Saturday, December 17, 2022

The Small Miracle

 We had to get Houdini, the feral cat, out of the basement. That was simply a must. Tim and I tried to capture him gently, but it was not to be done. In the end, in fear, he dashed up the stairs to the kitchen. We came upstairs and closed the door to the basement. That was that. He was upstairs. 

He had shot out of the kitchen and gone to God knows where, but after two days of not eating, we found him tucked up behind the antique floor model radio. (Still works, if you're curious). We herded him to the kitchen where his food was and his litter pan tucked away. 

He stayed hidden. He ignored the chicken which was simmered until it fell off the bone and was turned in tortilla soup.  He ignored his spoonful of beef cutlets in gravy. He ignored the tuna fish oil water which he normally laps right up. He did pick at his dry food and drank half a bowl of water, waiting of course until after we had gone to bed and the house was dark and quiet. 

He was no where to be seen in the morning. 

William and Tim headed out today. William needed a hair cut. They were also going to play Santa Claus, delivering our small gifts and thank yous to the tenants. Tim and William were also doing some whispering which I did not quite understand. 

But I was on my 8th or 9th load of laundry and folding to do. I had a list of other chores to tick off my list. I stayed home to get things accomplished. 

When they returned home, guess who was curled up in his cozy heated bed? Guess who looked up at William as he spoke gently to him, and even allowed him a tentative stroke down his back?

I am feeling a bit more hopeful about that cat. 

47 comments:

  1. πŸ‘πŸ˜»πŸŒ²

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  2. “No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.”

    ― Amelia Earhart

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    1. I do love this. I had never heard it before. Thank you.

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  3. Wait, thank yous to the tenants?? I wish my landlords thought like you did! Anyway, that is a sweet miracle about Houdini! I can't believe it! ♥️πŸŽ„πŸ‘πŸ‘

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    1. I could either. I gave him a nice bowl of pork trimmed from the pork chops we had for dinner.

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  4. He was testing to see if you were worthy. You have passed.

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    1. Well now he is hiding again. I dropped the broom during after supper tidy up.😣

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  5. It's interesting to see what landlords do for their tenants. One told me she did not raise rent until the next tenant moved in. Another in a card group with me said they cleared drives, walks and cars. Both rented out houses, not apartment buildings. I wish I could remember more.

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    1. We have always given a gift card tucked in a Christmas card. This year we did $25 gas cards. Last year it was to a grocery store. The year before that it was a restaurant, I believe. We have been very blessed by our tenants. We are lucky to have them.

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  6. Awww Houdini!😻Well done!!

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  7. Small miracles are often the best. Thrilled to hear Houdini allowed William to stroke him.

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    1. It was a special moment for a kid who needs special moments right now.

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  8. You are the BEST cat whisperer.

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  9. Wow. It may be two steps forward and one back now, but you are getting there, with William's help.

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    1. It was a nice moment. I wonder what would have happened had I not knocked the broom over.

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  10. My shy Timmy cat has been with me a year and still won't let me pick him up or hold him. However, he now will sleep on the end of my bed in the middle of the night until I stretch or change position, then he is off with a thump in the dark. I can pet him one handed at arm's length and scratch his tummy at same length and he purrs like a locomotive, but no two handed touching allowed. Very slow progress. I will keep him.




































































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    1. It will be very interesting to see how this goes. I know that he is at least eating and drinking and using his litter box. This morning the rag rug in front of the sink was all catty-wumpus, so I know he is scouting out his new place.

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  11. Wow, Houdini got a pet, lucky William and lucky Houdini. It begins.

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    1. He was quite pleased about it. I actually didn't believe him until I walked back into the kitchen and saw him curled up in his bed myself. I did not try to pet him.

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  12. Houdini has decided you are not so bad after all.

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    1. I think he's still on the fence about Tim and I. William has made the cut.

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  13. Replies
    1. When everything goes sideways, those little stories help a great deal.

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  14. If someone was feeding me beef cutlets in gravy, I suppose I wouldn't remain wild for long either.

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  15. We had two wild cats arrive when we farmed - they just turned up one day - one all black and the other cream - possibly half siamese. We christened them blackie and creamy! Blackie got tame and would have come inside but creamy wouldn't come anywhere near us so we kept them both outside and fed them in the barn. In Summer they caught baby rabbits by the score and all they left was the rabbit skin.

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    1. My sister had a pregnant cat show up at her house. The mother cat died, from what they never could figure out, but my sister raised three kittens that were absolutely not living at her house. Positively NOT going to keep those kittens. Put an ad up on facebook. Even had homes for them. It worked out exactly like we all knew that it would. Three little kittens have appointments to be neutered. If they help out with the local bunny population, that would make their 'mom and dad' very happy.

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  16. Replies
    1. Sometimes a glimmer of hope is all that is needed to press on.

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  17. That is amazing! I think you are well on your way. My friend, who rescues cats, writes about hand feeding cats. I'll look for her post.

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  18. Houdini the🐈 is a very appropriate name.

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  19. That is surely one wild cat. The poor thing must have had a very troubled and hard life. He may never be a cuddler but he may well come to accept you as his people, your home as his home. I hope so.

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    1. What I know of his life is that he was born on our street, and that an elderly, very loud woman fed them.The mother began bringing the four kittens across the street to eat on the back deck of one of our tenants. One kitten disappeared. We are not sure what happened to him. His brother Henry was successfully trapped, neutered and lives in the home of another tenant. He was very shy as well, but is quite a playful rascal now. (She has another cat). Houdini was trapped and lived in a catio until such a time that he could be taken to the vet (about 1 1/2 weeks). He was shy but never bit or was aggressive. He was neutered, vaxed, defleaed, and I brought him home from the vet. We had hoped to trap mama and the remaining kitten, but the last kitten got hit by a car. The mama has disappeared altogether.

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  20. You will probably never have a mouse or anything that moves in your house again.

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    1. We have never had that problem and I hope that we never do!

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  21. Oh good! Progress! Cats do everything on their own timetable.

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    1. Absolutely. And once they get us trained to follow it as well, things get much easier for all concerned!

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  22. Once I get started, I find folding laundry to be a very calming and satisfying thing to do. Now, ironing is a different story....

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