It's probably time to go back to school

It was supposed to be the start of summer vacation last week but, nooooooo. We ran ourselves ragged and it was HOT and every time we got somewhere we had to hurry up and get somewhere else. In the heat.


So middle of the week is Music in the Park and hey! Let's take a break. Soccer camp in the morning and then a leisurely picnic under the trees. This is a plan.





(An aside here. There are currently 14 (five adults and 9 kittens) cats residing in various structures on this property. One of them is mine; the others, thank you very much, are courtesy of people who feel the need to dump their unwanted animals in the country. I have news for you...this is NOT 1920. Most of the abandoned animals will die miserable deaths; a significant portion of them roadkill. The ones who turn up here? JACKPOT!)

We decide to take the three motherless kittens who are old enough to leave, to the park with us. Fixed up a nice little cage (actually a chicken cage but if you've been following here for very long you know...this place is NOT the haven for chickens that it is for cats) with a beach towel and some food and a water container and...off we went.

(Another aside...of these three kittens? Only one has a name and that's because that cat has SPUNK. Little, feisty and full of fire. Right in the middle of taking on the 120 pound lab (and winning) she would come crawl up on your feet and stare in your eyes and just cuddle right up. This cat is COOL and we didn't want her to leave but....we think they write newspaper articles about crazy cat people and it's possible we are fast qualifying.)

We spread our blanket and laid out the food. Hauled in a BIGASS cooler because there are three kids and one of me and...the kids insist on having cold beverages and THAT TAKES UP SPACE that could be better utilized by MY beverages. So I bought a big rolling Cube. And filled it UP. We set the cage close to us and it took about 30 seconds before the kittens did what kittens do...attract people. Whether you like cats or not? Kittens are cute. So pretty soon we have various and sundry people oohing and aahing and holding the kittens and the music is good and the beverages are cold and The Mama had made an awesome layered sandwich and it was a nice place to be.





(Aside #283...There was a group of kids there from some...daycare center, I guess. And the woman in charge kept turning her back, at which time the kids would all come running to see the kittens. AT WHICH TIME the woman (not really) in charge would come bustling up screaming, "Fleas!!! Those cats have fleas!!!" and herd those flea-carrying KIDS away. And then two minutes later, the kids would be back and the woman would be scurrying around in the park screaming about fleas. It was sort of like The Wizard of Oz on drugs. It's a good thing the wine was cold.)

So in the midst of all this nirvana, the kittens started playing on a tree. And then they started climbing the tree, and all the people started freaking out. But ME, knowing it all, just rolled my eyes. "It's a small tree," I said. "And they're CATS...it's what cats do: climb trees." Sitting there all smug and knowledgeable and self-satisfied, while the kittens scampered about in the tree and I had another glass of wine.

And then, plop. Onto a cement edging, went Sparky. Out of the tree, onto a cement curb, where she immediately started thrashing about in the throes of spinal cord injury. My halo dimmed slightly, while I screamed at everyone to "Don't touch that cat!" because whatever was wrong could be made worse. After about 30 seconds the thrashing stopped, the kitten rolled over and...stood up. And then fell over. And then stood up and fell over and finally we realized...it's her back right leg. Or hip. But it's NOT her spine.

Wrapped her in the hem of my shirt and held her the rest of the expedition.

Only, we were there a while and as I've mentioned: the wine was cold. So time comes to leave and we get to talking about it and the only logical NEXT step is...a trip to the Mexican restaurant. WE HAVE AN INJURED CAT. And IT'S HOT so the cat can't wait in the car...but animals aren't allowed in public places and we all know this so we did the only logical thing to DO when you've had a bottle of wine: we put the cat in a purse. And we went and ate and met some friends and had chips and salsa and margaritas and picked up ANOTHER kid to come home and spend the night and in the end...it all worked out well.

Only guess who thinks she's moved in and rules the roost? Yep. Sparky. All 12 ounces of her, sitting on the back of the couch with her totally healed back leg...attacking all moving creatures regardless of size or life-form.

Have I mentioned that The Big Boy HATES cats? Absolutely DESPISES them?

And have I mentioned that...THIS CAT STAYS??? We need all the spunk in this household we can get.