First picture is WOF Ann's Mt Treasure. She is a yearling filly and is getting ready to compete in trial obstacles at the KMSHA show. Second is WOF Dock's Velvet. Velvet is 3 years old and a daughter of Choco Dock. She is a beautiful bay mare. Third picture is Vanessa Crowe showing Dixie Belle. She is a beautiful Chocolate Palomino that is 2 years old and is just put under saddle last summer.Rascal is the newest member of our family. He is not a horse for a change.
Now I don't mean to offend people who own and love cats but I really don't like cats for pets. They are too ___________. You know cats so you fill in the blank. It is not that we have never had cats for pets.
We had two house cats at one time. My daughter had gotten a kitten (thanks to her children) for a pet. They named their new kitten Bob. It seemed like a suitable name until Bob got older. Bob was part minx. As most of you may know Minx is a breed that has no tail. They are also shorter in the front than in the back legs. Bob was a beautiful cat. and Bob had kittens. So now we know Bob was not exactly the best name for her but Bob she was and Bob she stayed.
When Bob had kittens my grandchildren really thought we should have one of them. They were really cute as young animals always are. So I finally agreed to have A kitten. Not kittens but a kitten. My mistake was that I let Bill and one of the grandchildren go to pick out the kitten. They came home with two kittens. Some of the grandchildren liked the female cat that was calico color. She was long haired. Some of them liked the short haired white cat that looked like his mother. And he was a very beautiful kitten.
So Bill compromised and brought both cats home. So now we were a two cat household. We owned the usual cat stuff. The liter box, the liter, the little scoop etc. The cats eventually grew up as cats do. They had some lessons along the way. For instance, they wanted to sleep with us. They kept getting put off the beds in a very firm way until they learned their lessons. But they never learned not to get up on the furniture.
I had a nice feather duster that I really liked. One day I came home and the duster was turned into piles of feathers all over the floor. I guess they thought it was a bird and decided to tear it to pieces.
These two cats were good mousers. One morning as I was getting ready for work I heard a mouse in the heat vent. Before long the male cat had caught the mouse and he was very proud. I was getting my clothes on when I heard some growling in the dining room. I walked out of the bathroom and the female cat was growling like a dog at the male cat. She took his catch over and let him know it was hers. He backed off.
They had not been out of the house for their whole lives and I decided that they needed to go out. I was tired of the liter box and the male cat always managed to get in the box but he hung his back end over the box and missed it. So I was left cleaning up his mess.
My husband and daughter tried to put them out one day and they hung on the back door. It was so funny. Both cats hanging on the back door. So they came back in and weren't put out for awhile. One day they were sitting in kitchen window. I opened the window and pushed both cats out before they knew what had happened to them. They tried to get back in but couldn't jump high enough to reach the window. So they stayed out during the day but came in at night.
One morning I noticed fleas in the house. I sprayed the house and we gave the cats a bath. After that the male cat became known as flea bag. The female had already become known as hair ball because of being long haired she had the problem of hair balls. This was Bill's names for the two cats.
When we went on vacation one time Bill took them to the vet for boarding. They asked what their names were and of course he told them Fleas Bag and Hair Ball. They had a good laugh over that at the vet's office and promptly gave them more normal names but around our house they were always Flea Bag and Hair Ball.
Flea Bag liked our dog Hannah but Hair Ball hated dogs. Flea Bag would curl up beside her and they would sleep together. Hannah never minded him being there. Hair Ball would wait for Hannah to walk by a chair and she would jump on her and attach her. Hannah was very confused. She didn't ever know (kbb whjm mjj Erica is helping me write) why she was attack. And there was no reason she was mistreated in such a way since she never bothered the cats.
One day Flea Bag disappeared. We could only guess what happened to him but we thought he maybe got too friendly with Coyotes. We had Hair Ball a bit longer but one day she disappeared as well. So we no longer had cats and I did not want another cat.
And then just recently Lucy and I had a girl's day out and we went to Stanton to the Van Bert Farm. It just happened a little kitten had appeared from nowhere on that particular day. It had a broken foot. It was really a rather ugly kitten. He had been shaved around his neck and his hair was shorter there than anywhere else on his body. He had fleas and was under weight even for a young kitten. He looked like he should still be with his mother. But there he was in Van Bert's barn.
Vera came out of the office and announced that cat had to be taken care of because she was fearful the dogs would kill him. By then he was climbing up Lucy's pant legs and she was already hooked. But as she explained, she already had a couple of cats and she couldn't take another one home. So guess who got talked into taking the cat home. You guessed it. Grandma. But then I do have the coffee cup Lucy gave me that says "The most sweetest Grandma Ever!" So I guess I am pretty easy.
We got home with him and she gave him a bath to get rid of the fleas. We wormed him and put him in the milk room at the barn. Vera had given us cat food so we promptly fed him and tucked him in for the night.
He is such a sweet little thing that he worms his way into your heart. Mine included. So now I am once again a cat owner. I do not say "cat person". But I do like Rascal, as I named him. It really does suit him.
Well now you know how it is. When children and grandchildren are involved you can own dogs and cats you really thought you didn't want and they become part of your life and then you don't know what you did without them. (That is also how I got Erica) That is another story for another day.
There is a lesson to be learned from animals. Any animal if we look for it. I can always relate our relationship to Jesus from animals I own or have owned. The little kitten is not perfect. He was a rather ugly little thing when I first saw him. He had a broken foot and walked funny. He was wormy and had fleas. We took care of the worms and fleas and he is getting prettier. He has grown so fast with good food and TLC.
Jesus took us in at the point in our lives when we were ugly in our sins. He cleaned us up and forgave us unconditionally. Our sins though scarlet are wiped out by his precious blood. He has saved us once and for all by us just asking for his forgiving grace. We can't earn it. We don't deserve it. It is a free gift that cost him a terrible price. The price was death on a cross. Shedding his blood. He was pure and innocent but shed his blood for you and me. We are clean but until we die and see him face to face in heaven we will still sin. We will still have that broken foot, so to speak.
Do you know my Jesus? Have you told him you need him more than life itself? Have you committed your life to him. Have you accepted that free precious gift he died to give you?
May God bless and keep you in his loving care.
Regards,
Mary
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
No comments:
Post a Comment