furry, little something galloping down the road. Oncoming traffic! It turns out to be a big mouse. "Why is this critter running down the road?" I was wondering- probably out loud to myself. Well, it turns out, a cat was chasing him down the road. Of course, I mean why else would the mouse cross the road? Actually, they weren't crossing. They obeyed all traffic laws and stayed in their lane. There were no other cars around, so you will just have to take my word for it.

I wish I could have taken a picture, but the best I could do was try to photoshop something. We passed each other- destination and destiny unknown. Good luck mouse.

Ballet, Girls and Balls

My 4 year old daughter started ballet a few months ago. I am a reformed tomboy, so the art is out of my scope of knowledge. She tells me what she needs (shoes, wraps, leg warmers, etc.) and I figure out how to get the required items. She has an impressive attention span for her age. I watch her class and she is dialed in to the teacher's every command. Why I can't even get her to clean up her room for 5 minutes is beyond me. She can execute complicated ballet moves in a studio filled with kinda-not-paying-attention-little-ballerinas.



The other day she ran in and said "Come look mom! Wilbur (the cat) is doing a tendu!" I asked the child what in the world is a tendu was. She showed me- it is when you have your toe pointed and leg straight. I rush in to see the ballet performing cat and there he is on the carpet, licking his balls.



Now, this is a funny moment for sure. And heck, his leg was straight and he was pointing his toes. I have been designing tee shirts for precocious little girls. What a funny cartoon I could draw of this..... But I concluded I would better have a chance of selling a shirt with a cat licking his balls with a ballet reference to a guy, than the same to a little ballerina or her mother.



Such is life for me........................... :)