FROM THE TOP:
ANGUS
CHUTNEY
BEASLEY
ZAPPA
BOSKO
THE ULTIMATE STAY-CATION - AT HOME WITH FAMILY AND PETS IN THE EMBRACE OF SOUTH MUSKOKA
I'VE HAD MY YEARS OF RAMBLING, AND I LIKE THE COLD OVER THE SUMMER HEAT-WAVE
SUZANNE HAD TO WAKE ME UP TO WRITE TODAY'S BLOG. I'M SORRY. IT'LL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. AFTER YET ANOTHER (SPLENDID) DINNER WITH REMNANTS OF CHRISTMAS TURKEY, AND MY DAILY STINT WITH THE ANDERSON COOPER SHOW, (THAT I HAVE STARTED WATCHING……BECAUSE I LIKE HIS FORMAT, AND DINNER-HOUR TIME SLOT), I HAD CURLED UP HERE BY THE HEARTH, AND RECEIVED THREE BLESSINGS THAT I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT BEFORE SLUMBERING-OFF. THIS IS VERY MUCH THE CASE AROUND HERE. YOU START OFF WITH A TINY, ALMOST INAUDIBLE SNORE, AND THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW, YOU'RE COVERED IN MOVING, PURRING FUR.
WHEN I AWOKE, I HAD THREE OUT OF FOUR OF OUR FOUNDLING CATS, CURLED UP ON ME…….ONE TUCKED INTO MY FOLDED-ARM, ANOTHER ON MY CHEST, AND THE THIRD ON MY KNEE. THESE ARE SPECIAL LITTLE CATS, BECAUSE THEY SURVIVED AGAINST ALL ODDS, TO BE OUR FIRST HOME-BORN KITTENS. IT HAPPENED FOUR YEARS AGO, WHEN A STRAY CAT IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, KEPT VISITING OUR RECYCLING BOX IN THE EARLY EVENING, TRYING TO LICK-OUT ANY FOOD RESIDUE LEFT IN THE TIN BOTTOMS. IT WAS A TERRIBLY THIN LITTLE CREATURE, AND IT MUST HAVE BEEN BEATEN BY A FORMER OWNER, BECAUSE IT WAS TERRIFIED OF HUMAN CONTACT…….AND IF WE LIFTED A HAND IN ITS PRESENCE, YOU'D JUST SEE A GREY STREAK DARTING OFF INTO THE BUSHES. SUZANNE ONCE PICKED UP A BROOM, TO SWEEP OFF THE WALKWAY, AND IT SHOT-UP A TEN FOOT FENCE IN OUR BACKYARD LIKE A FLYING SQUIRREL. IT TOOK US SO LONG TO ENCOURAGE IT TO COME AND HAVE SOME FOOD, AND THEN AN INADVERTENT, SUDDEN MOVE, WOULD SCARE THE POOR LITTLE BEAST OFF. ONCE SHE WAS SCARED, SHE WOULDN'T COME BACK FOR ALMOST TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. WE WORRIED ABOUT WHERE SHE WAS GETTING FOOD AND CLEAN WATER.
IT TOOK US ABOUT SIX MONTHS, TO WIN ITS CONFIDENCE, ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY STAND IN THE YARD WHILE IT ATE. WE JUST COULDN'T MOVE. ON OCCASION, IF ALL CONDITIONS WERE CALM, SHE WOULD RUB UP AGAINST OUR LEGS, OR SIT AND WATCH US…..WATCHING IT. WE CALLED HER "BEASLEY," BUT WE CAN'T TELL YOU WHY THIS NAME SUITED HER…….BUT IT DID. SHE STARTED TO GAIN SOME WEIGHT AND HER FUR SEEMED TO IMPROVE IN DENSITY AND COLOR, FROM THE RAGGED CAT WE FOUND RUMMAGING IN THE OLD TINS TOSSED INTO RECYCLING.
