To Thread - Forum Home

The Mudcat Café TM
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=134544
34 messages

BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!

24 Dec 10 - 06:36 PM (#3060889)
Subject: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Bobert

A couple years ago the P-Vine and I found a very small black kitten in the middle of our road and brought it home with full intentions of takin' it to the shelter the following Monday...

The following day I had a blues festival in Bedford, Va. to play and was about half way there when my cell phone rang...

"Did you run over that little kitten?" the P-Vine asked???

"No, why???"

"Well, it can't move it's back legs...", she said...

After discussin' the situation for a couple minutes we figured that our outdoor cat, who is the farm protector, had perhaps bitten the kitten on his back like a "junk yard cat" will do trying to kill it...

So here I was with less than two hours before I had to peform, the shelter closed, the P-Vine upset and a paralized little kitten so what else was there to do but tell the P-Vine...

..."Call Mr. Clifford and have him shoot it..."

(Bad answer, Boberdz...)

Well, what would you have done, Anon???

(Well, I wouldn't have said that...)

So after dodging more trucks on I-81 while listenin' to the P-Vine alternately cry and scream, "How could you even say that" I told her to bring the kitten in and put it in a shoe box...

So I got home late and there in the shoe box was this little paralyzed kitten...

Well, Monday came and the kitten seems real happy in it's little box so we just kept feeding it and givin' it attention and, well, after about a week in the box it started to pull itself around with its front legs and little by little started to kinda use it back legs and after a month or so could actually walk... Not run, mind you but kinda walk...

Over the next few months it got better and better and could run and act purdy much like a kitten...

Of course. we had named him Smokey and he has been with us ever since, coming in every night and sittin' on the P-Vine lap and then retiring to the mudroom for the night... That has been Smokey's routine day in, day out until...

...we went to Richmond on Wednesday and when we got home, Smokey didn't come when we called... That has never happened... Hmmmmmm???
So we figured he would be beggin' to come in yesterday morning... No Smokey... No Smokey all day yesterday... NO Smokey this morning so I walked to the back of the farm to look for tracks... Of course there were cat tracks & deer tracks but there was also coyote tracks!!! That wasn't good... I didn't tell the P-Vine about those tracks but she also went back there and found them...

About 4:00 I had a very bad feeling that a coyote had gotten Smokey but figured it being Christmas Eve that I'd not say anything to the P-Vine... Ten minutes later I hear the P-Vine from the other end of the house yell "Smokey!!!" and I knew that all was well...

I don't know where the cat was and really don't much care... He's in out bedroom curled up at the end of the bed while the P-Vine is getting ready for church and all I can say is...

...let this wonderful Christmas begin!!!

Oh, and the cat ain't goin' out for no reasons tonight...

B~


24 Dec 10 - 06:57 PM (#3060894)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: ClaireBear

What a wonderful tale for Christmas Eve. Thank you, Bobert! And a very merry Christmas to you, the P-Vine, and Smokey.

Cheers,
Claire


24 Dec 10 - 07:24 PM (#3060900)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Smokey.

I'll call my next one Bobert..


24 Dec 10 - 08:03 PM (#3060914)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Naemanson

What a merry Christmas! Good story.


24 Dec 10 - 10:05 PM (#3060947)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Bobert

Sniff... I'm so glad to have him home...

We left him in the red chair in the living room when we went off to church earlier and we're now home and I don't think he has budged...

Glad to have our cat back... Uneaten...

B~


24 Dec 10 - 10:09 PM (#3060948)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: BlueJay

I love a happy ending!
great tale there, thanks Bobert, and Merry Christmas!

Thanks, BlueJay


24 Dec 10 - 10:13 PM (#3060951)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: katlaughing

I'm going to kick up some litter and say, keep it happy and keep Smokey in!


(Really, really glad he is okay.)


24 Dec 10 - 10:13 PM (#3060952)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Sandra in Sydney

a wonderful christmas story

seasonable greetings to you & your family, Bobert

sandra


24 Dec 10 - 10:17 PM (#3060956)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Amos

Good on Smokey for jerking your chain, Bobez. Keeps ya civilized, ya know? Congratulations.

Love ya,


A


24 Dec 10 - 10:49 PM (#3060967)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Ebbie

Great ending, Bobert. You had my heart in my throat.

Congratulations to you all!


24 Dec 10 - 10:52 PM (#3060968)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: SINSULL

My post disappeared.
Thank you for a lovely Christmas story, bobert.
Sleep well, little kitty.
Auntie SINS


25 Dec 10 - 04:51 AM (#3061038)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: gnu

Awwwwwww... kiiiity.

Thanks for the smile Bobbert.


25 Dec 10 - 05:05 AM (#3061043)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: jacqui.c

A lovely Christmas story Bobert. It raised a big smile here.


25 Dec 10 - 05:50 AM (#3061057)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: alanabit

Smiling here too Bob. Merry Christmas mate!


25 Dec 10 - 06:28 AM (#3061071)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Bat Goddess

It IS good to have your cat back uneaten! A true Christmas blessing.

We live on 33 acres of trees and rocks -- full of all sorts of critters from coyotes and fishers to black bear and great horned owls. (Lost a grizzled canny old tom once to a great horned owl.)

Our Rufus has never been allowed out. He's way too curious, would get distracted, lost and et.

Sabine spent the first 10 years of her life going outside (and inside) at will and being a very very savvy cat in the ways of the wild (including cars on Priest Road). Then she got trapped in our up-the-hill neighbor's cellar for five days...after which Curmudgeon spotted a fisher just off the corner of the quarter deck. Sabine became an inside cat.

Tickle Smokey behind the ears for me, Bobert! Happy Christmas!

