http://wilderness.motleyvision.org/2010/the-happen-stance/ Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:15:15 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 http://wilderness.motleyvision.org/2010/the-happen-stance/comment-page-1/#comment-1514 Lora Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:51:20 +0000 http://wilderness.motleyvision.org/?p=1784#comment-1514 You reminded me of a time when I was babysitting. The kids ran to me in horror. Their cat was outside killing a chipmunk. I watched for a moment as the chipmunk put up one dang good fight, and the kids shrieked and cried for me to do something. I guess I assumed I was supposed to. After all, it was a house cat, not a wild animal. And there were small children crying. I went outside and neither animal even knew I was there until I took the chipmunk from the cat. The cat was pretty ticked off, and slunk away. The chipmunk hadn't registered anything except the high adrenalin of fight or flight. He was darned dangerous. I left him on the grass and he kept fighting even though no one was touching him. Then he went limp, I swear he assumed he must be dead, and he just lay there for the longest time, bleeding and so on. When I waved at him and said something, that was the first time he realized I was there. He flipped over and darted into the forsythia. The kids were relieved. They also were mad at their cat. I had to explain about cats. I always wondered if I had done the right thing. Since it felt like a rescue, I hoped it was the good thing to do. It's not like the cat didn't get a bowl of friskies at home. As near as I can calculate, it's been thirty years since that incident. It's come up for consideration off and on over that many years! You reminded me of a time when I was babysitting. The kids ran to me in horror. Their cat was outside killing a chipmunk. I watched for a moment as the chipmunk put up one dang good fight, and the kids shrieked and cried for me to do something. I guess I assumed I was supposed to. After all, it was a house cat, not a wild animal. And there were small children crying. I went outside and neither animal even knew I was there until I took the chipmunk from the cat. The cat was pretty ticked off, and slunk away. The chipmunk hadn’t registered anything except the high adrenalin of fight or flight. He was darned dangerous. I left him on the grass and he kept fighting even though no one was touching him. Then he went limp, I swear he assumed he must be dead, and he just lay there for the longest time, bleeding and so on. When I waved at him and said something, that was the first time he realized I was there. He flipped over and darted into the forsythia. The kids were relieved. They also were mad at their cat. I had to explain about cats. I always wondered if I had done the right thing. Since it felt like a rescue, I hoped it was the good thing to do. It’s not like the cat didn’t get a bowl of friskies at home. As near as I can calculate, it’s been thirty years since that incident. It’s come up for consideration off and on over that many years!

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