Monday, February 16, 2009

Sam the Cat


It was time for Sam to move to a new home. He showed up about a year ago at our family's Rock House. This is the original home on the ranch that was built in 1938. The occupants at the time of Sam's residency were kind hearted. They fed Sam and two other homeless felines that had been left by the previous occupants. The last people living at the Rock House went to all the trouble of erecting a feeding platform about 5 feet up a tree. This was to insure the cats could eat without the noses of our sheep guard dogs pushing them away. But the last occupants moved away to a new home of their own about 5 miles away. Every morning on their way to work they would faithfully go by and feed the cats. The two mauve persian pussy cats would ramble among the kind hearted neighbors freeloading what every they could get. But Sam stayed at the Rock House. He slept either in the barn or the deserted garage without any comfort at all. So Sam had no other choice. The homeless shelter for cats was being closed down.
Sam was physically moved by me and transported via our 84 Ford truck to my home. The journey was all of two tenths of a miles across a bumpy pasture. Sam did not like the ride. He protested by letting me know that he was very uneasy about this trip. He rode on my left shoulder howling and looking out the window.
I put Sam in a four by four foot dog cage for 2 days and nights. He didn't seem to mind as long as his former favorite food was in abundance and fresh water was supplied. He slept in a 55 gallon plastic barrell stuffed with hay.
On the third day I let Sam out. He stayed 4 days and took off across the pasture, up his food tree and was eating left over cat food. I brought him home again. And he has stayed this time. He loves his new home. He sleeps on the glider or in a box stuffed with pillows on a chair under our porch. His food is close by. He drinks from the bird bath even though he has fresh water next to his food. He pottys in the daffodil bed. He sleeps all day and guard the house at night. He is so loveable. Sam is thirty inches long. I tried to weigh him but he wiggled too much. I think he weighs a little over six pounds. He is orange and white.
Our dog Rip is a little jealous but so far Rip is a good porch mate. The only trouble comes from down the hill. My grandson's Jack Russell dog Shocker loves to chase Sam up the back yard trees. I fuss at Shocker and yell at him to go home. He obeys only to return in a couple of days. One day Shocker came up and was going to inspect Sam while he was taking a bath on the glider. Shocker was met with a loud hiss and ten claws on his snout. Needless to say the chasing of Sam of the tree is over.
It is good to have a cat again.

5 comments:

  1. Where are my friends? Please comment.

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  2. I wish my friends and family would comment.

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  3. Nothing better than to be loved by a cat! Glad you finally got one after all these years. What was the name of the cat that hubby gave you when you were going together---wasn't it Black Tom--the chocolate brown burmese!

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  4. Did you change the color to this little blue?
    Really hard to read.

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  5. The little blue doesn't show up in my computer. I was trying out some new colors but couldn't see the colors. Yes, Black Tom was my cat's name that hubby gave me before we married. He was 36 inches long. I would walk down to the lake every morning to take a swim. Tom would walk down to the end of the dock. I would climb up the ladder and put him in the lake. He would swim to shore, climb back on the dock. Then he would give himself a bath and take a nap in the sun. Thanks for reminding me.

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