Kid
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The Chase of a Lifetime! (O/T))The Chase of a Lifetime!
Taffy is old, 19, to be precise. She has always been an indoor cat, especially since escaping the house on 2 occasions, 15 years ago and being found miles away each time.
As the other 3 cats have each reached this age, they have all died off quietly.....leaving Taffy.
Taffy lays around the house and does little else. She struggles now to climb the stairs and upon arising from slumber, teeters unsteadily, as she tries to gain her balance, before stretching and laying again on the soft cat beds or cat pillows, in each of the rooms. She no longer leaps up onto the bed at night but looks at us with doe-eyes, until we lift her up......and eventually lift her down when she wants to wonder a bit.
She wonders less and less these days.....wanting to be held more and more as she feels her age.
On Saturday, the sky was blue and the day was wonderfully warm. I decided to do something I haven't done in 15 years. I looked at my old cat and decided to take her outside on this sunny afternoon.
I picked her up and held her limp body under my arm. I opened the front door and walked outside, detecting a very slight tensing under my arm. We walked across the front yard to a wooden bench and I sat down. Taffy sniffed and sniffed and sniffed all those delicious outdoor odors and smells she'd never smelled before. Even the crisp sounds of birds chirping and squirrels chattering were new to her and managed to make her old ears stand erect. Still, she preferred laying in my lap, rather than jump down from our bench and wonder through the yard. Eventually I placed her onto the ground, as she looked up at me with those same doe-eyes, asking me to hold her again. I ignored her and let her remain on the ground. Soon she began walking around the bench, at first, sniffing it's wooden legs. Not long after she slowly walked over towards the bushes and began to sniff around them for a bit. Then she began to walk around the house sniffing the evergreens and emerging winter bulbs. She slowly made her way towards the patch of new trees I planted a few years ago. Walking through these, she began walking across my field in the back. All the while she'd shoot me a glance saying....."I'm ready to be picked up!"
Then suddenly something happened. Everything about the way this old cat looked.....changed.....instantly. All of a sudden my old cat was transformed into a sleek, tense, prowling feline huntress, crouching on her haunches, eyes peeled on something in the distance. Well let me tell you......DISTANCE is the KEY word here! 100 feet away is a large patch of woods.....thick, overgrown and full of old growth huge and ancient trees. My old cat Taffy was staring at SOMETHING, WAY THE HECK over THERE......IN THE WOODS!!!! I looked at her creeping along like a lioness on the hunt......and looked at the woods....SEEING NOTHING!!!! She crept a little faster and a little faster and slide into a lower and lower attitude, trying to blend into the winter grass. Her eyes were LOCKED.....onto.....something. I looked into the woods again and again and FINALLY saw......for a split second......a momentary FLASH OF WHITE! I looked back at Taffy who was now moving faster than I could walk......and looked again to where she was staring. THERE IT WAS AGAIN......a FLASH OF WHITE.....NO WAIT.......it was over THERE.....another FLASH OF WHITE....... NO.....OVER THERE....NO.....OVER THERE, and THERE.......and THERE.......OH MY GOSH, there were FLASHES OF WHITE, ALL THROUGH THE WOODS!!!!!
Just as I looked back towards Taffy......she TOOK OFF!!!!!!!!
FLYING FASTER THAN ANY FLEEING RABBIT/SQUIRREL/CHIPMONK ....my old cat Taffy was tearing across my 100 feet of field effortlessly making a beeline for the woods. I don't think the Cheetahs I've seen in Africa, have gone faster or more gracefully than this BLAZING BLURR of OLD CAT......with ME HUFFING AND PUFFING AND SCREAMING: "TAAAAAFFFFFFFYYYYYYYY!!!!! WAAAIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!"
Remarkably I hit the edge of the woods just a few seconds after she did......just in time to see the surprised and disbelieving look of 9 FULL GROWN, HUGE, ADULT WHITE-TAILED DEER......as my CHARGING AND ATTACKING Taffy lunged at the largest of the bucks!!!
I will NEVER, as long as I live, forget their surprised faces: "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS BALL OF FUR RUNNING AT US FOR!?!?!?"
For a split second I honestly thought they were all going to LAUGH!!!!! Until......with a snort, the lead buck.....Taffy's TARGET at a full gallop.....realized she meant business!!!!
