And Not a Moment Sooner (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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I'm a Good Neighbor...After Coffee

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Keith, Catsynth, and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, Sean Jeating is providing the prompts and they will appear on River's blog.

This week's words/prompts are:

1.visited  

2.chewing  

3.nudging  

4.saw  

5.point  

and/or:

1.side  

2.honey  

3.companion  

4.silent  

5.loudly

Charlotte's colour of the month is Pumpkin Orange.

(Note:  We have had two cats with the name SissyCat.  The older of them was the Tripod SissyCat, and this story is about her.  The younger, The Charismatic Enigma SissyCat, was partly named after Tripod SissyCat because of their similar personality traits.  Enigma SissyCat left for the Rainbow Bridge not long ago.)

Just over 19 years ago, a litter of kittens was born on the mean streets of our neighborhood to a feral mama cat, a pretty calico with white, black and Pumpkin Orange patches.  Some kind people were feeding her, and managed to catch her kittens rather young, then trap her and get her spayed.

One of those kittens was given to #1 Son's girlfriend whose mother told her she couldn't have another cat, so she gave him as a birthday gift to #1 Son!  We kept Horizon for all of his fifteen years.  He was scared of his own shadow his whole life, was almost totally SILENT, never meowing unless in a carrier going to the vet, and never went out of the one or two rooms he chose to live in.

Another kitten went to live with Sam.  This girl cat was already a feisty, mean thing who wouldn't stay in the house.  She LOUDLY demanded to be let out, and to come in when she was good and ready.  She fought every other cat she saw, and though she might accept a tiny bit of petting, she was not a good COMPANION cat, even scratching at her people or nipping them, seeming to not like anyone.

It was our Charismatic Enigma SissyCat's sometimes scratching or biting at me and other females (she always loved men but only tolerated women) which was the reason she was partly named after the original SissyCat.  Once we had both of them at our house, they were sometimes also referred to as Big Sissy and Little Sissy.

At age five, Big SissyCat tangled with a German shepherd.  Her family was living elsewhere by then and after the dog bit off her leg, she managed to run away, get under the trailer they lived in, and claw her way into the insulation under it.  Sam had to dig her out, and they took her to the vet who knew the cat's reputation for meanness.  The vet just sewed her up the wound in her SIDE, filled her full of long-acting antibiotics, and said, "She'll live or she won't."

She lived, and three years later Sam, with HONEY in her voice, called #2 Son to ask if we could "watch Tripod SissyCat for two weeks while we move again."

Of course, #2 Son said yes, not realizing Sam really didn't mean to come back for the cat at all.  As much as Sam always loved the cat, the SissyCat would allow a bit of petting, then turn on you, and it wore on her nerves.  Sam didn't want to put the cat down, but wanted her to have a different home, and I can see her POINT.  Sam was married with a small child, and having SissyCat around was a problem.

Tripod, as we usually called her, came to our house spitting mad, with her paw against every other cat, and every other cat's paw against her.  She swiped at us every time we walked past her.  She would try to bite if you got too close.  She continually tried to escape, and after we'd had her for over a year finally did manage to slip through the door.

Tripod SissyCat was a very smart animal and knew this was her original neighborhood, so she went and VISITED the street where she'd been born, only to find the house she'd lived in was no longer there.  It was a flood home, and was torn down and is now an empty lot in the neighborhood.

The whole time, even when she was mean, scratching, trying to bite, giving us the side-eye, we had all been telling her the same thing:  Tripod, we love you, you are ours now no matter how mean you are, you are in your forever home, and we're going to love and take care of you even if you don't want to be lovable.

Once she SAW her old home was gone, it seemed to flip a switch in her head.  She came back to us and stopped clawing at us.  She quit trying to bite.  She still didn't like most of the other cats, especially Mikey, but she didn't go after them to start trouble.

It was as if our words finally sank in, and she knew she was home, and she didn't have to fight for her survival.

The last five years with her have seen her become one of the sweetest cats we ever had.  A snuggler, she would barely nip your hand to hold it still, then lick at it gently.  

She loved being on the front porch, NUDGING one of us on the leg when she wanted to go out.  Once out there, she never left the porch or the grass in front of it, where she would nibble away at her "salad greens" as we called it.

Children walking past would see her on the porch and come visit, and this former "try to attack everyone" cat would let children pet her.  Even our little Annie would reach out and pet her, rubbing her ears or her tail, and Tripod would let her, or would get up and move if she didn't want the attention, but she didn't attack.

The last few days, my Sweetie noticed Tripod seemed to have trouble CHEWING.  He took her to the vet Monday, and the vet noticed what seemed to be an abscessed tooth.  The removal was scheduled for yesterday.

The vet got in there and realized it was worse than an abscess.  She had mouth ulcers starting, and a tumor, which hadn't been there the last time she had a check-up.  At this point, removing the tooth would lead to having to try to remove a tumor, and the mouth ulcers would be a problem, and she probably wouldn't survive anyway, and the vet called.

We decided while she was under anesthesia was the best time to go ahead and let her go.

