the following is a response to an email from the owner of the cat that I'm cat-sitting (emailed a couple of minutes ago):
hey there--
glad to hear the you made it safe & sound to Portland--I'll try & get the tape [Lullaby Baxter Trio] in the mail tommorrow, but I'm pretty awful at remembering things like that (I keep meaning to pick up a pad of Post-its to help me remember things that I have to do--except that one of the things that I have to do is buy post-its, so its sort of a vicious cycle)
as far as Sylvia goes...
let me go back a bit--for about 2 days after you left she did okay, either staying in the windowsill by the bed or else finding about 3 dozen ingenious hiding places throughout the house--I brushed her a couple of times a day & she seemed to like that & seemed to be getting adjusted to things.
then after about 2 days she disappeared, but, it being Sylvia, I wasn't sure if she'd run off or just found a really good hiding place. after a few more days of searching the house front to back (also top to bottom) it seemed like she'd probably gotten out somehow & I made up a flier & called the dogcatcher (he hadn't picked up a cat in months)--I had fifty fliers made up, bought a staplegun & spent the better part of a day affixing them on every telephone pole & bulletin board in town. my last stop was at the pet store a little ways out of town at the Indian Colony, where they have a bulletin board & I'd been told that often they get informed of pets lost or found--they hadn't heard anything.
I came home &, yes, she was on the front porch.
this made me happy.
then she ran off when I approached.
this made me sad.
this was yesterday, & since then I've been prowling around the property every 20 minutes or so & have caught glimpses of her, but she won't let me get very close & has this disconcerting habit of simply EVAPORATING WHILE I'M LOOKING RIGHT AT HER.
earlier today I was poking around out back trying to whistle for her (I can't whistle, as you know, but I try. Lord knows I try.) I saw one of the elderly lady neighbors to the rear come out & after a few minutes of obligatory apologizing for the twisted & charred wreckage sprawling across the back 40 (which I do whenever I see someone who lives near me, or looks like someone who might live near me, & hopefully absolves me from having to, like, do anything about it), I asked elderly lady neighbor if she'd seen a little fluffy black cat with a green collar.
she said she hadn't.
then she said, "Oh, do you mean that one?"
& there Sylvia was, lurking in the corner of elderly lady neighbors garden.
I attempted to apprehend said little fluffy black cat with green collar, but was unsuccessful--after the two of us circling a bit of shrubbery for a while (that's myself & Sylia, not self & elderly lady neighbor) she bolted for a gap in the fence, which I vaulted (rather gracefully, I think, & against all evidence to the contrary) & stalked her at 3 quarters speed thru the alley, onto the neighbors property--another bit of cat & mouse circling around a flatbed trailer (in which I was the cat & the cat was, ironically, the mouse), & then back on my lawn, where she did the evaporating thing--
so once again, I'm kind of up in the air--did she run into the house? did she go back to the backyard? was she beamed back to the Mother Ship by our Galactic Feline Overlords???
I don't know--I checked the house--couldn't find her, then the backyard--still no--& then made several patrols of the backyard & the neighborhood. I talked to the neighbors with the adjoining fence & they said that she'd gotten into their garage a time or two in the past couple of days & I offered a 20$ reward if they can catch her.
so that's where things stand right now--she's staying close to the house (I think she's waiting for you to come back) & I've put out food for her. she looks healthy & infuriatingly spry, & I'll get her in the house as soon as possible & I'll keep you posted.
the plans for the roadtrip are pretty much as I originally envisioned them (namely, leave here & end up in Wisconsin eventually). I'll probably put Sylvia up at the kennel on the Indian Colony for the duration, as it looks like the other cats & her aren't exactly simpatico right now (& I kinda think they've been keeping her from coming back to the house--but that might be just my imagination.) I know the people there & they're good with cats, so no worries there. (& if you have any, let me know & I'll make alternate arrangements.)
not much else to say, & I'll write more soon. it's almost 2 a.m. & I have to go out to [the town I grew up in] with my sister tommorrow early to check out the cemetery & get some clippings from mom's wild rose bushes (sister wants to plant some at her place, plus we'd like to plant one in the cemetery for mom--it's in some pretty arid desert, but we found out that someone goes out there to water regularly)
more later, eh?
