Longest Day of Year in More Ways Than One (non-bunny)

[MimzMum]

If I seem a  little bleary-eyed and thick-minded in this post, my apologies in advance. I just lived through one of the worst nights of my life.

 

Once again, plans were all set for a trip to town today (beginning to think I’m even going to have to do my grocery shopping online now!) and I had just cleaned up and was trying to cool down a little bit since it’d been so muggy yesterday. I’d also taken a VERY long (for me) bike ride with my son earlier that my legs were just throbbing from the exercise. (Needless to say, I am way out of shape.) Anyway, I’d just laid down and turned on my t.v. and was watching Austin City Limits, when I start hearing some bumping and thumping around in the rest of the house, which I identified as my husband walking through the house rather quickly and slamming doors right and left. I thought, “Great, he and the boy must be arguing about who’s going to walk the dog or something.” One of our dogs was barking and whining in a peevish manner.

Suddenly, he knocks on my door and says, “Need your help,” with one of his classic, “it’s not my fault” chuckles. This can only mean one thing, which he confirmed in his next sentence. “He got away from me while we were outside, went after Kitty and took off through the grass.”

“He” is my baby cat, whom I’ve nicknamed Q.T. His pic will be at the bottom of the post.

Now he is 7 years old. He’s full grown and pretty well able to handle himself both with our other housecat, and our stray, Kitty. He doesn’t let dogs near him and for the most part is pretty easily handled, with one exception…his desire to do the stray cat strut.

I keep him strictly indoors and I have my reasons for it. I don’t need anyone to argue with me about them, least of all my immediate family. Alaska is just too wild a place for little animals, in fact, this last batch will literally be my last as I just can’t handle the strain of things like what happened last night.

Even so, we have constructed (at the hubby’s insistence) one of those dog kennel cages around our arctic entry (similar to a foyer; only very basic, you leave your wet, snowy things in this room and it keeps most of the drafts out when you open the main door) and this was supposed to be the housecat’s ‘run’ for when they wanted to be ‘outside.’ I do not vaccinate my cats for outdoor time because I try to keep that to a minimum. (I lost a cat to vaccine related sarcoma and do not intend to repeat that horror.)

My other housecat is a roly-poly ball of blubber who never goes far or fast, if she gets loose, we can nab her easily. Q.T. is lean, mean and goes like stink–if you give him an inch he takes the mile in 0.3 nanoseconds. You have to convince him that the tuft of grass you just pulled up in your hand is MUCH more interesting than romping around the neighborhood.

Yah, well…I didn’t get the chance to do that last night. Kitty likes to get into our attic area, because the dog with the fracture is ALSO right there at the entry (he doesn’t share the run, he sleeps next to it though) and she doesn’t like the dog, so she bolts up into the roof. Q.T. just went right up after her last night, ran along the length of the eaves and out the other side after her…and disappeared. The reason he disappeared is that the hubby took his eyes off him long enough AFTER he had bolted to get a zip tie to close down the one place in the tarp cover that he’d used to slip through. Instead of doing the sensible thing and going after Q.T. right away and scooping him up. “Two minutes, he told me, I left him alone for two minutes to get the tie.” It was at this point that the hubby decided I should be called in on the search.

Needless to say, I was not amused. In fact I had a few choice words for him, because he thinks a dog kennel without a solid roof on is going to keep an athletic, springy, speedy cat from making the great escape. Despite my protests, the cage went up and I have to put up with the cat going out in it. What was worse was how he kept trying to talk about it like it wasn’t his fault. Of course it was! It was his idea for the stupid thing in the first place! Then he tries to talk about what a little (expletive deleted) my cat is for not coming right back??? HEL-LO! He’s a tomcat, this is what they do if you let them, neutered or not! DUH! (I am so used to getting this pass the buck attitude from him and other unmentionable relations and it just chaps my butt, especially now I see my son doing the same thing, whereas I was raised to be SO responsible for stuff that I worry over EVERY detail until it is right in a situation.)

I’ve told him SO many times, DO NOT put Q.T. out without supervising him. IT IS NOT SAFE. But he blows me off as paranoid and treats me like *I* am the one who needs to make the trip to the Wizard for the brain.

