Spinner and Frosty

This is a tale of two cats. Pardon the pun.

My daughter called me about 15 years ago and told me they had to take Chocolate (their cat) to the vet that day. I felt very sympathetic at that point. I knew how much they liked the cat and they had gotten it as a kitten. So he had been part of their family for several years already.

So I asked what had happened to the cat. She said that his feet had been burned by the dryer. She related the story about her husband Ray transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer. While Ray had turned around to get more clothes from the washer apparently the cat had jumped into the dryer. Not knowing he was in there, Ray started the dryer.

It was not long before he heard some awful noise coming from the direction of the dryer. He went in to investigate. He realized the screams from the cat was coming from the dryer. He opened the door and out came the cat. By this time Debbie was home and they looked at the cat and realized it had burns on it feet and ears so they took him to the vet.

My husband always wanted to know what the person on the other end of the phone was saying so he was in the background asking me what had happened. I told him about the cat in the dryer. At that time Bill did not realize the cat had injuries. He just knew the cat had been in the dryer. It struck him as being funny so he started laughing at the idea of the cat being in the dryer and going around and around. He started asking funny questions. "What do they call the cat now, Spinner?" Or "Is his new name Downy?" "How about Fluffy?"

By this time I was laughing too. But Debbie was hearing her Dad in the background and she started crying. She told me it just wasn't funny and the cat was burned. I knew it wasn't but Bill was saying such funny things I was having a hard time not laughing.

For those of you who are horrified now that we would laugh at an animal being hurt, I will tell you that Chocolate soon recovered from his minor burns. He was none the worse for wear. And today Debbie does acknowledge that the idea of the cat going around in the dryer was funny. If you don't think about the burns.

Fast forward with me to this week two days ago. I was taking a trip to Dayton Ohio with Debbie and she told me she had talked to her sister Mary Beth the night before. While she was talking to her, she could hear their new kitten, Oscar, in the background. He was meowing very loudly. Mary Beth was looking everywhere for the mischievous cat. Debbie could hear her opening and closing cabinets. She kept saying she could hear the cat but she could not find him. The closer she got to one wall the louder he was. Finally the only place left to look was in the refigerator.

She opened the door and out he came with pink yogart on his paws. He was a little chilled but none the worse for wear. She soon had him wrapped in a towel and he got warm in a hurry as she held him close in her arms.

Please don't infer from this that we abuse our animals. Nothing could be further from the truth. My family loves their animals and take very good care of them. Cats and kittens are so curious and can get into so many predictiments. I guess that is why they need nine lives. The cat Mary Beth had before lived to be 17 years old. They all cried when Bob died and Melissa (5 years old) came for the funeral wearing her black velvet dress and announced to one and all that this was her funeral dress. She cried broken heartedly over the death of the cat as they buried her and talked about her unique attributes. Although she was always a cantanerous old cat even as a kitten they did love her dearly.

Animal do such funny things and bring so much joy and happiness to the people they own. Erica, my youngest Lab, was asleep on the couch a couple of night ago and she got a little close to the edge and rolled off of the couch. She had a stunned look on her face like she thought I had done something. I lost the battle of the couch about a month ago. It is an old couch so I might as well forget it and try for a victory somewhere else.

So later everyone. Check you appliances before you close the doors. It is hard telling where a cat may be lurking.

God bless and keep you in his loving care.

Regards

Mary

We all have dfferent gifts, each of which came because of the grace God gave us.

Romans 12:6