Saturday, November 08, 2008

One Photo Op I'm glad to have missed

In case you haven't met him, this is Alabaster.

Alabaster, aka Al, has many nicknames. I often refer to him as my lapdog because of his tendency to follow me around and to want to sit on my lap, no matter what. The latest addition to his aliases is "The Killer Cat". As in "What are we going to do about the killer cat?" This was the greeting from my husband yesterday morning. My husband was greeted by the photo op I'm glad to have missed. Apparently after I let Al out for his morning constitutional he caught a rabbit. Well, he is a cat. Last weekend, the inevitable happened. Even though I had told Al I didn't ever, ever, ever want him to harm a cardinal, he brought one into the house. We released the young female (I think she was one of the siblings I've been keeping an eye on) with a damaged wing and thigh/leg. At this point, her whereabouts and state-of-being are unknown.

Later that day, I went out to journal. I needed some time to mourn and ponder. I've been watching this family of cardinals all summer. I've noted parallels in the drama of child-rearing. Not to say my kids are birds, but sometimes they are a bit flighty. When I went out to my quiet area in the far back part of the yard, I found Al lurking, patiently waiting....

I don't know exactly how long I was out there, but I got up several times and took pictures, wandered in and out and around...and through it all Al lurked. "I could stay here forever."

Yesterday morning was the 2nd time in a week my husband removed wildlife from our front living room. I didn't get a picture of the cardinal because the drama played out very quickly ("Honey, I think Al's caught something!" Then a quick capture/release.) I don't think my husband's as attached to the birds as I am. The bunny, though...that's another story. Plus, he indicated it had been a massacre. I know there were little tufts of bunny fur in evidence.

And no...there won't be pictures posted. Is it too late to make Al an indoor cat?

2 comments:

Becky Brown said...

Ohhh. My Foxie Doxie is a killah, too. It makes me worry - first a rabbit, then ... a girl scout? Could I be in danger?

:)

Thanks for your kind words on my blog - they made a difference. And thanks for introducing yourself - I'll be back!

Jeanette said...

My Wickett (with no front claws) has brought us many a present. She did get a cardinal once and frankly I was amazed at how many feathers there are on a bird... enough to cover an entire room. (yuck). Unfortunately it is in their nature. Kinds of like us, we go along in our daily docile lives, but underneath there lies a sin nature that sometimes gets the better of us and things get messy. Luckily we have a Lord who will clean up our feathers/fur, dust us off and still love us.