HARRIET, the resident cat.

Today I introduce you to my resident cat, Harriet, she was called Hairy Harriet, now its just plain "Harrie".

She came via the SPCA in December 99. A pal for our 7 year old Pookie. It took Harrie a year to accept Romy, she didn't like men at all and especially if they wore a baseball hat. She had obviously suffered in her first 8 months of life. She will be 8 at Christmas and is very laid back.

She stayed in for a year, then ventured out, coming home with offerings, never an empty mouth. The she came home one day smelling of rotting fish. The final straw was the skunk, and after suffering through a tomato juice bath in the kitchen sink, she wasn't as anxious to go out anymore and is now an inside cat (with the occasional escape for some green grass and fresh air).

She had one traumatic experience since living with us when the workman came to fix our furnace in the crawlspace. Harriet wandered round the trapdoor and it fell on her. How she survived I don't know, hearing the bang I rushed in and she was sitting chewing her lip, I saw her jaw was hanging open, blood pouring out etc. She kept falling over.

"Apparently" I got hysterical about this time (I find that hard to believe) and called Romy at work to come home immediately, we had to go to the hospital. He was not impressed when he got here thinking I had had another heart attack to learn we had to get to the vet.....however after viewing the cat, he scooped her up and away we went. The vet said her skull wasn't fractured, the jaw was not broken but dislocated, she did have teeth in her lip and both her upper and lower sharp incisors(fang) teeth were broken in half.....so he put her under anaesthetic and the jaw went back into place on the first try, he didn't find any other injuries although her eye was a bit swollen and probably "black" .... she recovered quickly with anti biotics and pain killers. Recovery for Romy and I took a little longer after we saw the vet bill!

So Harriet has an odd grin now and is a bit shy of smiling, but she declined more dental work and manages to eat with her two half teeth and the one missing.

Cats are pretty uncanny, and both were quick to give support to Romy when he fell sick, they were always on the bed or couch, or sitting on the table with him when he did crosswords etc. It was their awful howls on the night he died, which alerted me. Pookie just pined for her master and faded away 3 months later.

So now its Harrie and me..........she is a great bodyguard, the minute I get up from anywhere she is infront of me leading the way, braving the unknown down the hallway, into the kitchen etc.
This is simply astounding to me, how a cat, deep in sleep, fully stretched out, can leap and be ahead of me within 3 seconds of me moving. I am NOT a morning person, and anyone who has had the misfortune to wake me or see me wake up, has never wished to repeat that experience, and I so admire cats for being able to do that. Unbelievable.

She is at this minute stretched out, basking in the last of the suns rays coming through the patio door......if I get up from my chair and start towards the door, she will be right there, and so I have to disturb her as have an appointment to get my snowtires on at 5pm. So better get going.

Today was minus 11 at sunrise, up to a balmy minus 1 right now, but no snow today and no power outages here in town, thank goodness.