Monday, July 20, 2009, 04:25
Lost . . .And Found
While I was down in the basement Sunday morning measuring out horse feed, I thought I heard a muffled metallic noise. I stopped and listened for a moment, didn't hear anything else and concluded that it was either my imagination or it was some noise coming from upstairs.
The house, after all, creaks and groans at times, and Pixie walking around upstairs or the kitties running and playing can make some funny noises too.
Later on, I came back in the basement to get some Fura Ointment. Kajun had knocked one of the chestnuts off his hind leg and it was bleeding. Chestnuts are hard growths, hard like hoof material, that grow around the knee area on the inside of a horse's front and hind legs. In young horses, they usually slough off or don't get too long. In older horses, they can get quite long. I have had some success with Kajun's chestnuts by softening them with baby oil and getting them to slough off that way. But not this time. Kajun had apparently been kicking at flies and knocked the chestnut loose.
More funny noises
Once again after I came in the basement, while I was looking for the Fura Ointment, I thought I heard a muffled metallic noise. And once again I dismissed it as my imagination or as something coming from upstairs.
A while later, after I had treated Kajun's wound and had brushed both horses and applied fly spray and had scrubbed out water buckets and put out water for the birds and all that sort of thing, I came in the house.
Randy had gone to town to run a quick errand, so the house was quiet. And yet again, I heard a metallic noise. This time there was no doubt about it. The noise was a thumping metallic type of sound, like something banging against the heat ducts.
I went downstairs to listen. And sure enough, I could hear something moving around in the duct work over my head.
Mouse?
Squirrel?
But how could a mouse or a squirrel get in the heat ducts? And would a mouse or a squirrel make that much noise? Surely it could not be a cat. All of the downstairs kitties had gone outside for the day. It was a lovely sunny July morning, and they all love to go outside for the day when they can.
I went back upstairs. Was it possible one of the upstairs cats had gotten into the duct work? I had seen all of the upstairs cats, though. There was Snowflake, Henry, Katerina, Dora and Billie.
What a minute.
What about Sophie? Where was Sophie?
Living room tile
Sophie had gotten into the duct work once last winter while we were putting down tile in the living room and had the moved the piano out from the wall. But surely Sophie could not get into the duct work. All of the cold air returns were covered.
I looked behind the piano, and the cold air return cover was as it should be. The only other cold air returns are in my office and the bedroom. I peeked around the corner in the bedroom -- and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
The cold air return cover was pushed aside.
Sophie WAS in the duct work.
I tried calling Randy on his cell phone. I figured it would be just my luck that on Sunday he would decide to go somewhere else before coming home after he had run his errand. But Randy did not answer his cell phone.
A few minutes later, he pulled in the driveway.
A crisis of minor proportions
By the time Randy pulled in the driveway, I was almost beside myself.
"We have a crisis," I announced. "Sophie is in the duct work."
"Sophie?" Randy said. "In the duct work? Are you sure?"
"Yes," I said. "I'm sure."
We went downstairs. A few years ago, I'd had the ducts cleaned, and the cleaning service had cut holes in the duct work and then bolted sheets over the holes.
"Maybe we could remove one of those metal sheets," I said.
"That's an awful lot of work," Randy said. "Not to mention noisy. We'd scare her away for sure. She'd never come to the hold."
We listened intently for a while. Thumps and bumps in the duct work were coming from directly overhead.
"She's in this one," Randy said, pointing. "Maybe if we move the piano away from the wall, we can get her to come out upstairs."
What a great idea! Move the piano out from the wall!
How about a red bug?
We shut all the other kitties up in the bathroom so they wouldn't try to help too much. One cat in the duct work was enough for one day, thank you very much.
Then Randy moved the piano out from the wall and took off the cold air return cover.
"Sophie! Here Sophie!" I said.
"Meow," said Sophie, sounding very muffled.
I peered into the cold air return, trying to shine my windup flashlight so I could see.
And sure enough. There was Sophie.
Randy had donned a pair of thick leather gloves and had grabbed what we call The Red Bug. It's actually a laser pointer, but the cats get a big kick out of chasing it. The leather gloves were necessary because Sophie is not one of those cats you can just pick up anytime you want to. Not if you value the skin on your hands and arms. Sophie's got nasty teeth and claws when she wants to have nasty teeth and claws.
Randy tried to shine The Red Bug down into the cold air return. But The Red Bug was dead.
"Great," I said. "What a good time for The Red Bug to quit working."
I looked to see if I could find another battery for it, but no -- no such thing.
Or maybe a mouse?
"I know," I said. "What about a mouse!"
Sophie loves to play with the rabbit fur mice that are stuffed with catnip. I got one out of the cupboard and tied a piece of white string around it so I could toss into the duct and hopefully entice Sophie out that way.
