It’s the highway of death for kitties. Today, while a visitor sat in the living room, I could see a very fluffy tail rolling on one of the pieces of driftwood out by the road. A big bushy tail and for a moment, I thought it was a large squirrel. I got up to go outside to see what it was, since it had captured my eye, and before I could get outside it was dead. Yep, out in the middle of the road, another squished kitty. I went back into the house. I assumed the city/county truck that stopped about a minute later would pick it up. Well, when I went out later I saw they had only pushed it to the side of the road. I thought they had picked it up; I didn’t even see a mark on the road.
At this point, I can’t pick it up. I don’t do dead in the road very well. A small doe was picked up a little farther down the street, but they left the kitty. Maybe they thought it belonged to someone, and figured since they would be looking for it, leave it. I think it is feral, but I could be wrong. Now there is that reminder of one more that didn’t make it across the road.
We know there are a couple of ferals out back someplace; we’ve seen them run through the yard. Sometimes they just won’t make friends with people, so the elements, another animal or the road sometimes gets them. It reminded me of a friend’s cat, which we thought could have been maine-coon, but he found it is a Siberian cat. The one outside was fluffy like that. Was. Nothing I could do about it. I could bury it, if I was able to get past the dead part, but I have enough dead animals buried in the yard now.
Once upon a time, we actually bought a dead dog from the vet. I know, that sounds a bit macabre but here’s the whole story (taken from an old blog) which you can probably appreciate, since part of it has to do with the Katrina effort our little town did, as well as the dog:
Last weekend, I went to a place called Eastfield, somewhere near Albany, New York, where there was no electricity and no running water. A little convergence of sorts. Most of my time was spent outside an old church that had been re-assembled at that site, in a village re-created by a man who began doing so when he was a young man. The church was being used as a workshop for those interested in learning to tin, as in tinsmithing. One of the first things I noticed was a large tree to the right of the church. I made a comment to the instructor of the workshop, about the size of the tree and he said something to me about the tree trying to get into the church, whereupon I noticed a branch which lightly touched the right side of the church.
At some point whilst I sat there, thumbing through some magazines given to me the day before, a dragonfly landed on my leg. I had never seen one with a red body, so I watched it carefully and I noticed the head was a dark brown color and that the little guy was quite animated. He kept looking upwards so I did as well.
Right above the tree I saw the moon, so I took a picture of the moon above the tree, and brushed the little guy off of my leg and picked up the pile of magazines. I turned the pile over and saw an ad in which a woman was looking upwards and she was surrounded by fireflies lighting the night.When we first got to the site, as I sat in a rocker listening to others chit chat I noticed three men sitting in the room with me each had the mark of an injury on their right knee, so I pointed it out at that time. I began to open the magazine, so I put the camera aside and settled into my chair. I found an ad in which there was pictured a woman’s right knee, and on it was drawn a smiley face. I tore the ad from the magazine and placed it aside.
I could see someone working inside the church, and the next page read, “Someone was looking out”. The next ad I saw had the words, HEAVEN SENT, an ad for Joan of Arcadia, so I knew I was in conversation.The next ad had in it a man on a ladder, standing near a hornet’s nest at the corner of a building’s eve. On the church near me was a hornet’s nest, at the right rear corner of the church. Under the tree lay a blind dog. The magazine ad for OLAY showed a dog and the way I folded it the word FRIEND can be seen. I took pictures of all the things around me, and I took a picture of the magazine ads, just described.
Friday I took a few other photos, one of which was a large key that I removed from the wall of the tinsmithing shop while I was talking with a child/young man and placed the key in his hand, this child whom I later showed a cloud formation in the sky and told him I expected to see skywriting on this trip and thought I could see that which seemed to spell out the letters ” I C” . He agreed. I didn’t need to take a picture. I later came across an ad which in part read, “It may be IC.”
I took a photo of that piece of paper, on which I dripped some wax, after I tore it from the magazine and also showed it to the young man and his father, but when I had the photos developed, the picture was not in the packet. Doesn’t surprise me, that happens sometimes, and sometimes I just go right back and have that particular frame re-done. Another other photo I took inside the tinsmith shop was a rabbit pattern, which was hanging on the wall amidst other patterns in the tinsmith’s shop. The Big Guy and I have an unusual language, and rabbits play a part.A couple of days without electricity and running water and the world seems far away. On the first part of the drive home, I ran across a cane in the road. I thought it was a bit unusual. It made me take notice. The sun was bright and I made good time to the Cleveland area where we spent the night.
