I'm Late to Work Because...
The other morning I got to work a little late, because as the girls and I were leaving the house to go to school, we saw an enormous hawk in our neighbor's tree - we have the really tall, hideous pine trees here. This bird was HUGE - like Great Horned Owl-size. We are used to seeing hawks & osprey here, and swallow-tail kites, but we've never seen a hawk that big. So we were fascinated, and watched the bird as we went to our car & got in, and started to back out of the driveway.
As she was watching the bird, my daughter happened to catch sight of the small tree that is just outside our fence. I heard her say "That bird is so - Hey! A cat!" Huh?
In the little tree at the fence, there was a small, fluffy black cat, looking like she wanted to get down but didn't know how to extricate herself - the tree is covered in dead vines. Plus the dogs were right at the fence, which is probably why she was in the tree in the first place. She had no tag, but two collars on, so we knew she belonged to somebody.
We pulled back into the driveway, and the girls talked gently to the cat as I went to get the ladder. I set it by the tree, and my daughter held it steady for me while I climbed up and helped the cat get unstuck from the tree. She was a sweet kitty, and very happy to get out of the tree - as soon as I had her out of the tree and held against my shoulder, she was purring up a storm.
I handed her to the girls, who held and petted her while I put the ladder away, and then they set her down in a patch of sun by the sidewalk (away from the road), figuring that she must live nearby. We're pretty sure she lives in the trailer park at the end of our road. She made a beeline for that end of the street, and stopped once to look back & meow at us, as if to say thanks. :-)
We saw here standing in the yard of the trailer park that afternoon, and later in the week, too, so she must live there. Anyway, we felt good, having done our good deed, and here's the odd thing:
That big old hawk, that was the reason we saw the kitty in the first place - we never would have if we hadn't been watching the bird - as soon as we got the cat out of the tree, the hawk flew away. Now, I realize it could have been watching the cat, hoping to have it for breakfast, but it seems to me it could have grabbed the cat at any time that morning, since she had likely been in the tree a while. We choose to believe that the hawk was there to show us the cat. :-D
(And I wasn't in trouble for being late to work - they're really cool about that, and they know that I stay late a lot).
As she was watching the bird, my daughter happened to catch sight of the small tree that is just outside our fence. I heard her say "That bird is so - Hey! A cat!" Huh?
In the little tree at the fence, there was a small, fluffy black cat, looking like she wanted to get down but didn't know how to extricate herself - the tree is covered in dead vines. Plus the dogs were right at the fence, which is probably why she was in the tree in the first place. She had no tag, but two collars on, so we knew she belonged to somebody.
We pulled back into the driveway, and the girls talked gently to the cat as I went to get the ladder. I set it by the tree, and my daughter held it steady for me while I climbed up and helped the cat get unstuck from the tree. She was a sweet kitty, and very happy to get out of the tree - as soon as I had her out of the tree and held against my shoulder, she was purring up a storm.
I handed her to the girls, who held and petted her while I put the ladder away, and then they set her down in a patch of sun by the sidewalk (away from the road), figuring that she must live nearby. We're pretty sure she lives in the trailer park at the end of our road. She made a beeline for that end of the street, and stopped once to look back & meow at us, as if to say thanks. :-)
We saw here standing in the yard of the trailer park that afternoon, and later in the week, too, so she must live there. Anyway, we felt good, having done our good deed, and here's the odd thing:
That big old hawk, that was the reason we saw the kitty in the first place - we never would have if we hadn't been watching the bird - as soon as we got the cat out of the tree, the hawk flew away. Now, I realize it could have been watching the cat, hoping to have it for breakfast, but it seems to me it could have grabbed the cat at any time that morning, since she had likely been in the tree a while. We choose to believe that the hawk was there to show us the cat. :-D
(And I wasn't in trouble for being late to work - they're really cool about that, and they know that I stay late a lot).
posted by Just-Me-Jen at 9:54 AM
4 Comments:
you know, i love how you love animals *winks*
Yep - all kinds ;-)
I guessed that the hawk was waiting for you to leave so he could eat his breakfast in privacy. Glad you rescued the kitty!
Janet, we're glad we saw there there, too. You know, with all those chickens all over the neighborhood, you'd think the hawk could find an easier meal than a cat... just sayin'
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