Sorry to bash here, especially someone who’s not going to get the chance to defend himself…but in my opinion there is no defense for blatant stupidity. Besides, I was up all night (we ALL were thanks to him) and I am still hacked off to the extremes. I’ve forgiven him for losing the cat and said I’m sorry for the verbal garbage I spewed at him last night, but I just DON’T understand why a full grown man can’t follow simple directions???

ANYWAY…*deep breath*…we immediately got the whole family out to see if we could scare up the little bugger. I walked the whole neighborhood last night, shaking a little bag of yummies and calling my cat. The mozzies were out in force and I now have bites ALL over my face and neck, to which I appear to be somewhat allergic, and I look like one of those poor sots in that episode of Star Trek where the salt eating monster was sucking sodium out of their faces and leaving big, blotchy spots. But I didn’t care…didn’t stop long enough to put on bug dope, I just wanted to find my cat. He has little to no experience outdoors and I had the whole gamut of terrifying outcomes going through my mind the whole time. Bears, wolves, wildcats, ravens, other small carnivores like fox and wolverine, feral cats or dogs, sled dogs, mean/drunk neighbors with SUVs that travel at speeds of Mach 2 down our rural road or buckshot or antifreeze just waiting for your pet, poisonous plants, rusty nails hidden in unstable woodpiles, flood-swollen rivers, foul weather, fire…you name it, I thought of it and each loathsome image ran in disgusting technicolor on a tape loop through the tears I couldn’t see past.

I think it had to be almost 2 in the morning (Q.T. got away at about 10 PM) before I finally dragged my sorry butt back into the house, completely defeated. There was no sign of him and I was exhausted…I’d been up over 15 hours straight and I couldn’t lift myself from my chair without pain. My heart hardly beat in my chest and I went to my computer to begin making flyers, as I feared it was going to come to that eventually. I had only just seen a bunch of posts at our local public boards about missing cats and dogs and to think I was going to have to add Q.T. to their lists only sickened me more. (I don’t have much faith in most of the folks around here to give a rat’s behind, honestly.)
The kids and hubby continued to look, but they were also tired and had come in for awhile. I was still nuclear hot at my husband who was still outdoors, so he was steering clear of me. Lucky for him too, as I was getting angrier by the second.

Anyway, I come up on the picture I posted below and start bawling like I hadn’t done since my third, older cat had choked to death in my arms after having a stroke this last winter. I couldn’t imagine having to bury (figuratively or otherwise) another cat this year. The worst part for me was thinking he’d get hit by a car and just be unceremoniously scooped up by animal control and tossed in a dumpster, or worse yet, just no sign of him ever again and I’d be wondering for the rest of my life, however long that would be, and the thought of spending a winter without him wondering if he had frozen to death somewhere was enough to push me over the edge. (I had lost a cat in a populated lower 48 subdivision years ago and never found him, we finally figured someone stole him or killed him and just disposed of the body…we had flyers everywhere and no one responded.)

This noise spurred the kids to go out and look again, I was a puddle on the floor and couldn’t move. When I finally slugged off to bed I couldn’t sleep. I had printed two extra pictures out to hold and pray over all night and kept my window open hoping beyond hope to hear his little paw patting the doorknob to come in. He had taken off like this once before when he was 6 months old, and it was the rain that brought him home at 3 AM. There was no rain last night and the midnight sun was even more annoying than it usually is.

Finally, about 5:30 AM I realized I was feeling sicker and sicker for lack of sleep, so I took some sleeping meds and tried to play one of my DS games. When I realized I couldn’t tell which Pokemon I was battling anymore I knew it was time to close my eyes. This could only have been 1/2 hour later and I knew the buns would be up and about soon. Plus if I heard that back door slam and no one telling me my cat was home one more time I might literally go insane.

I woke up about 10 AM? Totally disoriented. Had to use the bathroom and found the hubby was up and checking his Ebay stuff. I guess I must’ve looked pretty rough because he walked out right away and went out the back door looking for Q.T. again.

I dissolved and cried and prayed….WHERE was my boy??? Why would he run away like that? Why hadn’t he come home? Why hadn’t my prayers been answered? I didn’t even want to face another day, much less maybe weeks of this.

And then I heard the door slam and sucked in my breath again…I couldn’t take another disappointment, but I was prepared for one. I’d had to prepare each time all night long.

Suddenly I can hear from the back room, “He’s home!”