The buck's loud SNORT sent them all spinning on a dime and leaping off in the opposite direction......BUT......not before Taffy WHACKED gracefully at a FULL GALLOP......the bucks back legs!!!!!
HA!!!!!!!! WAY TO GO TAFFY!!!!!!!! YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!
As the buck sailed through the air the sting of Taffy's WHACK made him shoot his hoof outwards, snapping a sapling in half!!! OIY!!!! TAFFY!!!!
Think Taffy cared? HA!!!!! She was timing a doe's landing from her original leap PERFECTLY!!!! The charging Taffy SMACKED the doe's hind leg with one of those "DOUBLE-WHACKS" cats are famous for: a quick left, then right!!!!
9 HUGE WHITE-TAILED DEER went FLYING across my woods......with Taffy not slowing down AT ALL....charging at FULL BORE.....with me fading fast, far behind screaming: "TAFFY, TAFFY, TAFFY!!!"
I caught up to her a quarter mile away. The deer were long gone. My eyes were bugging out of my head.....and Taffy, sitting on her behind.....looked.....not even WINDED!!!!
She looked around at me, as if to say: "Oh.....hello there."
NEVER.....EVER.......NEVER.......will I ever forget these incredible 4 minutes.
And I most certainly hope.....that as my Taffy lay dying, breathing her last few breaths of life......she'll be thinking of that day......the day her feline spirit soared and she WHACKED the legs of those fleeing deer.....during that Chase of a Lifetime.
Kid 
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Rumblepurr
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Bravo...My dear Sir...
I lay my storytelling cap at your feet...
Rumblepurr 
The Writer Cat...
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pkitty663
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wow..
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*asterix*
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Thank you, good sir.
My boy passed just shy of 19, but it was merciful and quick - he was fine on Sunday, and by tuesday night he was gone. For all but 2 days of his life he was happy and robust, had all but 1 of his tiny front teeth, full hearing, no loss of sight and only the mildest onset of arthritis the last couple years. Certainly, he was capable of putting the "upstart", 7 years his junior, back in her place on a regular basis...
I still miss him terribly, but I think of these things and it makes me smile. For him, for what I got to share with him, for what I am blessed to remember of him.
And I am happy for you, both of you, to have such a day to look back on and cherish. Hug Taffy for me, would you? And give her my "congrats" and "rock on!" Atta girl!
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Drumdraper
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My cats are too pampered to embrace their feline spirit, but go Taffy!
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littlgriz
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Re: The Chase of a Lifetime! (O/T)) | Kid wrote: | The Chase of a Lifetime!
Taffy is old, 19, to be precise. She has always been an indoor cat, especially since escaping the house on 2 occasions, 15 years ago and being found miles away each time.
As the other 3 cats have each reached this age, they have all died off quietly.....leaving Taffy.
Taffy lays around the house and does little else. She struggles now to climb the stairs and upon arising from slumber, teeters unsteadily, as she tries to gain her balance, before stretching and laying again on the soft cat beds or cat pillows, in each of the rooms. She no longer leaps up onto the bed at night but looks at us with doe-eyes, until we lift her up......and eventually lift her down when she wants to wonder a bit.
She wonders less and less these days.....wanting to be held more and more as she feels her age.
On Saturday, the sky was blue and the day was wonderfully warm. I decided to do something I haven't done in 15 years. I looked at my old cat and decided to take her outside on this sunny afternoon.
I picked her up and held her limp body under my arm. I opened the front door and walked outside, detecting a very slight tensing under my arm. We walked across the front yard to a wooden bench and I sat down. Taffy sniffed and sniffed and sniffed all those delicious outdoor odors and smells she'd never smelled before. Even the crisp sounds of birds chirping and squirrels chattering were new to her and managed to make her old ears stand erect. Still, she preferred laying in my lap, rather than jump down from our bench and wonder through the yard. Eventually I placed her onto the ground, as she looked up at me with those same doe-eyes, asking me to hold her again. I ignored her and let her remain on the ground. Soon she began walking around the bench, at first, sniffing it's wooden legs. Not long after she slowly walked over towards the bushes and began to sniff around them for a bit. Then she began to walk around the house sniffing the evergreens and emerging winter bulbs. She slowly made her way towards the patch of new trees I planted a few years ago. Walking through these, she began walking across my field in the back. All the while she'd shoot me a glance saying....."I'm ready to be picked up!"
