Up a tree

Early Sunday evening I called the cats in from outside for their dinner. They come running when I click the pop top on the can of cat food because I am the revered opener of cans. Of course, they will only eat the canned food with gravy. They lap up all the gravy first and then eat the chunks of meat. Darryl never finishes his food but his sister cleans up hers and what ever he leaves.

This particular evening girl kitty comes running from outside and comes in to claim her gravy. Her brother however is not appearing. I click the can some more and call him in again. All of a sudden I hear a distress meow and it's distinctively Darryl's meow. My daughter and I look everywhere and couldn't determine where it was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from the neighbors yard but it was echoing off the trees.

A look up revealed him. He was about twenty feet straight up a Monterey Pine tree in the neighbors yard with no way down. He just screamed and screamed because I'm sure that: A.)He knew he was in trouble B.)His sister was eating all the gravy and C.) Daphne the neighbors dog had probably chased him up the tree and he was afraid that if he did try and get down, the dog would eat him.

So I called my fearless husband and told him we had to save the kitty from the tree. He hates heights. But he got a rope from the truck and was prepared to dutifully shimmy twenty feet straight up a tree trunk to save the kitty. Fortunately the neighbor had an extension ladder which was just about tall enough to reach Darryl. The neighbor and I braced the ladder against the tree and held on to it to stabilize it while my husband slowly climbed all the way to the top rung to reach Darryl.

Darryl was so happy to see daddy. But my husband, fearing that the cat was going to claw him to death while they descended down the ladder, had to think quickly of a way to safely get them both down without injury. So he grabbed Darryl by the scruff of his neck and pulled him from his perch in the tree. The cat had a look of terror on his face. All he wanted to do was attach himself to my husbands chest. My husband, being of quick mind and long arms, decided the best thing to do was to use the cats claws and stick him to the trunk of the tree as far down as he could reach while he descended a couple of rungs on the ladder. So in essence, he told the cat to stick like Velcro. The cat being terrified did just that. So down they went a few rungs at a time, each time he lowered the cat a couple of feet on the tree. My husbands running commentary to the cat to stick was so funny, our neighbor and I could barely hold onto the ladder because we were laughing so hard.

Shortly after getting Darryl back in the house, and after he consumed what was left of his gravy, he laid down in the hallway and wouldn't move. I, being the total mom, thought he was still scared and picked him up to comfort him. No, he would have none of that and hopped back down to the same spot in the hall. Then he started batting at the suitcase that was sitting there. I sighed and sent my husband over to move the suitcase. Under the suitcase, placed for safe keeping and a later play date with Darryl was a tailless alligator lizard. The lizard now dwells in the tree.

Score:
Honey-girl kitty-4 dead birds
Darryl-stinky boy kitty-many sticks/4 snakes/1 lizard