Sunday, June 22, 2014

How A Cat Climbs Down From A Tree - I learned today!

I heard a cat meowing plaintively and steadily outside, looked around, didn't see any trouble, and figured it was Melody and Brian's cats just talking. Then I saw Melody outside looking around, and Kris as well. They couldn't figure out where the cat was;  it seemed to be coming from near the laurel hedge but from my yard it seemed to come from her yard and in her yard it seemed to come from my yard. We looked through the hedge: nothing. We checked both sheds: nothing. I thought perhaps the renters on the other side of the shed were gone and their cat was complaining, so I pushed through the hedge and looked for a cat: nothing, except now it seemed to be coming from my yard again. This search went on for at least 15 minutes, until I started to carefully check each laurel trunk and what do you know? Imp was about 20 feet in the air!
That was pretty funny.
I was unwilling to climb up to her because then what? Picking up a panicky cat is going to end up in bloodshed and a good chance of her jumping. Besides, you never see kitty skeletons in trees; they complain a lot but they can always get down when they really want to. Finally, I didn't actually know if she was really distressed, or was merely broadcasting her version of "Hey! Look at Me!"
I started talking to her at the bottom of the tree. Of course she does not understand the intellectual content of my words, but she seems to have a pretty good emotional understanding. I took a few pictures, and a squirrel ran up an adjoining tree. Then Imp decided she was ready. I didn't actually remember seeing a cat climb down a tree before, and so took video - it was a pretty interesting process!
My favorite part was right at the end, where she gave my foot a "High-Five!" with her paw.

When a cat has got herself high in a tree, you can't rescue her; you can only help her to rescue herself. And if you do, she will.
That's a metaphor.

--------

Also today I worked on emptying my storage unit. That's $40 a month I'll be saving; it may take me two days to complete this project but $480 a year into infinity makes a good payoff.
I found a bookmark momento from my high school - it was for the graduation of an earlier class. I remember so many names, and wonder where they are now.

No comments: