by Mary Wakefield Buxton –
URBANNA —
The trick to life is to learn the art of changing bad news into good news! In other words, find something positive in things that strike you as negative.
It’s easy once you catch on to the system. For example, after a year of hard rains, Kent Street, Urbanna’s “one-lane” road along the waterfront, was mainly flooded with huge puddles. Residents have to zig zag out of the neighborhood to dryer ground. But there’s also good news.
The stagnant puddles that have no way to drain provide feral cats and other wildlife with an unending supply of water. This relieves residents from the chore of having to fill water pans during dry spells to help animals survive.
I thought of this good news last night. It was one of those epiphanies that causes one to sit bolt upright in the bed in the wee hours of the morn. But after coming to this conclusion I couldn’t get back to sleep as I couldn’t wait to share the good news with readers.
I admit it sometimes takes a while to find any good news in these terrible times. But we on Kent Street have every reason to be grateful we are relieved of the responsibility of providing water to our wildlife.
The other good news on Kent Street is our black and white feral female cat “Smudge” has been trapped and “fixed” at long last. I don’t suppose this qualifies as good news to others but we are thankful. You see Smudge, barely a kitten herself, met up with “Tweedy,” a big Tom cat (or maybe it was “Thomas” from down the street?) and produced three all black kittens this summer; “Inky, “Binky” and “Winky.” (You decide which is which.)
An animal loving neighbor put out a trap in hopes of getting Smudge and her kittens fixed. For those lucky folks who know nothing about feral cats, they’re hard to trap. They don’t necessarily want to be taken for a ride to visit their friendly vet thus they keep their distance. One might say they “eat and run” as fast as their little legs can carry them back to their colony in the ravine on Obert Street.
The Urbanna “Cat Lady” explained the way to trap a cat is to simply (ha!) place the cat trap next to where you feed them and when they get used to the trap, you set the trap with a piece of meat and then wait with your nose pressed against the window for the big MEOW.
It sounds easy but it isn’t. Even worse, you might wake up in the morning and find a very angry raccoon in your trap. And then what? (You scream and call Chip to please take care of it.)
Also, another possible problem; there’s a hungry skunk in the neighborhood. (Call Chip once again.)
Then the delightful trip to the vet with the cat howling in the trap, then picked up later and kept calm (ha!) for 24 hours. Don’t try to pet it at release because the cat will not be in a good mood.
Let’s see, how many feral cats have been trapped and fixed? “Pepper” who lives in the sewer at the corner of Rappahannock and Colorado who is a gray and white and very friendly. She loves our dog “Dandy” and every time we walk by she comes bounding out to press against him. Dandy is a sweet dog but he doesn’t really care for feral cats. He has nice manners, however, and he tolerates Pepper’s show of affection.
Then there’s “Blackie” who was a house cat deserted by someone. Blackie started hanging out at our garage and one cold winter day after my walk I sat down on the patio and she came over and jumped in my lap. I (foolishly) unzipped my fur jacket and zipped her shivering little body inside so only her head stuck out facing me. She started to purr like a truck. Blackie now lives on our back porch.
“Curley,” a most unfriendly cat, is Pepper’s sister. We fixed her, too, and maybe that is why she is unfriendly. She lives in our backyard in a perpetual bad mood on guard for trespassing moles.
“Gracie” and her daughter “Wrinkle,” both fixed by caring neighbors, show up for breakfast with Tweedy, and sometimes Smudge, Inky, Binky and Winky on the front kitchen patio.
Some may sympathize with me for the life I lead feeding stray cats on Kent Street while zig zagging through puddles to get to Cross Street. Thank you. But turning bad news to good once again — it gives me something to write about when my puddle is dry.
© 2021.
(Note: A book makes a great Christmas gift. Purchase Mary Wakefield Buxton’s new book, “On the Toad Again: Travel Tales for Those who Prefer to Stay Home.” The book’s cover is pictured below. See Geanie at the Sentinel office’s front counter to buy a copy.)