Then suddenly something happened. Everything about the way this old cat looked.....changed.....instantly. All of a sudden my old cat was transformed into a sleek, tense, prowling feline huntress, crouching on her haunches, eyes peeled on something in the distance. Well let me tell you......DISTANCE is the KEY word here! 100 feet away is a large patch of woods.....thick, overgrown and full of old growth huge and ancient trees. My old cat Taffy was staring at SOMETHING, WAY THE HECK over THERE......IN THE WOODS!!!! I looked at her creeping along like a lioness on the hunt......and looked at the woods....SEEING NOTHING!!!! She crept a little faster and a little faster and slide into a lower and lower attitude, trying to blend into the winter grass. Her eyes were LOCKED.....onto.....something. I looked into the woods again and again and FINALLY saw......for a split second......a momentary FLASH OF WHITE! I looked back at Taffy who was now moving faster than I could walk......and looked again to where she was staring. THERE IT WAS AGAIN......a FLASH OF WHITE.....NO WAIT.......it was over THERE.....another FLASH OF WHITE....... NO.....OVER THERE....NO.....OVER THERE, and THERE.......and THERE.......OH MY GOSH, there were FLASHES OF WHITE, ALL THROUGH THE WOODS!!!!!
Just as I looked back towards Taffy......she TOOK OFF!!!!!!!!
FLYING FASTER THAN ANY FLEEING RABBIT/SQUIRREL/CHIPMONK ....my old cat Taffy was tearing across my 100 feet of field effortlessly making a beeline for the woods. I don't think the Cheetahs I've seen in Africa, have gone faster or more gracefully than this BLAZING BLURR of OLD CAT......with ME HUFFING AND PUFFING AND SCREAMING: "TAAAAAFFFFFFFYYYYYYYY!!!!! WAAAIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!"
Remarkably I hit the edge of the woods just a few seconds after she did......just in time to see the surprised and disbelieving look of 9 FULL GROWN, HUGE, ADULT WHITE-TAILED DEER......as my CHARGING AND ATTACKING Taffy lunged at the largest of the bucks!!!
I will NEVER, as long as I live, forget their surprised faces: "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS BALL OF FUR RUNNING AT US FOR!?!?!?"
For a split second I honestly thought they were all going to LAUGH!!!!! Until......with a snort, the lead buck.....Taffy's TARGET at a full gallop.....realized she meant business!!!!
The buck's loud SNORT sent them all spinning on a dime and leaping off in the opposite direction......BUT......not before Taffy WHACKED gracefully at a FULL GALLOP......the bucks back legs!!!!!
HA!!!!!!!! WAY TO GO TAFFY!!!!!!!! YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!
As the buck sailed through the air the sting of Taffy's WHACK made him shoot his hoof outwards, snapping a sapling in half!!! OIY!!!! TAFFY!!!!
Think Taffy cared? HA!!!!! She was timing a doe's landing from her original leap PERFECTLY!!!! The charging Taffy SMACKED the doe's hind leg with one of those "DOUBLE-WHACKS" cats are famous for: a quick left, then right!!!!
9 HUGE WHITE-TAILED DEER went FLYING across my woods......with Taffy not slowing down AT ALL....charging at FULL BORE.....with me fading fast, far behind screaming: "TAFFY, TAFFY, TAFFY!!!"
I caught up to her a quarter mile away. The deer were long gone. My eyes were bugging out of my head.....and Taffy, sitting on her behind.....looked.....not even WINDED!!!!
She looked around at me, as if to say: "Oh.....hello there."
NEVER.....EVER.......NEVER.......will I ever forget these incredible 4 minutes.
And I most certainly hope.....that as my Taffy lay dying, breathing her last few breaths of life......she'll be thinking of that day......the day her feline spirit soared and she WHACKED the legs of those fleeing deer.....during that Chase of a Lifetime.
Kid |
kid i wil be praying fore you email me ok
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Pounce
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You might want to work on that some more and perhaps submit to say Reader's Digest for publication.
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