Back to the Cat!!

The loss of Little Miss continued to cast a pall over our entire adventure. We decided to return to N. Carolina and invest a week in the effort to locate our missing family member (actually Chris decided to return and Jay went along with her not believing we would ever see Little Miss again).

The RV park in N. Carolina is over 600 miles from Tallahassee. So we decided to make it a two-day endeavor, stopping at a Wal-Mart in S. Carolina Monday night. Lucky for us we were listening to a radio station and heard a forecast of snow to begin at midnight. Now there are several things that we really have no desire to experience in life and one of them is towing a 5th wheel trailer in the snow. Our road fatigue rapidly changed to an intense desire to get to Rock Ridge before the snow. We decided that setting up the rig, in the drizzle, at 10 p.m. was not fun. But it was hilarious compared to waking up the next morning to 4” of new snow and freezing temps in the 20s.

We stopped for fuel and a Quiznos in S. Carolina and feeling really badly that Max had not eaten since breakfast, Jay split his cheese steak sub with him. Has anyone ever seen the speed that an 85 lb. black Lab can consume a steak sub? Happily, Jay did not lose any fingers in this exchange.

We spent all of Tuesday listening to the propane furnace try to keep the trailer at a habitable temperature while we watched the snow fall. The scenery was beautiful, but if we’d wanted winter weather we would have gone skiing. The forced lay-day did allow us to print up fliers, complete with a photo of Little Miss, and plan our strategy for the next day.

Wednesday the 21st was sunny and cold as we ventured out searching all the animal shelters in a three-county area and local vets in case someone brought her in for a check-up. We then passed out fliers, to all homes and businesses, in a fairly wide radius in case the cat had ventured far.

Our campsite two days after the snowstorm.

The next morning, while Jay was walking Max, he found cat tracks in the snow traveling from one wooded area to another. We tried to follow them but they criss-crossed and mingled with deer and other critter tracks so often, that it became impossible to find their point of origin. Later, while Jay was paying for more nights and propane, the managers of the campground loaned us an animal trap that they use to keep predatory critters under control. Armed with the sighting of recent tracks and the trap, Jay actually expressed hope in finding Little Miss after all. We set the trap, baited with tuna, in the woods where Jay first saw the tracks and continued contacting local animal shelters to see if anyone had found a gray tabby.

Friday morning was bright, and at least above freezing, but alas the trap was empty. Saturday morning we caught a possum. Not knowing the recipe for possum soup, we let the creature go. Meanwhile, Chris was reading everything she could find about lost cats on the internet. It didn’t help our morale to learn that 80% of lost cats are never found. We did read about a spray (Feliway) that would help to erase human scent and provide a cat friendly environment. Expensive stuff, but at this point, 5 days into our search, we were becoming more desperate to find her. With fresh tuna and the spray, Jay reset the trap Saturday afternoon and we tried to stay warm while we worked on updating our blog.

The trap was set in the woods beyond the trailers.

As was our routine, Jay walked Max about 10 p.m. As he passed the opening to the woods, green eyes and pointy ears appeared as he scanned the trap with his flashlight. He knew it was a cat and immediately ran Max back to the trailer as fast as he could since the dog is of NO help in these circumstances. Through his gasps for air, Jay relayed “I think we got her!” to Chris and sprinted, you got it. . . . back to the cat! Now, running is not Jay’s strong suit so, by the time he made it back to the trap, he nearly passed out from excitement and lack of oxygen. Sure enough Little Miss was in the trap and not very happy about it either. Jay was just emerging from the woods with the trap when Chris arrived, hardly adequately dressed for the frigid temperatures, to see if our booty was Little Miss.

The reunion was tearfully emotional and the next few hours were spent scratching and petting a very happy cat (once out of the trap she wouldn’t leave us alone). Little Miss had lost much of her weight, only skin and bones, but very clean and with no injuries. We’ll never know where she hid and what she ate for three weeks but no one ever saw her and she apparently stayed within a couple hundred yards of where the trailer had been when she got away.

