Scaredy Cat 4—Charlie and Tez 1…considering that last week’s score was Scaredy 3—Us 0, it would be easy to assume that not a lot has ‘happened.’
Oh contraire. A lot has happened. Perhaps not a lot has changed regarding the standoff in the old shed I wrote about last week, but certainly things have ‘happened’ and there certainly has been alterations for some.
For readers who missed last week’s rant, Scaredy Cat is a feral feline who decided five weeks ago that our shed was a grand spot to spawn four kittens.
Rather than have them destroyed, Tez and I decided to keep the kittens safe in the shed until they could be safely weaned from mom, then looked after by vets before finding them homes.
Scaredy has been in our hood for about a year and a half. We originally assumed she belonged to a neighbour.
During the winter, however, we began to suspect she had been abandoned or lost.
While Tez and I do not believe in letting pet cats outdoors for a number of reasons, we rationalized that having Scaredy sniff around my garage and do a little hunting once in a while could be a win-win situation.
But Scaredy clearly had other plans.
The plot sickens by the fact that I am currently trying to establish my writing office in the shed, so for the past five weeks I’ve put up with a freaked out, wild, mom cat who loves the food, water and safe space—but not the people.
From the day we all became one big wild and crazy family in the shed until this past Tuesday the confrontations have been interesting with Scaredy Cat scratching Teresa once and moi twice. Hence the 3-0 score.
During the ongoing one-sided war, I assured Tez once the kittens were removed and Scaredy had a bit of time to adapt (and once she had been fixed and time to recover), Scaredy would begin to mellow out. The shed would once again be a safe spot.
Oops.
Wrong.
Again.
The kittens were finally sequestered to a safe play room area, but it took three days to finally snag Scaredy. Even with the finest of food and traps available for the task, I could not catch her.
Finally dynamo animal lover Helena Pol saved the day and trapped the crafty cat. When it comes to cats Helena really knows her stuff.
Wednesday night Scaredy Cat came home from the vets, looking a little worse for wear, and no longer able to have more kittens.
She immediately headed to the shed and fell asleep.
“Aha, she has mellowed a bit,” I thought to myself.
“Looks like this time we did the injurious act so that makes the score 3-1,” I muttered to no one as I watched Scaredy Cat sleep like a log.
A few hours later she was up and rubbing against my leg, crying for food and attention.
Foolishly, I slowly moved my hand out to try and gently pet her.
Like lightning, the little red rivulets of blood were already forming on my forearm and fingers before she even withdrew her paw from my upper body
“Damn, 4-1,” I moaned as I headed to the Polysporin and Band-Aids again.
When I went inside for medical attention Tez was nowhere to be seen, until I heard squeals of laughter downstairs.
Tez was downstairs playing (yet again) with the four kittens we have already decided we are not keeping.
The only real question is will it be two or four cats we keep? Stay tuned.
•••
A final reminder to music fans that Friday July 24, at the Kelowna Community Theatre is the opening night performance of Raft Of The Medusa.
Okanagan Valley singers Ashlie Atkinson, from Penticton, and Neville Bowman, from Kelowna, headline an outstanding cast of singers and actors in this riveting, emotionally charged rock-opera-like show.
The 22-member cast of the new rock-musical also includes the talented team of Randall Robinson and Pat Brown (of rock band Ten2Nine fame) who combined wrote the entire play and all the songs.
The play captures the agony, tragedy and human condition of one of the worst maritime disasters in history. In the early 19th century the French passenger ship the Medusa sank off the coast of Africa with 400 on board.
Due to a lack of lifeboats, more than 150 castaways were set adrift on makeshift rafts. Two weeks later when rescued only 15 had survived.
The disaster inspired French painter Theodore Gericault to paint his famous painting of the tragedy.
The play studies both life and death on the raft, and the struggles of Gericault himself.
Brown and Robinson have done an amazing, jaw-dropping job of creating a world-class, performance.
Find out for yourself as play runs July 24 and 25 at Kelowna Community Theatre.
•••
July is a busy month for special dates and events aside from just wonderful music.
Some very important people in my world celebrate birthdays this week.
Happy Birthday to the ‘perfect’ (snicker, snicker) step-daughter Lisa. Very proud of you girl!
Big birthday hugs, love, and laughter to special friend Trudy Jane Janicki (aka Charlie Rae).
Thank you for sharing your music, art, and lust for life with all of us.
And most of all happy anniversary today to my sweet Tez.
Thank you for sharing my crazy journey with me and letting me share in yours. They have blended well. I hope we get to spend many more adventures together.
Like many others, we have had a lot of lemons tossed our way during the past five years. Teaching and learning how to make lemonade out of them with you has been pretty amazing.
Bless you.