So what did I do? Start screaming and crying Q.T.’s name as if I’m a re-incarnation of Sybil. My hubby brought him right to me and the poor cat was scared to death of this crazy lady daddy was handing him to, so he wriggled out of my arms right away and scooted off…but he DID come home.

I can’t tell you how this relieves me…I think of this cat as I would one of my own children and I cannot STAND the thought of anything happening to him in any way! I can only thank God that He brought him back home to me, because I certainly didn’t have the power to do it myself.

The shock still hasn’t worn off and I need to get some SERIOUS sleep…but he’s home. He doesn’t look hurt in any way or the worse for wear, but I know I am going to have to keep an eye on him now, because if he didn’t remember his first bid for freedom, you can see it in his eyes now. He’s just waiting for that next opportunity. I also plan to get him to the vet for a checkup next week and get him (and may as well take the other housecat too) the necessary injections to keep them safe from disease. It’s not rampant here or anything, but I think it’s more common to find rabid animals or other pets with things like leukemia or HIV and I just want them safe.

However, I still don’t want any of them chipped (that just creeps me out no end) or implanted with any kind of GPS thingamabob. I just need to keep the home a pleasant enough place for them to want to stay, or if the scenario repeats itself, somewhere they WANT to come back to.

So here’s the playboy, a pic from just a few weeks ago.

Thanks for being here and reading my rant, everybun…I’d have no one to vent to if not for you all. ;_;

Oh, and if Markus reads this…I SO have been through the ‘look all over the house for them and they’re NOWHERE’ thing…Q.T. is VERY fond of finding ways to hide right under my nose, including the box spring trick! I empahthize with you! >_<

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[Sarita]

MimzMum I’m so glad QT is home and I agree with you 100% for keeping your cats indoors – it’s the right thing to do no matter where you live.

I wouldn’t be able to sleep either if this happened and for weeks if he didn’t come back.

I hope you have can relax now and get a good nights sleep tonight. Hugs.

[JK]

Oh I am so glad you found the kitty!!!! Hey I KNOW how husband’s are! Mine stepped on our cat’s tail a couple month’s ago and claimed it was not his fault.  He stepped on it so badly it literally fell off one day, it was hanging by a thread, and off to the ER  went! This was 2 days after we had to put our golden down. That accident just did not need to happen but “it was not my fault”!!!!!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh Mimz hun, my word. There are no words for what you went through but I am very, very glad your bad-boy baby is home. ((((HUGS)))) Cuddle up under a blanket and get some much-needed rest.

[Deleted User]

Literally had to resituate and lay down to finish your story. It was like a suspenseful novel, but some how I KNEW it would end happy! QT looks like the cat I had as a kid! I do have to say, I giggled when I read that you play Pokemon on a DS….so does my 9 year old nephew!

So happy that you are reunited! I can’t imagine the night you went through….your prayers worked!!!!

[kimberleyanddarren]

This may not be apporpriate here – but mimzmum have u ever read one of your posts back to yourself? it is really good writing! It could have been an article in the paper written by someone who does it for a living and i wouldnt have batted an eyelid at it.

Anyway i am sorry you had to go through that, its all very stressfull but at least you are safe in the knowledge that there is always someone to talk to if you need to rant! We will always listen! Glad everything worked out in the end and i bet hubby got plenty of head patts when he brought QT back hehe

[Beka27]

oh Mimz! i’m so sorry you had to go thru all of that. try and rest up this weekend. so let me see if i understand (pics would help, hint hint!) you have a foyer type thing and a dog crate that sticks out of the back of the house? but the cats are not actually outdoor cats? they just have that to “experience” outside? that’s actually a pretty smart idea.

welcome home QT!

[RabbitPam]

MM, Whew!!!!  I’m so sorry you went through such a night. And yes, you ARE a good writer.  It’s because you are such a creative person with a fertile imagination that you suffer so much. I’m a worrier too and it’s what you can do to yourself that really takes its toll. After you’ve had a good long rest, I thought you might like these famous quotes:

Some of your hurts you have cured,
And the sharpest you still have survived,
But what torments of grief you endured
From the evil which never arrived.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

* I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.  ~Mark Twain
* If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.  ~Calvin Coolidge
* How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened.  ~Thomas Jefferson
* Every evening I turn my worries over to God.  He’s going to be up all night anyway.  ~Mary C. Crowley

Most of the things you described could have happened, of course, and your fears are very well founded. I’m just so glad for you, QT, and your husband that they didn’t. When imagining what might be happening to QT, throw in a scenario of him doing cat binkies in the woods saying “Alright! A night out! Slinking through the trees! Munching on a mouse (Yech!), PURRRRRRRR.” He’s the only one who had a great night, the little bugger.

