lot of mess

I'm dad kitty

I had just started work at OEA “Ordnance Engineering Associates” in Fairfield California. We found us an apartment in Suisun the other side of the tracks form Fairfield. It struck me funny that here I am 1500 miles and fifty five years later from my birth place in Nebraska and only a half a block from the same Railroad tracks. Over the years it seem as I have lived within a mile of the same set tracks all my life. Even today I am just a mile as the crow flies from the same tracks.

This tale is not about railroad tracks or where I lived but about some animals that came to live with us. Shortly after we move in an alley cat move in on us, it was a large tabby tom cat. We ask around and no one knew who the cat belong to. It was warm and we had the window and door open to stay cool. That cat came in and made himself at home.  After a week or so we gave him a name of sorts, we started to calling him dad kitty. Every day at 9 O’clock he start meowing at us to get our attention and then head to the bed room, if we did not follow he would come back out and encourage us, by getting in our lap and sinking in his claws in, it’s time to go to bed. It reminded me of my dad sending us kids to bed when I was a little.

We live on the edge of the Suisun marsh a wildlife preserve, about 200 feet from the fence that bordered the preserve, where Canada geese and other water fowl wintered and dad kitty hunted. He would bring home rats, gofer snakes, and ducks, many as big as he was.  We never knew just what he would bring home.

I am a big dog

The people that lived above us had a little Chihuahua mix of some kind and it had pups with a poodle. Well there was one the runt of the litter that we just had to have. It was small about the size of a coffee cup, and was a curly black as coal, poodle hair, ball of energy. We were afraid that dad kitty would harm the pup that we named bingo, but much to our surprise he took care of it. Dad kitty would bring in mice, lol, for the pup most every day. Dad kitty even taught bingo to use the litter box. I would come home from work and find dad kitty and the pup curled up in my chair. I ask my wife if she had put bingo in my chair, she said no dad kitty had.  At 9 he would take bingo in to and up on our bed every night. Bingo was too small to get up there without help. Now I have seen mama cats nurse pups and take on squirrels and hamster as kittens. But a feral tom cat, that takes the cake.

I'm a lover

It was about a year later that an apartment opened up across the street, in the senior’s only complex with lower rent.  The land lady had a miniature Pomeranian that was six week old and my wife just had to have it. Now we had three pet the pom we named taffy, and dad kitty took her on as his own.

I came home from work one evening, my wife was out taking care of one of her lady’s she work for as a chore provider, as I open the door the three met me looking up at me as if they were perfect little angle and there was feathers floating it the air. As I looked around there were feathers all over the place. On further investigation I found that dad kitty had brought in a pigeon and the three of them had the fun taking it apart, what a mess. We had been empty nesters for eight years but I don’t remember our kids making any bigger mess.

Thank you for coming by god bless