"She's coming after it," Randy reported.
Sophie came for the mouse -- but all she wanted to do was hook her claw into it and pull it into the duct with her. She did NOT want to come out.
"Maybe some canned kitty food would work," I said.
I made a big deal out of opening the can and clinking the fork against the can and against a small plate.
Nope. Sophie was not remotely interested.
I picked up The Red Bug. Maybe if I rattled the little key chain it's on, Sophie would be more interested.
By way of old habit, I pushed the button. And The Red Bug lit up!
"Hmmmm," Randy said. "Maybe I couldn't push the button right with my gloves on."
But Sophie was not remotely interested in The Red Bug either.
Spider plant perhaps?
Next, I went to my office and got a leaf off my spider plant. I dangled the leaf down in the cold air return, and Sophie was immediately interested in playing with it.
I went to the office and got a long sprig of spider plant with several spiders.
Sophie was wild for it.
So wild she yanked off the spiders and got them into the cold air return.
"Great," Randy said. "Now she's got toys IN the duct with her. She'll never want to come out."
A ringing cell phone
Unfortunately, no matter what we tried, Sophie was not interested.
Just then, my cell phone rang. I went to answer it. Randy came out in the kitchen, too.
The next thing I knew, my normally calm husband was gesticulating wildly.
I looked to see what he was pointing at.
Sophie had come out of the cold air return.
In a flash, Randy slammed the cold air return cover back over the hole.
When I got off the phone, I was relieved beyond belief.
"You saved Sophie!" I said.
"Well," Randy said, "I think she would have come out sooner or later."
"Sophie!" I said. "You're saved."
I really wanted to pick Sophie up and hug her but decided not to. Sophie is NOT one of those cats you can pick up and hug.
Randy made sure the cover was over the cold air return in the bedroom before he left the door to the bedroom.
I don't know how long Sophie was in the duct work. Probably for couple of hours at least.
But, as they say -- all's well that ends well.
Now all I have to do is figure out how to keep Sophie from getting the cover off the cold air return in the bedroom. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
Thursday, July 16, 2009, 04:37
Armed Robbery
My husband, Randy, had an exciting afternoon. The bank next-door to his office was robbed at gunpoint.
Randy said the first thing anyone in his office knew about it was when the state patrol and sheriff's deputies showed up and wanted to know if my husband's office had any security cameras. They did, in fact, have cameras -- five of them.
The suspects had crossed the parking lot close to the building, and the officers wanted a look at those tapes.
A manhunt ensued. Although my husband's office is in the next county over, the manhunt, for a time, took officers into our county. The suspects, a man and a woman, were finally arrested at about 7 p.m.
I found out about the arrest while I was covering the county board meeting. One of the other reporters had her laptop computer, and because the county board room has wireless Internet access, she was able to keep us updated on the case.
My husband and his co-workers were just glad the robbers did not come into their place of business. Randy says a couple of times a week, they have people walking into their office thinking that it is the bank.
But what I wonder about is -- why would anyone be so dumb as to commit an armed robbery in this day and age when banks and other businesses have a ton of security cameras around? Armed robbery is an especially serious crime, and they would have to know that they stood a slim chance of getting away with it.
I suppose the bank made an attractive target because it is very far on the outskirts of the city and is, in many respects, a rural area. There are a few other businesses around, a gas station and that sort of thing. It is at the intersection of a U.S. highway and the Interstate. At the time, it just so happened that three state patrol cars were coming off the Interstate and were able to be reach the crime scene in a matter of minutes.
Before I left for the county board meeting, Randy checked the Internet, and I had a bit of a bad moment when he said the manhunt had progressed into our county. Me and the other two reporters at the meeting were glad the arrest happened in the next county over, which put it out of our jurisdiction.
I much prefer the other kind of story I was working on today. Two high school seniors in town have been awarded a $5,000 community service scholarship. What a WONDERFUL idea. They had to submit their proposal for a project to the university offering the scholarship. Their proposal was accepted, and as a condition of receiving the scholarship, they must finish their project by the end of their senior year. They have chosen to do some work on a park in town and to build steps down to the river.
I am hoping that other scholarships follow suit. What a great idea. It does not cost the institution or organization any more money to ask those applying for the scholarships to complete a community service project as a condition of receiving the scholarship. It is very much a win-win situation for everyone involved.
As for our drought, I was hoping we would get some rain this week. Rain was in the forecast, but of course, it only rained about a half a dozen drops. And this was after it had been cloudy for a couple of days with a fairly strong south/southeast wind.
Maybe I ought to get some people together and we could try a rain dance.
LeAnn R. Ralph