Fire Cat

So much has been going on lately. E went a way and left me by myself for almost a week. Of course, she left me my crunchy food, and my automatic waterer. And she arranged for Esther to come see me everyday. But, she doesn't realize how disrupted she makes my life when she goes off like that!

I need to be allowed to go outside and sniff my plants and see who has been visiting the garden. You know, like Miss Cinnamon, and Ronnie, for example. Cinny has a certain fragrance that I recognise..as entirely her own and she rolls around in my dirt all the time. If I don't get out there and roll in the same dirt, Cinnamon will think she owns my dirt! I will not tolerate that!

And Ronnie, though he is a fixed boy, he does have a strong smell about him, and he rubs up against my bushes and especially the corner of my house and door. I know he is just saying hello and wants me to come outside. But, how can I do that when the doors are closed?

If E were here to respond to my beck and command she would open the door and let me out to sniff around, roll in my dirt and have a bite of grass or catnip! I was really miffed at her for going off and leaving me.

So, when she got home, I let her have it. I yowled at her all night long and didn't let her sleep for the next whole week. Ha Ha! That will teach her! Once she learned her lesson and was sufficiently obedient to me, I let off from waking her. After all, I need to get my beauty sleep too.

She got so concerned about my yowling she thought there was something wrong with me and made an appointment to take me to the vet. It was the hottest day of the year. Thank heavens she put ice packs on top of my travel cage and another one underneath my blanket, because even with the air conditioning on in the car, it was quite warm. Though I like the heat better than hoomans do.

As we left the house and drove away, suddenly I saw a huge plume of smoke arising on the horizon. I nudged E to take a look as she was driving. Even though she puts my cage in the car, sometimes I ride beside her. Any time I want to go into my cage, I can, because she leaves the door open for me. E looked up and saw the huge plume of smoke. It looked like a nuclear bomb had exploded!

I realized that the fire was very close to the edge of town by the airport and the hospital. I told E that we couldn't possibly drive to the vets office on our usual route of Hiway 1. I was right about that as they had to close that hiway. So, she decided to take the back road out of town, Freedom Blvd. But as we drove that way, all the traffic that was being diverted from Hiway 1 was beginning to slow us down. E turned around and we went back home. Thank Heavens!

Presently there are other fires all around us, and the smoke makes the sky look dirty. We cannot see the sun. And no matter how much I beg to go outside, E seldom gives in. I sneak out behind her when she takes out the garbage. But, my catnip is covered with Ash. I think Ronny and Cinnamon are not allowed outside now, too. I cannot smell them on my dirt or on the corner of my house or on the bushes.

I am very glad that I live in town and not out in the areas where the fires are. So many cats and dogs got rescued that the animal shelters are full up now. Big dogs that ran away from the fires got lost and picked up by the rescuers. If they had ID tags, Tattoos or Microchip ID, then they were eventually re-united with their people.

Cats are more likely to hide than to run, they say, so firefighters rescued some who were badly burned. Local Veterinarians took them into their hospitals to treat them and heal them. If they had no ID, they were put to sleep. How SAD!!!

With all the fires burning week after week, I often wonder what is happening to my distant kinfolk. Out here where I live there are many Mountain Lions, and I don't mean just in remote regions. With all the fires, where are they? Mountain Lions can, and do run away from fires. They don't hide like domesticated cats do. Where can they run to now? So many many acres of forest are burning! Will they soon be moving into hooman inhabited areas? Will the hoomans be scared of them? Chances are the big cats are scared too, and nervous. That is sure to cause trouble if they show up on some hoomans doorstep. I'm afraid my dear cousins whose lives have been saved by the fires will die at the hands of a gun.

I saw on the news where they rescued some Condors. Those are the biggest most frightening birds to me! But, they are a disappearing species, so some wildlife specialists somehow were able to capture 8 of those condors. But, like I said, what about my kinfolk???