love & kisses,
--D
hey there--
glad to hear the you made it safe & sound to Portland--I'll try & get the tape [Lullaby Baxter Trio] in the mail tommorrow, but I'm pretty awful at remembering things like that (I keep meaning to pick up a pad of Post-its to help me remember things that I have to do--except that one of the things that I have to do is buy post-its, so its sort of a vicious cycle)
as far as Sylvia goes...
let me go back a bit--for about 2 days after you left she did okay, either staying in the windowsill by the bed or else finding about 3 dozen ingenious hiding places throughout the house--I brushed her a couple of times a day & she seemed to like that & seemed to be getting adjusted to things.
then after about 2 days she disappeared, but, it being Sylvia, I wasn't sure if she'd run off or just found a really good hiding place. after a few more days of searching the house front to back (also top to bottom) it seemed like she'd probably gotten out somehow & I made up a flier & called the dogcatcher (he hadn't picked up a cat in months)--I had fifty fliers made up, bought a staplegun & spent the better part of a day affixing them on every telephone pole & bulletin board in town. my last stop was at the pet store a little ways out of town at the Indian Colony, where they have a bulletin board & I'd been told that often they get informed of pets lost or found--they hadn't heard anything.
I came home &, yes, she was on the front porch.
this made me happy.
then she ran off when I approached.
this made me sad.
this was yesterday, & since then I've been prowling around the property every 20 minutes or so & have caught glimpses of her, but she won't let me get very close & has this disconcerting habit of simply EVAPORATING WHILE I'M LOOKING RIGHT AT HER.
earlier today I was poking around out back trying to whistle for her (I can't whistle, as you know, but I try. Lord knows I try.) I saw one of the elderly lady neighbors to the rear come out & after a few minutes of obligatory apologizing for the twisted & charred wreckage sprawling across the back 40 (which I do whenever I see someone who lives near me, or looks like someone who might live near me, & hopefully absolves me from having to, like, do anything about it), I asked elderly lady neighbor if she'd seen a little fluffy black cat with a green collar.
she said she hadn't.
then she said, "Oh, do you mean that one?"
& there Sylvia was, lurking in the corner of elderly lady neighbors garden.
I attempted to apprehend said little fluffy black cat with green collar, but was unsuccessful--after the two of us circling a bit of shrubbery for a while (that's myself & Sylia, not self & elderly lady neighbor) she bolted for a gap in the fence, which I vaulted (rather gracefully, I think, & against all evidence to the contrary) & stalked her at 3 quarters speed thru the alley, onto the neighbors property--another bit of cat & mouse circling around a flatbed trailer (in which I was the cat & the cat was, ironically, the mouse), & then back on my lawn, where she did the evaporating thing--
so once again, I'm kind of up in the air--did she run into the house? did she go back to the backyard? was she beamed back to the Mother Ship by our Galactic Feline Overlords???
I don't know--I checked the house--couldn't find her, then the backyard--still no--& then made several patrols of the backyard & the neighborhood. I talked to the neighbors with the adjoining fence & they said that she'd gotten into their garage a time or two in the past couple of days & I offered a 20$ reward if they can catch her.
so that's where things stand right now--she's staying close to the house (I think she's waiting for you to come back) & I've put out food for her. she looks healthy & infuriatingly spry, & I'll get her in the house as soon as possible & I'll keep you posted.
the plans for the roadtrip are pretty much as I originally envisioned them (namely, leave here & end up in Wisconsin eventually). I'll probably put Sylvia up at the kennel on the Indian Colony for the duration, as it looks like the other cats & her aren't exactly simpatico right now (& I kinda think they've been keeping her from coming back to the house--but that might be just my imagination.) I know the people there & they're good with cats, so no worries there. (& if you have any, let me know & I'll make alternate arrangements.)
not much else to say, & I'll write more soon. it's almost 2 a.m. & I have to go out to [the town I grew up in] with my sister tommorrow early to check out the cemetery & get some clippings from mom's wild rose bushes (sister wants to plant some at her place, plus we'd like to plant one in the cemetery for mom--it's in some pretty arid desert, but we found out that someone goes out there to water regularly)
more later, eh?
love & kisses,
--D