The next morning we began the last leg of the trip to Madison, in which I drove through torrential rains most of the way. On the radio they talked about the hurricane that hit and devastated the New Orleans area and we decided since we had a large van and trailer that maybe we would consider loading the van and trailer with water and heading to the area the next day. We were signed up to do a re-enacting event but thought we should scrub that and deliver the water instead. We stopped in Cincinnati for a few minutes for hugs. At the corner of the main street and a street off which I used to live, there is a white castle restaurant. I noticed as we sat at the light, that the lights outside the building went off. I looked around and saw that all the other lights inside were on and that others in the neighborhood were on, I took it as a sign. (As I write this, WAVE3 reporter is on a segment of news in which the reporter is talking about signs at Papa John’s that say I love Mississippi, etc.in response to hurricane)
The rain let up by the time we got off of the expressway, and since we had no food at home, stopped for a bucket of chicken for dinner. We crossed the bridge a few minutes later and we pulled into town.A police car blocked our route and we asked what had happened. We were told wires were down in our block but could get to our house if we went to the other side and told the officer we lived in the middle of the block. I pulled the vehicle and trailer off the road and we ran into the house as rain came down again. A few minutes later we realized that since the road is never without traffic it was a good time to back the trailer into the lot, neither of us good at this task. So the van backed the trailer onto the lot, and the trailer was unhooked. As the van was put into drive it stopped, powerless to go forward, lights still on. It was however, able to roll into the neighbor’s driveway. At that point, we thought maybe we were not supposed to take the vehicle and trailer to the south, but instead supposed to head north as originally planned.
The next day, as we began to make ready for the next trip out, I went to develop my photos and pick up a few supplies. On the way, I saw something black fly from the right seat into the dash area of the car. I assumed it was a spider and laughed at its quickness. A moment later, there was a terrible noise under the car (this is my other vehicle) and I looked in the rear view mirror to see what I had run over. There were pieces of black stuff flying out behind the car. I made the realization that the car was traveling about 65 MPH down hill and that the check engine light and check gauges lights were on. My power steering was out, and I knew this could be a problem, it is more difficult to steer than I remember regular manual steering to be. I had to just keep it straight and make two turns, one left and one right into the Walmart lot. I parked it in the outer edge of the lot and went into the store to pick up a few things and make a call.
At this point I pretty much knew that someone was trying to keep me from leaving Madison. The young woman at the photo counter let me use the phone and we chatted a few moments while I tried to locate assistance for my car. We got onto my area of interest and she told me about her father, who had been told he had “the worst kind of brain cancer” and given little hope from the doctors when he went in for surgery. Then with a huge smile on her face, told me her father is a living testament to what miracles can do, having said the doctors said it was a miracle that he has recovered. I told her there would be many more miracles.My photos were finished a few minutes later, and I picked up a few other items, noticing that the meat department had a lot less in it than usual. I wasn’t there for meat, but made note. I went to the parking lot and awaited my ride home.
A few minutes later, we made a stop in town and as we discussed the two vehicles, decided we would not be leaving town to do the event, having the understanding that there had been two vehicles in two days…we were being told somehow it was more important to stay at home. A flyer had just been delivered to the shop in which we stood, and on it was a list wherein a couple had found a way to get a semi to put at the riverfront, for donations for hurricane victims. I knew we had just been given our opportunity, and didn’t need to worry about a vehicle anymore.
We weren’t going anywhere, our plans had been delivered to our very hands. We went to purchase water in five gallon jugs with all the money we had available. We took them to the gravel lot and stayed the day to assist.
The second day, the truck was filled and taken for weighing (Friday evening). In the darkness I saw the figure of a man walking down the street, and somehow I knew to stand and wait for him. He came to me with a bag knotted and told me he wanted to donate…he said in the bag was an angel, among other things. I understood him to be a man of few means, but also understood he knew how important it was to donate. I placed the bag in the back of my car and went home, collapsing in exhaustion.The third day I was a little slow in starting. Before I left, I opened the bag. At that point it became “the crying bag”. I took it to the tent under which we sit to take out breaks and told the woman in charge that after the truck left the night before that a man of little means had spoken to me and told me he had his donation. She opened the bag and began to cry, and it was passed around. They told me they knew of the person who had given me the bag, and said his name was ________. I later opened the bag and took a photo of its contents. We decided this would be the last bag on the truck.