Linn


25 Dec 10 - 06:57 AM (#3061075)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Ed T

"Christmas: A holiday where you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks". Urban Dictionary


25 Dec 10 - 11:14 AM (#3061133)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Bobert

Well, going from those gut-wrenching thoughts of your cat being killed and eaten to having him back has certainly made this Christmas one to remember...

We even let our outdoor cat in the house this mornin'... He went ar4ound sniffin' things fir about 15 minutes and then asked to go back outside...

All in all, very mellow here on the Blue Ridge... We woke to snow which quit after it had left a nice 1 inch or so so everything looks as Christmasy as it can... Fire roaring in the fireplace... The P-Vine playin' in the kirtchen... Nowhere that we have to go... Talked with my mom on the phone fir a half an hour... All is well...

...and I hope that is the case in Mudfolk's homes everywhere...

B~


25 Dec 10 - 11:34 AM (#3061144)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Charmion

Bill the cat is snozzling on the bed, Edmund is baking, and battle prep for Christmas dinner doesn't start for a while yet.

Life is good.


25 Dec 10 - 08:47 PM (#3061304)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Arkie

Another sucker for furry friends. Glad Smokey made it through another Christmas.


25 Dec 10 - 09:03 PM (#3061306)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: maeve

I'm glad your little cat is safe, Bobert.


25 Dec 10 - 09:08 PM (#3061307)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Beer

Great story Bobert.
Ad.


25 Dec 10 - 09:12 PM (#3061309)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Bobert

Thanks...

We are so happy... I mean, this poor kitty shouldn't really be here to begin with... Had the P-Vine listened to severely crazed me to begin with then Mr. Clifford would have "given it the gun"...

I remember when he was still paralyzed I just pick him up outta his shoe box and take him fir a walk and he would purr the entire time... He loved those walks... Sniff...

Right now, he is the most secure and healthy cat, other than some residual stuff from his injury, that one could ever ask for... Okay, he ain't the purdiest but he can't help that... He is sweet...

Nevermind... Just glad to have him home...

BTW, he's asleep in the red winged back chair in the great room...   

Merriest Christmas of all of them...

B~


26 Dec 10 - 05:41 AM (#3061395)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: alanabit

Nice story Bob. I tease my kids unmercifully that there will be "Pussy Pie and Kitten Mittens", but somehow they always find their way onto my lap!


26 Dec 10 - 11:01 PM (#3061779)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Hollowfox

Durn ya, Bobert, now my eyes are all blurry. I'll have to show this one to my fearsome daughter Amy.
Last Sunday she and I brought in our tree, and about half an hour later one of our visitor cats declared that she was ready to be petted and adored, thank you. Her name is now Cassia (that's an old fashioned name for what's now sold as cinnamon). I thought she was going to do serious havok on her lower chakras from all that food she packed away, but so far so good. She's almost full grown, and doesn't really know how to play, but purrs up a storm.
Seems appropriate somehow that Christmas cat stories end up on the Mudcat, eh?


27 Dec 10 - 07:18 PM (#3062242)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Mrrzy

I am reminded of the Thurber lines hark, hark, the dogs do bark, the duke is fond of kittens / He likes to take their insides out and use their fur for mittens...


27 Dec 10 - 07:31 PM (#3062247)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Bobert

Yeah, Hollowfox, we love all our kitties... Including this little trouble-maker we have four... Two are barn cats but not real wild and we do have them inside now and then fir a scrathin' an' pettin'... One of the two barnies has it made as we have a growing room in one barn that has lights and heat and hundreds of plants and she lives there... Heck, might be warmer out there than it is in the house??? The other barnie is only half barn 'cause he sleeps in our mud-room most nights which has some heat...

But we love all the kitties...

B~


27 Dec 10 - 10:16 PM (#3062317)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: katlaughing

alanabit, that's how one of my cats was named, years ago. She was black, I've always had a black cat until recently, and she would not stay out of my houseplants. I threatened to turn her into Chop Suey and thus she was named. She was a gorgeous, very sweet cat. I'll bet your cats would love some Star Gazey Pie!


27 Dec 10 - 10:36 PM (#3062320)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Bobert

Then what happened, kat???


27 Dec 10 - 10:54 PM (#3062324)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: katlaughing

We ate 'er? LOL! She grew up, we loved her, and she passed away. Then came Bagheera, then Kaysha...no more black cats until the Trystan-the Bully is gone which could be awhile, yet.:-)


28 Dec 10 - 04:02 AM (#3062386)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: open mike

Firefighters wonder why on Christmas we put a dead tree in the corner,
string a bunch of hot lights with faulty wires all around it, pack tissue paper and cardboard boxes under it, invite our friends over to get drunk and light candles...it has the potential for a very volitile
situation....hope everyone got thru it o.k.!! my bird feeder needs to be re-filled every other day, so the feathered friends are enjoying it!


28 Dec 10 - 04:26 AM (#3062393)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: VirginiaTam

Thank you Bobert... Lovely story full of miracles.


28 Dec 10 - 05:16 AM (#3062411)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: KT

Great story Bobert! Sounds like that little sweetie is a real gift to you. Maybe you should try this


28 Dec 10 - 05:31 AM (#3062420)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: alanabit

Enjoyed the first part of that story Kat. I come from Cornwall, as it happens, although I have never been to Mousehole, as far as I can remember. My Mum told me about Star Gazy Pie, but I never had it. I am not likely to now either - I have been vegetarian for over twenty years! It doesn't stop me making vulgar jokes about Pussy Pie though!


28 Dec 10 - 09:02 AM (#3062503)
Subject: RE: BS: Whew!!! Christmas Just Got Better!!!
From: Bobert

Great idea, KT...

(Hmmmmmm??? Where did I leave that wrapping paper???)

B;~)