Have You Ever Had One Of Those Days?

Shakti and Sammy with the thumbs

This morning, I woke up at 5 AM, thanks to Samster, our tuxedo cat with thumbs.

"Brrrbbbrrrr, meeeeeeeeeeeeee, eeeuuuuu, brrrbbrrrr... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Sammy anxiously spoke and paced around me as I lay motionless in my bed.

I was hoping to trick him; it didn't work.  I woke up and he was gleeful.  Jumping up on his hind legs for my hand, he sang his morning song,   "Brrrrbbbrrrr eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

I patted his little head as I said, "Oh, Sammy's a good boy, want to eat?"

Sammy understands eat; he raced me up the stairs.  He was one hungry cat.

I woke my mom at 5:30 AM.  She couldn't open her eyes.  She walked with them closed and refused to walk into the bathroom.  Planting her feet into the floor, she stiffened her body and fought my guidance.  I knew that she needed the toilet, she told me.

"Don't get sucked in Sue," I thought silently.  Stay calm.

"Today will be a GREAT day!"  I exclaim to myself, hoping to help improve the events of the day.  Typically, I say this before my feet hit the floor when I rise out of bed; today I forgot, Sammy was talking way too much.

Mom didn't have a very good start this morning.  She would have preferred to stay in bed than get up, get dressed and be out the door by 7 AM; off to the day program.  My mom is much more confused today making care giving more intense.  We got through the morning and she was in the van at 7AM with Martha.

"Yay!!!!!  The day is getting better already," I thought.

9 AM Shakti and Sammy had an appointment at the vet for their rabbis and leukemia shot.  Neither were very thrilled with the ride.  They had excellent health reports and as we left, the doctor said, "Have a good summer, unless of course these guys get into mischief outside."

Ah, thanks Doc for putting that thought out into the ethers!

Around 11:30, I was going out for a walk in the neighborhood, I went out and whistled for the cats to get them to come inside... they always come to my whistle.

I went inside to put on my walking shoes.  I came back out and whistled again when I heard dogs barking.  On the next street over, I saw 2 big dogs chasing a woman carrying a little dog.  Immediately, I whistled for the cats to come inside.  Shakti, she was already on the deck, watching something that was scary, she stood with her escape stance as she waited for the door to open.

Sammy, he was no where to be found.  

I heard more barking near the creek on the other side of the fence.  Like a shot in the silent night, I heard more barking, a cat screech, frantic cat claws on a tree,  followed by lots of barking.

Crap!  

Sammy, stuck way up in the tree

I ran out back.  I saw Sammy WAY up in the skinniest tree in the woods.  How the hell was I going to get him down?

Opening the back gate, the 2 dogs were at the bottom of the tree.  I yelled, "GO HOME.  GET OUT OF HERE!"  They began to growl at me - yikes!  I shut the gate fast and found a big stick.

I yelled... "GET OUT OF HERE!  GO HOME!"  As I slapped the stick against the fence post... the stick broke in half.  I had no weapon...more growling, this time one showed me his teeth.

"AHHHHHHH!"

I needed a bigger stick.  I shut the gate fast and looked around for another stick that wouldn't break.

Sammy, watching me try to save him.

Sammy watched from above, perched in the tree as I said, "Don't worry Sammy, I'm coming!"

Cautiously, I opened the gate again.  The dogs were gone and I was able to get closer to the tree where Sammy was perched about 20 feet or more in the air.  I had no idea how I was going to get him out of the tree.

The extension ladder was too short.

The tree was too thick to shake him out.

Dog Claw Print!

I had an idea... I'll show him how to climb down.  I began to scratch the tree trunk, making motions like I was climbing down.  "Use those thumbs you got!"  I said out loud to the cat.  He cocked his little head from side to side; he seemed to understand what I was trying to show him.

Sammy made a motion to climb down the tree head first.  "Yay!" I thought to myself, until a big gust of wind shook the tree top where he was perched.  Frozen motionless, he stopped trying.

I called my husband in a panic.  "Brian, Sammy is stuck way up in a skinny tree.  I don't know how to get him down."

"Let me check if I have meetings scheduled... no meetings, I'll be right home."  Brian said in a cheerful voice.  Thank God for Brian, I thought as I ran back out to stand next to the tree where Sammy was stuck.

Tilting his head, this way and that, Sammy was trying to figure out how to get down.  It was a puzzle.  He's good with puzzles.  I like to make puzzles with treats inside that he has to figure out how to solve; he always does.

"It's OK."  I said to him in my high pitched cat voice.  He knows this phrase and will come to us if he's scared and we say these 2 words.  He wasn't budging.

"Think!" I thought to myself.

My blogger friend Kathy wrote a comment on a post from a different time when Sammy was chased up a tree by a fox and Shakti was stuck up in a tree.  Kathy's daughter's kitten was stuck in a tree, she used a pillow case as a net.

BRILLIANT!  

On that thought, I ran in the house for a pillow case, returning with a sheet instead; Sammy is a 13 pound cat.  I picked a hammer and nails out of the garage cabinet; my idea was to nail the sheet to the surrounding trees and make a net to catch Sammy if he fell.

I thought I could shake the tree...

Guess again Sue.

Brian on the 20 ft extension ladder
"You're going to have to climb down, Buddy."

Ta Ta Da!  Brian to the rescue!!!

Brian arrived, got the big extension ladder.

Sammy climbed down
I couldn't photo it, I was standing there with the sheet
ready to catch him if he fell

Climbed it and Sammy climbed down like a little Koala Bear into Brian's arms.

Brian and Sammy
Yay!  

Once inside....

The phone rings, "Hello, Sue?  This isn't an emergency, it's Denise at All Care, your mom wanted me to call her mother.{my heart sank}  She's having a rough day....  We even tried to bribe her with a piece of cake, she wouldn't have anything to do with it.... Can she come home early if we can't calm her?  Will someone be home?"

"Yes, I'll be here.  She can come home."  I replied.

I don't know if she's coming home early or not.  It's now 3:15pm, she's due at 4pm... maybe she ate that piece of cake after all and decided to stay?

Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to be moving backward?

Tomorrow, is a new day with new adventures involving cats and demented mothers... stay tuned.