NaturallyResilient

About

Many years ago, we lost our BIG black and white cat Barney. I don’t know if it was coyotes or the local mountain lion, but the last time I saw him was when we came home late (midnight) and I invited him to come in with us but he declined.

I searched all over the field for the next week but never saw a sign of him. I was very upset as Barney was a very sweet, personable cat that everyone loved and he loved everyone. We decided to replace Barney and a friend said that his sister in Georgetown had discovered three kittens in their neighbors back yard, they did not even have their eyes open yet! Some local boys had found them and stuck them under a milk crate in the back yard. The woman rescued the kittens and bottle raised them.

One of the kittens was a black and white who looked a lot like Barney. We said we would take that one. At 5 weeks old we took possession. Harry showed up one afternoon and our female cat Mouser took one look at this kitten, hissed and ran off. Since this kitten had shown up in the afternoon and Paul usually came home in the afternoon, she associated Paul with having brought this kitten in the house. Mouser accepted the kitten within a week but stayed mad at Paul for two weeks!

Harry was an adventurous kitten who loved the outdoors. We closed the cat door at night with the cats in the house least we lose another one in the middle of the night. When ever we tried to go outside after dark, Harry would make an effort to escape.

We had a huge pile of dirt in the backyard of our home which came from digging the septic field. One night Paul opened the back door and out ran Harry. Paul and I took off after him. Harry thought it was great fun to run around the base of the dirt pile. Paul and I were running different directions around the dirt trying to catch him. A kitten can be a slippery thing to catch.

Harry was having a great time evading us in the dark and who shows up but an owl screeching overhead. Harry did not understand the great danger he was in. That owl was upset with me and Paul keeping him from a great little snack. Our efforts to catch Harry escalated. Only after we had caught Harry and started heading back to the house, did the Owl finally give up.