- Joined
- Aug 8, 2005
- Messages
- 11,503
It is either my take on the world around me, or the divine grakle orchestrates things in my presence... or both.
I stopped by the new coffee shop in my neighborhood around noon today. That is, an espresso machine in a driveway and a chair under a large bush in which to relax. I point out to the lady running the place that her cat might be needing help. It is sitting on the lowest branch of a tree almost 20 feet off the ground and looking a little misplaced. Several times it points it's nose down the tree, contemplates the drop, hesitates and backs off. I'm starting to get edgy and suggest to the lady we might try helping it.
Once more the cat points nose down, itches, twitches, gets up it's nerve and launches. Nearing the bottom along with nearing terminal velocity it leaps hoping to get some lateral motion going before impact. It vanishes for a brief moment as something gets flipped up into the air. The upper portion of the cat appears, desperately trying to climb a something that is rapidly tilting to vertical. At the top it makes an ineffectual little jump straight up then descends backwards, vanishing once more. Another something jumps in the air a few inches then disappears. The head of the cat appears very briefly, clawing madly, then disappears again.
It's too much for me and I walk over to see what the heck was going on. The cat landed on the very flimsy rotten wooden cover of a well. It instantly disintegrated which explained things. The woman runs over to the house and grabs a board about 10 feet long which she lowers into the well. The cat drags it's sogginess to the edge of the well when right on cue, three dogs intrude from the street, yapping and making straight for the cat.
Of course, the cat rockets right back up the tree again. I suppose it's nerves were a tad frayed by then because when it got to the branch it didn't stop but put on speed.
Well, the cat was either deep in the throws of a nervous decline by then or the worlds greatest optimist. The end of the branch rapidly tapered to a small twig. Some 8 feet away was the roof of the car port. That was just not going to happen and I cringed.
The cat made one incredible leap. Way up there in the 99 percent plus regoin. It managed to snag the edge of the roof with maybe one claw on either front paw. The rest of the cat gave way to gravity and Newtons law and continued it's travel. I think it did 4, possibly 5 somersaults as came down, landing in a pile of rice hulls.
The dogs were delighted anyway. The cat, well, vaguely cat shaped ball of rice hulls came out of the pile at great speed, dogs on it's heels and the woman coming up fast from behind wielding a broom.
The cat apparently had an old established escape route well in mind. It dodged around a crate, made a sharp turn around a trellis and made a leap to the board leaning against the side of the house where it could make it's way up and in a window.
Only the board was in the well.
There is a cat shaped splattering of rice hulls, all four legs outspread, about 5 feet up their wall. Where the cat went is anybodies guess.
I stopped by the new coffee shop in my neighborhood around noon today. That is, an espresso machine in a driveway and a chair under a large bush in which to relax. I point out to the lady running the place that her cat might be needing help. It is sitting on the lowest branch of a tree almost 20 feet off the ground and looking a little misplaced. Several times it points it's nose down the tree, contemplates the drop, hesitates and backs off. I'm starting to get edgy and suggest to the lady we might try helping it.
Once more the cat points nose down, itches, twitches, gets up it's nerve and launches. Nearing the bottom along with nearing terminal velocity it leaps hoping to get some lateral motion going before impact. It vanishes for a brief moment as something gets flipped up into the air. The upper portion of the cat appears, desperately trying to climb a something that is rapidly tilting to vertical. At the top it makes an ineffectual little jump straight up then descends backwards, vanishing once more. Another something jumps in the air a few inches then disappears. The head of the cat appears very briefly, clawing madly, then disappears again.
It's too much for me and I walk over to see what the heck was going on. The cat landed on the very flimsy rotten wooden cover of a well. It instantly disintegrated which explained things. The woman runs over to the house and grabs a board about 10 feet long which she lowers into the well. The cat drags it's sogginess to the edge of the well when right on cue, three dogs intrude from the street, yapping and making straight for the cat.
Of course, the cat rockets right back up the tree again. I suppose it's nerves were a tad frayed by then because when it got to the branch it didn't stop but put on speed.
Well, the cat was either deep in the throws of a nervous decline by then or the worlds greatest optimist. The end of the branch rapidly tapered to a small twig. Some 8 feet away was the roof of the car port. That was just not going to happen and I cringed.
The cat made one incredible leap. Way up there in the 99 percent plus regoin. It managed to snag the edge of the roof with maybe one claw on either front paw. The rest of the cat gave way to gravity and Newtons law and continued it's travel. I think it did 4, possibly 5 somersaults as came down, landing in a pile of rice hulls.
The dogs were delighted anyway. The cat, well, vaguely cat shaped ball of rice hulls came out of the pile at great speed, dogs on it's heels and the woman coming up fast from behind wielding a broom.
The cat apparently had an old established escape route well in mind. It dodged around a crate, made a sharp turn around a trellis and made a leap to the board leaning against the side of the house where it could make it's way up and in a window.
Only the board was in the well.
There is a cat shaped splattering of rice hulls, all four legs outspread, about 5 feet up their wall. Where the cat went is anybodies guess.