I REMEMBER ONE DAY, WATCHING HER ROLE AROUND IN THE LIMESTONE IN THE DRIVEWAY…..AND I COULDN'T HELP NOTICING THAT WE HAD SOME MAJOR NIPPLE ENLARGEMENT. TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, WE THOUGHT SHE WAS NOT MUCH MORE THAN A KITTEN, WHEN SHE FIRST ARRIVED, AND WE HADN'T BEEN ABLE TO ACT ON NEUTERING MATTERS, BECAUSE, DESPITE OUR ASSESSMENT SHE WAS A STRAY…….BEASLEY MIGHT HAVE BELONGED TO SOMEONE ELSE. BUT WE KNEW THERE WAS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM, SOONER OR LATER, AND WE HAD TO THINK ABOUT THE KITTENS AS WELL. SO WE STARTED TO DOUBLE HER STRAY-CAT PORTIONS, WITH LOTS OF FISH ON THE MENU. SHE GAINED WEIGHT, YET SHE DIDN'T LOOK PREGNANT OTHER THAN WHAT WAS SHOWING UP ON HER UNDERSIDE. WE ESTIMATED THAT SHE STILL HAD ABOUT TWO MONTHS TO GO, BEFORE WE'D BE SEEING KITTENS POPPING OUT. BOY OH BOY, DID WE EVER MISCALUCATE ON THAT ONE.
IT WAS SOMETIME IN AUGUST THAT YEAR, THAT WE CAME HOME AFTER BEING AT A SHOW, QUITE LATE AT NIGHT, AND HEARD A HIGH PITCHED MEOWING, COMING FROM THE SHED WHERE WE KEEP OUR LAWNMOWER. WE HAD IT PRETTY CRAMMED-UP WITH STUFF, AND IN ORDER NOT TO CRUSH MOTHER AND KITTENS, IN CASE SOMETHING HEAVY SHIFTED WHILE MOVING THE LAWN GEAR, ANDREW EMPLOYED SOME OLD STAGE LIGHTS, THROWN OUT BY A THEATRE, WE WERE QUICKLY ABLE TO HOOK-UP ON STANDS, TO GET A BETTER LOOK INTO THE QUAGMIRE OF METAL THIS AND THAT. AFTER ABOUT TWENTY MINUTES, OF MOVING ITEMS OUT OF THE WAY, SLOWLY, AND QUIETLY, SO AS NOT TO STARTLE THEM, WE WERE ABLE TO SEE "WEE CHUTNEY" THE RUNT OF THE LITTER, BY HIS TINY TAIL STICKING OUT FROM BENEATH THE GAS LAWNMOWER (LONG SINCE RETIRED). IT WAS TILTED A BIT, WHICH ALLOWED BEASLEY TO SNEAK UNDERNEATH, AND THERE WAS A PIECE OF CARDBOARD SHE WAS ABLE TO CLAW INTO PLACE, TO MAKE A SATISFACTORY PLATFORM FOR A NEST. SHE HAD ALSO FOUND SOME CLEAN RAGS IN THE SHED, SHE HAD BROUGHT TO THE SPACE, AND THIS IS WHERE IT ALL HAPPENED. SHE HAD THREE KITTENS OUT OF THAT SMALL BODY. THERE WAS "CHUTNEY," NAMED AFTER WHAT SUZANNE WAS CANNING AT THE TIME; "ZAPPA" THE FUZZY ONE, BECAUSE IT REMINDED SON ROBERT OF MUSICIAN FRANK ZAPPA; AND "ANGUS," BECAUSE HE LOOKED A WEE BIT SCOTTISH. BEASLEY SURVIVED, AND ALLOWED SUZANNE TO SCOOP UP THE KITTENS, INTO A MORE SUITABLE BOX WITH PADDING IN THE BOTTOM. AS BEASLEY, WOULDN'T COME INTO THE HOUSE, SUZANNE AND I HAD TO SLEEP OUT ON THE FRONT VERANDAH, WITH THE BOX OF KITTENS, AND THEIR MOTHER. IN FACT, IT TOOK MOST OF A WEEK, OF DOING THIS, TO GET BEASLEY TO COME INDOORS. IF SHE HADN'T COME IN, THE KITTENS WOULDN'T HAVE GOT THEIR MILK, OF COURSE, AND AS THEY WERE TINY TO BEGIN WITH, WE COULDN'T TAKE THE RISK. SEEING AS I'VE JUST TOLD YOU, HOW THEY WERE SLEEPING ON ME THIS EVENING, IT'S OBVIOUS THEY ADAPTED WELL TO LIFE HERE AT BIRCH HOLLOW.
AT HOME, IN MUSKOKA, WITH THE CATS AND AN OLD DOG FOR NEW YEARS
We lost two of our dear old cats this past year. "Fester II" and "Smokey" passed away last spring, after long and adventurous lives. We were heartsick for weeks after. They were family members, without a doubt. "Buddy," is the oldest cat now, and he was also a stray, found as a kitten, after some goof-ball motorist tossed him out of a moving car. This happens a lot in our neighborhood. People think that with the forest, the cats will be able to survive on field mice. There are predators in the woods. Fishers for example, some coyotes, a lone wolf, and a couple of foxes. Chances of survival are poor at best.