Little Miss getting reaquainted with Jay.

Since we were paid up until Monday morning we decided to stay Sunday to regroup and plan where we were going next. We all needed the relaxation anyway. You have no idea how stressed we were the entire time Little Miss was gone.

Monday morning the 26th, was overcast and cool but a good day for traveling south. As Jay opened the door to take Max out for his morning walk there were three, big, ugly, ducks just outside the trailer.

Spying them, Max immediately lunged for and briefly caught one before Jay even knew what was happening. In the process Jay lost his grip on the leash and Max bounded after anything that moved. The ducks had fled the area and Max discovered a Blue Heron minding his own business in a nearby pond. He streaked through the pond after it but couldn’t even get close as the bird took flight. For the next ten minutes he ran amok through the woods and cow pasture. It’s too bad the ostrich was not in residence as it would have been amusing to observe Max’s reaction to a bird thrice his size.

See, there really is an ostrich in the pasture!! Behind her is the pond Max bounded through.



Jay alerted Chris to the crisis and gave chase. Eventually deciding it was futile to chase a 3 year old, physically fit, in the prime of his life, Lab, Jay returned to the truck to retrieve the tennis ball which is the total focus of Max’s life. Meanwhile Chris threw on enough clothes to spend the day stalking the dog, grabbed a chew toy and exited the trailer. Fortunately, Max was cantering back home. Chris waved the chew toy, he bit down and just before he turned and ran, she planted a boot onto the leash. Another search and rescue mission avoided.

With Little Miss in the trailer and Max locked in the truck, we beat a hasty retreat to warmer latitudes.

Below, a content kitty and all of us back together again.

Tallahassee

We finally got to Florida on the 9th of January. Aaaahhhhh Florida - the land of warm sunshine and palm trees where we can trade our winter wear for t-shirts and flip-flops. NOT THIS YEAR!!! We must have brought the frigid weather down with us because it became too cold to enjoy the out-of-doors just after our arrival.

Talle is where Jay’s daughter, Lori, lives and is a courier for FedEx. Since she has to apply for her vacation time in May for the whole year, we had planned this week together for many months – which is why we left the cat in North Carolina. We hoped that someone would find her and we would return to pick her up after our visit with Lori.

Lori and Sue just moved into a new house with all the fix-up, make-a-house-a-home projects required by this transition. They found time to take us dancing and to a Florida State University women’s basketball game. It’s been years since we’ve taken the time to go dancing and Jay had not been to a basketball game since high school. Yes, basketball had been invented then . . . we thoroughly enjoyed both.

We shared several meals together (at their place and ours), caught up on lots of stuff and, since it was the first time we’d stopped anywhere for more than three days, it gave us a chance to get a few projects done on Sonny. Unfortunately it was way too chilly for Jay to install some upgrades to the water system. Perhaps one day we’ll actually find t-shirt weather.

The week went all too quickly and Chris refused to leave before she saw some of the Tallahassee area. We spent some time doing a walking tour of the city complete with restored State House and historic homes. There are four driving tours and as smitten as Chris was with the number of ancient Live Oak trees and Spanish Moss, we chose the Canopy Roads driving tour. Go to this link http://www.imagesbychristine.com/Odyssey/TallahasseeFL_TrailGuide.pdf to view the four driving tours and explanations about what lies along them if you are interested.

This link www.imagesbychristine.com/Odyssey/Tallahassee/index.htm will take you to a gallery of Tallahassee photos beginning with the restored State House and the inside of the dome, which is now a museum. The photos of trees and homes line a seven-block long park on Park Avenue in the heart of the city. Most of the homes are now offices for attorneys and other professionals. Old Magnolia Road, the tree-lined dirt road, is part of the Cotton Trail we drove as is the old, Bradley’s Country Store which has been family owned and managed for over 50 years.

After an enjoyable, relaxing ten days, we said our goodbyes and headed . . . . . . . . . . . back to the cat!!