P.S. Now that I just posted, I am sitting here worried that you won’t like these quotes and take them in the spirit of friendship in which they are offered. Ack! No rest for the worried! {{{{{{{{{Hugs}}}}}}}}}}}}

[MimzMum]

Rabbitpam, PLEASE don’t worry so much. Your quotes were beautiful and SO so true! “Fearing the evil which never arrives” is the mantra of the patient of anxiety syndrome. I have a feeling you and I really do bond mentally so many places. It was a delight to come in and read your post!

Not to exclude anyone though, a BIG thank you to everyone who responded for all your well-wishes and kind thoughts. It means the world to me to have friends such as yourselves that make me realize I’m not a nut for wanting my furbabies as safe as I do, as other people in my life would have me believe!

Yes, actually I play a few DS games; Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Petz Bunnyz, Drawn To Life, My Sims, Digimon, Monster Rancher, Nintendogs, Tales of Phantasia, Fire Emblem, etc. I began playing GameBoy games to help me sleep at night before I had any medications prescribed to me for my insomnia. They used to help me drop off within about thirty minutes of beginning a game, but now I actually sit up WAY to late messing with them as a sort of ‘steam valve’ for my days more stressful events. But that night I just couldn’t take any pleasure in the game, worrying about my cat so.

Well, I don’t really have any good piccies of this Mickey Mouse constructive monstrosity, (it really is an eyesore, we’d never get away with it in town), but if you can imagine the outer door to your home encased in a kind of enclosed ‘porch’ and then one of those cyclone fence dog pens extending from it, kind of running up a graveled hill to the garage door (in which no car has ever set tire) and a tarp pulled across the top on one side where the eaves to the garage meet the end of one side of the fence. It’s a caution, let me tell you. I agreed to buy this thing only to give my dogs a small run to attach to the nicely heated doghouse I wanted built for them this year (no more fooling around, we’ve been here 13 years and the dogs have had to be in tiny doghouses or igloos or on the porch during most of those years…makes me sick!) however, Mr. Home Improvement thought it would make a dandy cat run. (Originally he was telling me we were going to set it up for the bunnies…I about dropped dead!)
Delusional. I don’t know which one of us is worse in that department. 0_o;

Yes, I have thought of being a writer, but honestly my inspiration is so sporadic and I reach the worst dry patches where I can’t say anything right…it must’ve taken me at least an hour to spill all that angst and then another hour to edit for content. (No worries, it wasn’t like I had to delete much…just make better sense because the way it was coming out, I was a rambling idiot!) When speaking to people it takes me a LONG time to figure out the right and correct things to say and how they should be worded and often I miss the boat with anything quippy or clever. So message boards are a real way for me to shine my writing light, otherwise one might see me come off as quite illiterate.
My birth mother is the same way…we have both been compared to Erma Bombeck in our writing styles. Only she has language and euphemisms from a different generation that are absolutely hilarious!

And as a parting shot, the hubby is already pushing me to put the cat back outdoors because, as he put it, “Well I DID fix the opening with the zip tie.”

….
….

Erm…let me see if I can say this clearly enough…..*ahem*…(deep breath)

NO!

There, I hope I communicated that to him without too much confusion. lolz…. ^_^

(Of course, my next worry is that he’ll put the poor thing out when I’m not around or unconscious, the amount of trust I have in this man-at least as far as our animals are concerned- wouldn’t fill a teaspoon.) >_<

[babybunsmum]

oh my goddness!  i’m so sorry to hear you had such a horrible night    your wandering playboy is adoreable and i’d of been just as upset if he were missing.  i also agree that there is no need for cats to be outside & that there are too many dangers no matter where you are.  i hope you were able to rest up & feel better today

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Oh my goodness thank goodness it worked out and QT came home!!! I’m with K&D you are a great writer!!!

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