One of the Greatest Family Friends - Time Out #344

Everyone needs a family cat.

We certainly did when our favorite (and only !) daughter, Ms. Michelle, brought us a little orphaned orange tabby, Carl Albert (her naming) for Our Town home. She had accidently happened upon the ball-of-fur adventure kitten in the downtown streets of McAlester. Little Carl was running wild as a very young stray kitten. Her rescue story of him is as old as time; he mewed loudly, and she couldn't resist the little fellow, so she scooped him up and took him to her downtown workshop. After a few weeks of R & R for the tiny feline, Mr. Carl was brought to our home, since my best friend and bride, Lady Deborah, told Ms. Michelle "we" would like another family member. Mind you, Mr. Spanky (French bulldog) and Mr. Tux (pug) weren't happy with my partner's decision to let this foreign cat live under our domestic roof. However, after about 9 months of togetherness now, they have all become close buddies, and guard each other's back, so to speak.

So, let me tell you a few things about Mr. Carl.

He is definitely a hunter. We have some small patches of dense woods behind our place, and he goes out the large pet door with a definite purpose each morning. This is, of course, after I pull up the after-hours door covering. Like virtually all outdoor cats, he proudly brings his hunting prizes back inside, usually placing them on our formal living room wooden floor. Thus far, we have thrown away assorted mice, small snakes, various large insects, a bat, and a small opossum! Fortunately, none of his catches he has deposited were alive. However, he has already used one of his 9 given cat lives when, we believe, he tangled with a larger opossum. Not only did he not bring the larger prey home to us, Carl was late coming in that particular evening. Loudly using Carl's training whistle many times unsuccessfully that night, Lady Deborah was frustrated and worried. Yes, Carl finally appeared, and immediately displayed signs of intense battle on his orange-fur face. Mr. "Probably" Opossum didn't take too kindly to Carl's hunting aggression, and probably #1 bit and #2 scratched Mr. Carl on his face in several locations. Because of the excellent medical care my bride renders the afflicted, be it animal or human, our fearless feline made a full recovery in only few days. However, he has facial scars to remind all of his heroic actions in our nearby forest.

Now, let's talk about Carl's incredible curiosity.

Let me say, he wrote the cat book on this common subject.

At one time or another, he has been closed off in the garage, food cabinet, guest bedrooms, large attic, cookware cabinets, including the pull-out kind by positioning himself BEHIND the pull-out wooden drawers, and various household closets. He is lighting quick, and will dash into one of these available openings before either of us have an opportunity to see the orange streak. Of course, he is soon discovered either by his crying, or merely by one of us opening the closed area. We then watch Mr. Sneaky parade out, cat smiling at us! The greatest of all his disappearing feats, thus far, happened recently, when I opened our large grandfather clock in order to key-wind it. About 5 minutes after finishing my task, I was walking by our front door entrance, where the large timepiece is located, and noticed the pendulum inside the case had stopped. So, I took the key off the top of the clock, and opened the glass/wood front, in order to again start the pendulum in motion. I immediately discovered the clock had been stopped because of Carl's large cat body INSIDE the case, blocking the clock's motion. He proceeded to hop out of the case, and immediately began purring, as he rubbed against my bare ankles. No, folks, I didn't make up this story; it really happened!

Well, I better close this week's installment, and go feed Carl again. Otherwise, he could get hungry, go hunting, and proudly bring a rattlesnake home, possibly hiding it under our bed. Please, Carl, don't do that!