Tuesday, June 26, 2007, 21:11
Why Housecats are a Good Idea
I always knew it was a good idea to have housecats. And now I am more convinced than ever.
First thing this morning while I was working on a plan commission story for the newspaper, my sister-in-law Mary Ellen stopped over with my great-nephew Eli. He turned one year old on April 18. They were out for their morning walk today before it got too hot. Of course, it was already hot this morning. The temperature started out at 68 degrees, and it's been going up ever since. At 2 p.m., it was 95 degrees, and quite humid and sticky.
Anyway, Mary Ellen and I stood on the porch talking, and Eli sat in his stroller. He didn't want to sit in his stroller for long, though. His grandmother says if the stroller isn't moving, he's not crazy about sitting in it.
Eli began to fuss, so Mary Ellen took him out of the stroller. As we were standing there talking, Eli pointed at the window. My old kitty cat, Guinevere, was watching us.
Eli turned toward me and held out his arms. I was rather surprised, to tell you the truth, because he has never asked to come to me before. I took him from his grandmother. And in a split second, it became apparent why he wanted to come to me. I was standing closest to the door. As soon as he was settled in my arms, he held out his hand toward the door handle.
"Oh," I said. "You want to go inside and see the kitty cat."
Eli has kitties at home. Two of them. Sam and Lucky. Both cats are young. Only a couple of years old. But Sam and Lucky run when they see Eli coming. Either that, or they get up on something where he can't reach them.
So we went inside to see Guinevere. My old silver tabby has always been the "official greeter" of the household. She is thrilled to see anyone who comes to the house. And Eli was no exception.
We visited with Guinevere for a few minutes. Then we went outside again. Eli went back to his grandmother. But in a minute or two, he pointed at the window again.
This time it was Snowflake.
I took Eli again, and we went inside the house to see Snowflake. I picked up the little black cat in one arm and held Eli in the other. He was fascinated to have a kitty so close.
Snowflake was fascinated, too. She thought it was fun to have such a small visitor. Someone who was "sort of just her size."
When we had finished visiting with Snowflake we went back outside. Eli went back to his grandmother. And then for the next few minutes, he kept waving at the kitties watching us through the window.
Over the years, my kitty cats have given me a tremendous amount of love and companionship. They have comforted me when I have not felt well. They have kept me company when I've been working late at night. They have come to greet when I arrive home. They have made me laugh with the funny things they do. They have given me a reason to play. They have given cuddles and snuggles and kitty hugs. They have shown me that something as simple as brushing them can provide a quiet interlude for all of us.
And now they have given my great-nephew a reason to think that I am an "okay person" -- because Great Aunt LeAnn has kitty cats! And if she has kitty cats, maybe she's not so bad after all. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
Monday, June 25, 2007, 22:00
A Bull, A Heifer and an Injured Horse
We left home Sunday morning at 6 a.m. to go to a "Fine Arts and Crafts Fair" in the eastern part of the state. I put quotations around "Fine Arts and Crafts Fair" because it turned out to be just a plain, old craft sale with very few people in attendance and very few of the vendors doing much in the way of sales, me included. I sold five books after we drove three hours one way to get there.
The only good thing about Sunday was that we also got to visit with Randy's mom and dad and his sister and brother and their spouses and his niece and nephews.
We headed for home at 6:30 p.m. and pulled into the driveway at 9:30 p.m. just after sunset. I told Randy to park in the lower driveway so we wouldn't have so far to carry everything to unload. In addition to my craft sale equipment, we had come home with the little wagon that Randy's grandmother used to pull Randy's dad around in. The wagon must be close to 70 years old. It has been used and used and used. And it is in excellent shape, all things considered. They just don't make 'em like that anymore!
Anyway, it was when we pulled into the lower driveway that the real trouble began.
"What's that in the hayfie. . .oh, my God! It's Dave's bull!" Randy exclaimed.
Sure enough. The big black angus bull was a few feet from the horse pasture fence, and he had a little angus heifer with him.
"Oh, jeez!" Randy shouted. "Kajun's in the fence!"
My old Morgan Arab cross horse had been running around his pasture in terror because of the bull standing by the fence looking at him.
For few seconds, Kajun was down flat on the ground, rolling around in the fence, then he jumped up -- leaving the fence flat on the ground -- and began galloping headlong down the lane.
"Kajun!" I said, as I leaped out of the truck. "Kajun!"
The horse ran down into the L pasture and then came back as fast as he could go, snorting in terror.
In the meantime, the bull and heifer continued standing by the fence, watching the horse.
Isabelle was frightened, too, and was running back and forth along the fence.
As I got to the wooden fence in the lane, Kajun came galloping toward it full tilt.
"Easy," I said. "Take it easy."
The horse slid to a stop and narrowly missed crashing through the fence boards.
"Easy. Take it easy," I said in what I hoped was a soothing voice.
The horse was dripping sweat, trembling and snorting.
In the meantime, the bull and heifer turned and sauntered back in the direction they had come.
Randy got out his cell phone and called the neighbor to tell him about the bull and heifer.
A few minutes later, as I stood there, trying to get Kajun and Isabelle to calm down, the neighbor pulled into the driveway. It was almost dark by then, but he took off across the field in pursuit of the angus bull and angus heifer.
It was too dark for me to see how badly injured Kajun was but I could tell his right hind leg was bothering him because he kept holding it up. I knew better, though, than to get the flashlight to try to tell how badly hurt he was. Kajun is terrified of flashlights after he colicked a few years ago and we had the vet out at night and used a flashlight so the vet could see.
After a while, the neighbor returned. He had gotten the heifer back where she belonged, but the bull had gone into the other neighbor's cow pasture where she has Jersey heifers and a Jersey bull. The neighbor decided to leave the bull there for the night, since it was too dark to see the black bull in the dark woods.
When we got around to looking at the fence, we discovered that in addition to knocking the fence down, Kajun had broken a wire, broken a post off and had pulled two other posts out of the ground.
While we stood the fence up as best we could and tacked it back into place, Kajun calmed down a little more. At some point we are going to have to completely rebuild the fence, I suppose.
By the time I was ready to collapse at 1 a.m., Kajun had calmed down even more and was eating hay.
It only took Isabelle a few minutes to calm down. She was running back and forth to keep Kajun company, mostly, I think.
Monday morning, I discoverd Kajun had a large gash on his right hind leg that was still bleeding a little and weeping fluid. He also had a large gash in his left front knee. He has gashes in other places on his legs, too. And multiple wire cuts on the right side of his body.
What I think happened is that he saw the fence, turned to try to avoid it, lost his footing and fell into the fence.
I gave him aspirin and antibiotic crumbles with his grain Monday. Then I washed the blood off his legs and put Blood Stop powder on the worst of the gashes and dabbed FuraOintment on the other more minor cuts.
Poor old horse. It was a mirable, with his bad heart, that he didn't have a heart attack while he was running around Sunday night.
It was also interesting, I thought, that he stopped running and came to stand beside me when I stood beside the fence -- even though the bull was still there yet, staring at him.
Isabelle, it would seem, is none the worse for wear and tear. Kajun's legs are little swollen, and I expect that he really doesn't feel all that great. I'm sure he hurts all over. He ate his grain and medicine Monday morning and ate a little hay and got a drink, so that was a good thing.
The neighbor stopped by Monday afternoon. He and his brother-in-law managed to chase the bull back home. The neighbor has called the cattle truck, and the bull will be shipped out Monday evening. He says that after the bull has discovered he can get out, he won't want to stay in the pasture. Plus, he'd rather not have him in with the other neighbor's heifers, fighting with her Jersey bull.
LeAnn R. Ralph