Tripod SissyCat was 19 and will be sorely missed.

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Today is:

Air Force Day -- India

American Touch Tag Day -- go outside and remember how much fun it is to play tag

Banned Websites Awareness Day -- sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians   

Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work Day -- at your own risk! sponsored by Susan E. Schwartz of "Teddies Are The Answer"

Cephalopod Awareness Days:  Octopus Day -- celebrating the most intelligent invertebrates in the world; today, celebrate all the eight-armed species

Children's Day -- Iran

Emergency Nurses Day

Feast of St. Bridget -- Sweden (traditional date, others who recognize the saint celebrate on July 23; Patron of widows; Europe; Sweden)

Feast of St. Keyne -- Celtic Saint, patroness of the spring and tree arbor that bear her name; the first to drink of her water after being newly married will have the upper hand in the marriage

Lovable Lawyers Day -- internet generated, and if you love one, good for you

National Fluffernutter Day

National Pierogi Day -- this day in 1952, Ted Twardzik, Sr., produced Mrs. T's Pierogies samples and took them to a local grocery store; eat a pierogi today in his honor

National Stop Bullying Day -- use #NationalStopBullyingDay to post on social media (begun in 2009 by eighteen 6th grade students at St. Stanislaus Kostka School, now a nationwide movement)

Navy Day/Battle of Angamos Day -- Peru

San Ernesto Day -- celebration of Che Guevera as a saint who answers prayers for rain among Bolivian campesinos

SAVE Today -- US (Stop America's Violence Everywhere, a day created in 1995 by the American Medical Association Alliance)

Sergeant Alvin C. York Day -- US (the feats for which he earned the Medal of Honor in 1918 were accomplished on this date)

St. Demetrius' Day (Patron of Belgrade, Serbia; Salonica, Greece; Thessaloniki, Greece; against evil spirits)

St. Pelagia the Penitant's Day (Patron of actresses)

St. Thais' Day (Patron of fallen women)

Tavistock Goose Fair -- Tavistock, Devon, UK (known locally as the Goosey, dating back to 12th-century Michaelmas fairs, this orginal livestock fair is now mostly a fun festival)

Tube Top Day -- if you dare. i don't

Ventiane Boat Racing Festival -- Ventiane, Laos

Anniversary Today:

Ozzie Nelson marries Harriet Hilliard, 1935

Birthdays Today:

Matt Damon, 1970

Darrell Hammond, 1960

Stephanie Zimbalist, 1956

Bill Elliot, 1955

Sigourney Weaver, 1949

Sarah Purcell, 1948

Chevy Chase, 1943

R. L. Stine, 1943

Jesse Jackson, 1941

Harvey Pekat, 1939

Paul Hogan, 1939

Clodagh Aubry, 1937

Rona Barrett, 1936

Faith Ringgld, 1930

Juan Peron, 1895

Eddie Rickenbacker, 1890

Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro, 1676

Heinrich Schutz, 1585

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Cagney and Lacey"(TV), 1981

"Sugar Babies"(Revue)< 1979

"The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"(Radio), 1944

"Capricorn Concerto"(Barber Op. 21), 1944

"In the Shadow of the Glen"(Play), 1903

Today in History:

Constantine, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, defeats Licinius, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, at the Battle of Cibalae, 314

Great standing on the Ugra river, a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, which resulted in the retreat of the Tataro-Mongols and eventual disintegration of the Horde, 1480

The supernova "Kepler's Nova" is first sighted, 1604

The Massachusetts Bay Colony forms its first government, 1633

First recorded eruption of Galunggung (volcano of West Java, Indonesia) sends boiling sludge into the valley (this volcano would later erupt at such a time as to cause passenger jets to be damaged and forced into emergency landings), 1822

The first Hawai'ian constitution is proclaimed, 1840

The telegraph line from LA to SF opens, 1860

A gas explosion causes the Peshtigo Fire, in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, which killed between 1,200 and 2,500 people and consumed the entire town of Peshtigo and surrounding forests and several other villages -- the deadliest fire in American history, it covered 1.5 million acres, and occurred on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, 1871

The Great Chicago Fire, which consumed 4 square miles, killed 200, and destroyed the original Emancipation Proclamation, began, 1871

The first women's prison run by women opens at the Indiana Reformatory Institute, 1873

Dow Jones begins reporting an average of selected industrial stocks, 1896

Edmonton, Alberta and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan are incorporated as cities in Canada, 1904

New York Yankees' Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series; one of only 20 perfect games in MLB history, 1956

Algeria joins the United Nations, 1962

Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia, 1967

Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.60mph at Blowering Dam, Australia, 1978

A deadly earthquake hits Pakistan, 2005

Australian mare Black Caviar ties the horse racing record set by Phar Lap with an unbeaten run of 14 wins, 2011

Eric Betzig, Stefan Hell and William Moerner win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy, 2014

The Noble Prize for Physics is awarded to James Peebles for his work on evolution of the universe, and Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for their discovery of planet 51 Pegasi b, orbiting another star, 2019

American poet Louise Glück is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, 2020

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton "for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks," 2024