Earlier tonight, at the end of Anderson Cooper, and my dinner, I had Angus curled around my neck, and mother Beasley, and her other two kittens, Chutney and Zappa lodged on my stomach. And Bosko, our canine resident, was laying across my feet. I've got to tell you, it was a warm and settling sojourn, and not just because of my proximity to a crackling remnant of the Yule log (actually known as clog). I can come home here, tired and disgruntled, and sit down here for only a few moments, before my cares drift off into that subtle wash of contentment……as these creatures exhibit and apparently encourage in their companion humans. It is a blustery night out there, with the snow hitting hard agains the livingroom window, and I don't need a sweater, or even another log on the fire, as long as I have these rescued cats cuddling with me on this old chair.
I have travelled long and hard over many Christmas seasons in the past. I've ventured cross-continent, by plane, train and automobile…..and many thousands of miles on buses, and I know exactly what it's like at customs checks, and waiting for connections from here to there. I have had snowless Christmases in the south, where our family used to vacation yearly, in Florida, and I've had the unpleasant travel experiences, being on the road New Year's Eve, trying to get home before midnight. I huddled in alcoves of bus terminals and airports, missed connecting flights, and eaten my dinners from awful dispensing machines. I have, on most occasions, arrived home from vacations, feeling more exhausted than when I left home in the first place.
Suzanne and I, and the boys, have always spent our Christmas and New Years holidays in Muskoka……because it's a perfect place for a vacation, any season of the year. Suzanne and the boys were born in Muskoka, and I'm the only city interloper. Sometimes at New Years, we'd hike into the Windermere cottage, across from Florence Island, on Lake Rosseau, and just sit on the boathouse dock, watching the deer graze on the shoreline cedar……and listen to all of the amazing sounds of nature coming together in a giant, all encompassing symphony. Since the cottage was sold, and Suzanne's parents both passed away, the only time we visit the village now, is to attend the quaint little Ufford Cemetery, to pay our respects. We will get up there, weather permitting, before this week is over. Mostly, we just travel around the area of South Muskoka, when we're not working at our family shop, in Gravenhurst……or just lounging here at Birch Hollow, with our furry inmates, enjoying the holiday fare. When I take Bosko out for a little frolic, I am constantly amazed at how beautiful it is here, across from The Bog, on those part moonlit nights, part snowflurries……and honestly, I am so glad I got the travel-crazy urges out of my system at a much younger age. I am so happy to come into the homestead again, and settle down with a cup of hot cider, and await my companions to light on me once again. I am a willing victim of circumstance……a slave of conveniences, and seeker of creature comforts. Now just a few moments ago, I got up from my desk, to see why Suzanne wasn't answering my shrill bellows for assistance. There she was, sound asleep, in her chair, with two cats in her lap. There's something so peaceful about a modest homestead, and a few cats and an old dog, to make you forget about your woes. There's nothing like spending time at home, during the holidays, for the good of the soul.
I hope you will all have similarly spirit-lifting New Year's events and situations, and an enjoyable New Years Day, wherever you find your happiest circumstance. If you aren't feeling so well, or couldn't travel this holiday season, or you find yourself a little frustrated by current events, our thoughts are with you……and our hope is that things will improve in the New Year as much as possible. Simple pleasures, like fond memories, are pretty good allies……just as these stray cats, and an adopted dog, make life so modestly cheerful here at Birch Hollow. These cats had very little chance of survival. It's what makes it so special today, having them with us, knowing a little kindness made such a difference. If you can, and possibly you might wish to do it in the name of a favorite pet you remember, please consider making a donation to the Humane Society branch near you. They do such wonderful work, to rescue and help these wee creatures, especially finding homes for thousands of pets like ours……who wouldn't survive otherwise. They could really use your help…..and take it from us Curries……rescue animals make ideal pets. Bosko was adopted from the Bracebridge shelter, as were our former dogs, Kramer, and Alf…..all playing a huge part in our family history…..and the photo albums are loaded with their pictures, cuddled with the boys, at all ages, to the present…….and even those now dog-eared precious images, of their grandparents, are partnered with our pets in the picture frames. Yup. It's who we are, pet lovers,…..and we wouldn't change a thing. HELP OUT THE OSPCA IN 2013. WHAT A GREAT NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION1
Take care driving. Watch out for Fiscal Cliffs. Bundle up. It's cold out there. Have a safe, festive and contenting New Years holiday……from all of us at Birch Hollow, here in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada.
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