Such strange goings-on around here lately! Not strange as in paranormal. Only several ladybug sightings, a dead light coming on, and phantom walking. Mild compared to previous happenings. No, over the past few days we've had Crazy Stick-Road Man running Farmer H off the road, and a lurking weirdo at the mailboxes. And Tuesday, I encountered a possible catnapper!
I was on the way home, 44 oz Diet Coke sloshing like a can of paint in a Lowe's mixer, up the gravel road approaching Farmer H and Buddy's Badly Blacktopped Hill. A gray pickup truck was PARKED there. On the hill. On the bad blacktop. No brake lights. PARKED. I've seen that vehicle out here before. It's a small truck, with a two-tiered camper shell on the back. They must live up past the Mansion.
At first I thought maybe it was out of gas. Or had mechanical problems. Then I saw movement in the woods, off the road, to the left. About five feet off the road. By the truck.
It was a big white cat! White and fluffy, with black on the face and ears, and two big black spots on its side and back. Huh. I've never seen that cat out here. It was about 50 yards from a house where they have dogs. Inside dogs. A beautiful Husky, the other one I don't remember. They get walked on a leash in the yard. Don't run free. Pity for the Husky, but I'm not about to judge anybody on how they raise a pet, as long as it's loved and taken care of.
Anyhoo...I guess the driver of the truck saw me. It started up, and drove off. As I went by, the white cat blended back a little farther into the woods.
Did that cat belong to the people in the truck? Were they trying to lure it back to them? You'd think they'd get out and pick it up, if it was their cat. OR were they trying to entice it close, to nab it and drive off? I guarandarntee you, Mrs. HM won't be nabbing a cat! They have CLAWS! A cat either comes to you, or it doesn't. No strong-arming a cat!
I could understand if the cat was down by the mailboxes, no houses in sight. Maybe somebody might assume it was a stray [I haven't forgotten you, prospective Jack-napping ladies!], and bring it food, and take it home. Closer to the houses, I'd think it belonged to somebody. This white cat wasn't scroungy or dirty. It looked plump and sassy.
If it was their cat, they could turn around and come back for it. I wasn't up on their bumper. I waited at least five car lengths down the hill. I didn't know if they might have to roll back to get out of the way. So don't blame me if their pet had to spend a night outdoors.
On second thought, maybe THAT'S what makes our dogs go crazy at night, and why the cat food pan is always empty, despite us having only one cat left. You'd think I would have seen it, though.
In your part of the country, there's no shortage of weird happenings.
ReplyDeleteI was in Aldi's this evening, and it made me think there is a time in the evening when all the weirdos come out. Strange families. Whacko clothes. The man in front of me as we stood in the cashier's line--he was so smelly, the funk just followed him... and kind of hung there.
Maybe they were dumping the cat! Which is a cruel thing to do in my opinion. I hope they weren't.
ReplyDeleteSioux,
ReplyDeleteI encounter funk in Country Mart sometimes. I have to hold my breath. You would think I'd be acclimatized to it, after my illustrious career...
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River,
I never thought of that! I'm used to people dumping their animals down by the mailboxes. That's how we got three of our cats!
Farmer H says he thinks the Husky people have a cat, but that they keep in inside. So maybe it got out. Also, that the truck belongs to the family with the bus-waiting shack kids. I'm pretty sure they'd take a cat farther away to dump it.
I hate people who dump pets! They do it here. I guess they figure the crazy dog lady will take them in I do if they meet my strict requirements of being accepted by my pack of dogs and cat.
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteMailbox Row used to be a virtual revolving door of abandoned pets when the boys were younger. So much so that Genius would shush us, tilt his head, and say, "I'm cat-listening..."
Farmer H will not let me have another pet, since COPPER JACK, the interloper, hangs out here 23/7.