_____ knew his donation was important to give, it was all his most precious possessions…and yep, there was his little yellow rabbit inside, right next to his sunglasses, his favorite Budweiser cap, his bible, his angel, his Jesus candle, and his used cotton swab. I took that out, and threw it away before I took the photo. Would anyone else understand a cotton swab with earwax on it in the donation bag ? “It may be IC”.
…a little wax goes a long way.
Sunday
At some point in the middle of the day I knew I was supposed to go for a walk by the river, so I did. Right before I left, I heard the woman in charge of our relief efforts ask where we would go next…
Along the river were many ducks, geese, and some birds I had never seen, and I took a photo or two. (turns out they were Egyptian geese). I then noticed there was a single sunflower growing out of the bank, so I went toward it. On the ground, I found a small heart-shaped rock, with three circles on it…I picked it up, it matched a towel I had brought to the shade tent, so I could wrap ice in it to put on my neck to stay cool while I worked. After I picked up the rock I walked toward the street. When I got to street level I went toward a bench and saw beneath it a Fisher Price booklet and on the back it read, something to the effect of, where in the world do you want to go next?
I handed the two items to the woman when I returned to the area, knowing I had been given a sign of love from above.She concentrated then on getting toys with the cash money we had collected.
On Sunday, we spent the day loading a vehicle for hurricane victims, and at some point during the day a dog showed up, some stray it seemed, a female with painted toenails. Everyone began calling her Katrina, and she seemed to immediately understand that to be her name. She was petted and fed all day long, and as we began to clear up the area and place the final donations on our semi, it seemed she also knew it was time for her to go too. She had stayed away from the road all day long, and when I asked her to cross with me she would not.
Now, as we closed the doors of the semi the dog walked to the middle of the road, and stood for a moment, right on the double yellow line. I yelled to her to get out of the road, but she did not respond. Then I knew something else was about to occur and heard myself said aloud, I asked you not to do that…but it happened anyway, the dog was hit. The driver of the car did not see her at all and was shaken by the accident. I told him it was not his fault. People rushed to aid the dog and a veterinarian was contacted. He said unless someone took financial responsibility for it it was a city issue,. We called him back and took responsibility. The dog was taken to the vet’s office and given meds for pain. We were told the vet would do x-rays on Tuesday…this was Sunday evening that this occurred.
While they were at the vet’s I went for a walk to use the facilities a block or so away. I stopped at the stop sign for a moment and crossed the street, not in the direction I needed to go. I stood for a moment to see whatever it was I was supposed to see. I saw one light, lit very dimly…I said aloud, will you bring that one back up? The light went full blast. (I asked later if those were gas lights, but they are electric) A moment later it went out. I walked back across the street and went to the parking lot, not telling anyone what I had seen, but assuring the child there who was asking, that no matter what was to happen, everything was fine. We discussed that we both knew the dog would be hit by a car, and I said, since we both knew, we both know it would happen then and everything was fine. He went home feeling better about things. Everyone wanted to know if we were taking the dog home all day long. Home means different things to different people.
PM (my beau) left today, to get some string for the weed whacker. A neighbor came in and told me he was walking with his dog a block away and that his dog would not cross the street, even if you put a chain and collar on it, and for some reason he found the dog suddenly in the middle of the street and that he looked up to see a truck coming and pulled the dog out of the street, he rolling over on the pavement, the truck narrowly missing the dog, and that he got a scraped elbow in rescuing the dog. He said when he looked up and saw the driver, he realized it was the beau, and that he knew he would not have hit him, but he would do anything to save his dog. A few minutes later, PM came home looking a bit shaken…he told me that he saw the vet’s assistant while he was out and that the dog we all had named Katrina had died in the night. I was glad that before she was taken, I whispered in her ear that she was very well loved.
*(added later: a couple of days later, two young women were putting up flyers for a lost dog, rot/pit mix…we asked them if the dog had pink painted toenails…yes, she did, so we told them the dog was at the vet’s and that she had died…we told the vet that if no one claimed the animal in a week’s time, we would take her…she is buried in our yard under a Christmas wreath and three pipes…home at last)
