Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The great cat rescue of 2009...

Photobucket

I am finding it very difficult to put into words just how funny this story is. Here is my feeble attempt…just laugh, trust us, it was hilarious!

We were shooting Kristen’s senior portraits (blog is coming soon) and we were down by the river when I noticed a cat coming up towards us from the river. Admittedly, cats kind of freak us out. We have only had experiences with cats when they act sweet and then either whack us (yes Gizmo, here’s looking at you!), or they start hissing. Our dogs don’t hiss. Barking I can deal with, hissing scares us.

So anyway, Kristen was very brave. Perhaps it was because I was begging Eric to rescue it, we HAD to, it had a Home Again tag on its collar. Our dogs have Home Again tags and I would be devastated if someone saw our dogs loose and didn’t call us. Both Eric and I didn’t jump at the idea of attempting to grab the cat…so why not put our senior in charge?!!? Kristen was a great cat wrangler and totally got the cat in her arms.

Then it was my turn….I had to get close to the cat to read the phone number….GULP. I just said I had to get close to the cat….close, as in my hand by its face….you know, the part of the cat that HISSES!

“Nice kitty, nice kitty, oh you are a very, Eric, dial 515, nice sweet , 231, lovable kitty, 28XX, oh good kitty. WHEW! OK Eric, you got that phone number?”

Yep, he did! Brave Kristen is still holding the cat at this point. No answer on the other end. OK what do we do now? Bright idea from me…just put it in our car until we can get ahold of someone…I didn’t want it getting away. Eric gave me the questionable look…you really want me to put this cat in our car? I know in the back of his mind he was thinking about the time I maybe got a little upset when he hit the side of our garage with our month old car….yep, the same car I wanted him to put this lost cat in. But it was all in the name of an animal rescue, it was OK!

Here is where it all gets a little dicey….

Kristen passed the cat off to Eric. Remember, we don’t know much about cats other than they have claws, hiss and swat at our face. So how does Eric hold the cat? Close your eyes to imagine this visual…it is sure to crack you up! He held the cat straight out in front of him to ensure all legs were out of touching distance to his face. Imagine a new daddy carrying a baby with a dirty diaper….there was no cuddling happening!

At that point I turned around and kept going with Kristen’s session. And the next time I looked back, I saw the car door open and Eric CHASING after the cat…..hehehehe!!! It escaped! At that point another lady started feeling back for this obvious novice cat handler and got the cat back in her arms and she actually knew how to hold a cat. Eric then called the number on the tag again….and he got an answer!!! BONUS!

The conversation went like this:

Eric: Is this Troy?
Troy: Yes
Eric: Hi Troy, my name is Eric and I am calling because I have your cat
Troy: Oh Miss Kitty is out? Well, she knows her way home, she’ll come back
Eric: So you want me to let her go? (Completely baffled by what has transpired in the conversation)
Troy: Yeah, Miss Kitty knows her way home

The great cat rescue of 2009 = FAILURE!! After all, Miss Kitty knows her way home.

Thank you Kristen and Brenda for helping in this crazy adventure! It was certainly a session to remember!

4 comments:

Matt said...

You HAD to know that the cat would be smarter than you! That's their nature! Funny stuff guys, thanks for the Gizmo shout out. She apologizes for tainting your view of cats!!

PS: If you are in a bind ever again and need a cat handler, call me. I've wrestled the best. =P

Eric and Karen said...

I was hoping you'd read far enough to see Gizmo mentioned! I will never forget the time in your townhouse when Eric thought he was making forward progress with Giz when out of no where she batted him across the face....too funny!! I was fully prepared for Miss Kitty to do the same to me!
OK...you are now on speed dial as Cat Handler, no longer Matt. :)

Abbey said...

His nickname's not CAT for nothin'...hee hee. Love it!!! Gizmo has made quite an impact on this world, and has never even had to leave the house to do it-now that's a kitty's wit for you!

Anonymous said...

You are way too funny!!! I was laughing out loud reading through this blog. I love to check out your website to see all the picures and have a good laugh now and then :-) Julie S.