Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Catch - the strangest cat I know




                              "Catch"
                 acrylic on 6' x 6" panel 

SOLD

Here she is as promised - the final of my cat, Catch. 

As was stated in a prior post when she was a work-in-progress, she has a very sweet face, but a very "butterball" body. As my daughter wrote, and I quote, "You forgot to mention that Catch is as wide as she is long and that she has the teensiest feet so when she walks she looks like a tubby ballerina. In a cat sort of way."

The time that I let her in at 2:00 a.m. was not the only time I have had to deal with mice she "plays" with. Because we live in the country, on occasion a mouse might get in the house. One night when my husband was working late, Catch came up the stairs and into my bedroom where I was putting away laundry. She meowed at me rather strangely, and when I turned around, she had a half dead mouse on the floor, and was batting at it. I think I yelled, and I know I ran to find something to get the mouse with. 

But I didn't want to just put on gloves - what if it bit through the glove? I grabbed a broom, and ran back into the bedroom. The mouse had revived by this time and it ran into our closet with Catch and me hot on its trail. From there it ran into the hallway, and under the bifold doors into the linen closet. I was so scared to open those doors, but I did, and there it was in the corner, terrified and hiding. Catch wouldn't go in to get it, and I knew she wouldn't kill it anyway, so I ended up beating it with the broom and apologizing to it for having to hurt it (kill it). It got scooped up and carried out into the cold on a dustbin, then tossed into the woods behind our house. If only Catch was a regular normal cat, I wouldn't have to endure these kinds of adventures!

If you have had adventures with your creatures, please tell me about them. I would love to share a laugh or two with you!



8 comments:

Lee Ann said...

Love your portrait of Catch - she looks very regal. But she sounds like a perfectly normal cat to me!

We've always lived with at least one cat, and since we also live out in the country - we live with other things on a less voluntary basis too. I wish my husband could tell this story, he's so much better at story telling--

Several years ago we had a Maine Coon cat with very long, lush fur. She caught a mouse on the terrace behind the house, and was lying down, batting it back and forth between her paws in a rather mean-spirited way. Since they were outside, my husband decided to save the poor little schmousy (yes, he really calls them schmousies). He picked up the cat and couldn't find the mouse! It had gotten swallowed up by the massive fur on her belly! He shook the cat once or twice, and the mouse fell out! He swears that the mouse then stood up on his hind legs and saluted him before running off into the woods. Really, he swears that's no exaggeration. LOL Yeah, we have a lot of fun here :)

Unknown said...

Oh Lee Ann!
Your cat story is hilarious!!! And I think you did JUST GREAT telling it too. I read it to my husband and he got quite the chuckle from it. He is now saying "schmousies", so I think he liked it a lot. :-) Thanks for sharing that with me.

Kim said...

Hilarious. Loved Lee Ann's story!

My cat, Managua, a street cat from said Nicaraguan city, (smuggled to me by bus for 8 hours by my husband who had heard me make mention of the fact that ONE DAY I wanted to have an orange cat)is somewhat of a grumpy old fart. He adopted a little stray cat that we rescued, but other than that has been quite resentful that we had kids, but the last straw was when we got a (dare I say it?) dog.

Our angry (read 'fuming') cat would go out of his way to pummel the dog, until one afternoon when he was taking what was to become a fateful nap. We lived in a very tall house in Mex. City that had stairs with ledges, and because they were under skylights, he would often sun himself and sleep there. He must have been in a deep sleep, because he fell off (about a 15 foot drop) and, (stayed asleep apparently because he was falling on his back), landed square on the dog, who happened to be directly below him.

Well, the dog yelped, the cat staggered around for a minute, and since then he has "tolerated" the dog quite well.

Emm said...

Your blog is so fun- Rocky, the dog, came prancing around the corner of the house with a Sylvester the cat look on his face and a robin screaming and dive bombing his head. When I finally realized what was going on I commanded "Spit it out!" and poof out floated a baby robin in perfect condition. I was relieved as was the mother. We backed away, the mom took over and they disappeared into the bushes.

Loved the story, paintings and thanks for the heads up on Christine Kane.

Unknown said...

Hey Kim,

I guess you could say that your dog actually (and inadvertently) saved your cat's life! How amazing was that when the dog was in just the right place at the right time! :-)

Thanks for sharing this amazing creature tale!

Unknown said...

Hi Emm,

That is just too funny!!!! The fact that Rocky had not injured the robin is so amazing! He must have a very "soft mouth"! So glad you, as a mother, read the mother robin's signals right, and all ended up well. I still laugh out loud when I think of him spitting out a baby robin...

Thanks for adding your story to this posting. Have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful portrait. I enjoyed, very much, your story of Catch. What an adventure. I don't think I would have survived it. ;-)

Paz

Anonymous said...

I just realized that Catch looks a lot like my friend's cat Fridolin in Switerland. Check out the photo here when you have a chance. ;-)

Paz