Gray Day – October 23, 2021

Warning – this post is a notch below the upbeat tone I try to keep most of the time. Maybe it’s the gray sky and cool tempreatures.

Today was a day full of errands. I had to go to Wentzville – on a Saturday, which is most undesirable. Harry went to play golf with his pals, so I tried to be productive here.

First stop was the Foristell Post Office, where the southern hillside was looking autumnal and beautiful. I took a picture because it will be vanishing soon. And I don’t just mean the leaves. A huge housing development is going in. More people, less countryside. The main reason I hate venturing into Wentzville on weekends is because the local infrastructure cannot support the huge population increase around here. It’s gridlock.

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When I returned, I popped over to Jane’s house with a nut (for a bolt, not an edible one). She was putting a valve in an automatic waterer. The first thing I did was admire her finished concrete slab. The grates went in this morning, and rock was spread. All is ready for the forecast storms.

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Jane was in the barn, and not happy. Her frost free hydrant was broken and would not shut off, so she had to turn the water off to the entire barn. And of course, it’s a weekend. She has had way more than her share of projects this month. Luckily, it was possible to run hoses from another hydrant, so there is water for the weekend, but it’s very frustrating. No sooner does one work crew finish, than another arrives. And in this case, not quickly enough!

Marilyn rode through after I returned home, causing much romping in the pasture. Trigger is beautiful and dark in his winter coat. Roy was enjoying the day, as he does every day.

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While I was talking to Marilyn, we were standing near the now somewhat decrepit fiberglass cat on the island, known hereabouts as the Claudia Memorial. Now I will tell the story of Claudia, which is very sad. Don’t read it if you are soft hearted.

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The story starts with a cat adopted from the Dardenne Animal Welfare Society in 2004. Jane actually went looking for a barn cat. I went with her to pick it out, and loved the small gray and white female. The policy there was that the animals were fixed only after someone adopted them (and paid for them). So, Jane paid the fee, and they said they would call when she was ready, We were at a horse show when Jane received the call, telling her that her cat was spayed and declawed. Declawed!? That was not supposed to happen.

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Jane wanted an outdoor cat, and did not want a declawed cat, so she decided not to take her. I was worried that she would be euthanized, so Harry and I took her as an indoor cat. The new feline had to wait a few more days at the shelter until our ancient cat, Treble, died. We didn’t want to upset her peaceful end of days. Poor new little kitty arrived with infected paws.

She was christened D. Claudia, a reference to her unfortunate surgery.

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Claudia was a joy, and a perfect house cat, though we did sometimes let her outside. She was not adventurous, she was a quiet and timid, but sweet, soul.

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We loved her for nine years.

In 2012, at a horse show, our friend, Christine, brought a dog she was fostering for Stray Rescue. I fell for the dog instantly. She had recently weaned puppies and had been spayed. They called her Mama Gibb, and she had been found on a loading dock with seven puppies less than a day old. The pups had all found homes by the time we met her. Soon, she came home with us, and we renamed her Cedar.

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In 2013, Christine called to tell us that one of Cedar’s puppies had been returned to Stray Rescue. We adopted him and called him Cal. He was a boisterous, young, big dog. He had never seen cats before, and at first was careful around them. But Claudia was very timid, and ran from him whenever he came into a room, which started him chasing her. It was a problem that turned to a disaster.

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On Easter Sunday, we were out for a while and left the dogs in the back yard. What we didn’t realize was that they could open the back door by jumping on the handle. The dogs didn’t know that, either, but Cal happened to get the door open inadvertently. He caught Claudia and killed her.

I was in the barn. Harry had walked into the house, and Cal presented him, proudly, with Claudia’s body. It was devastating. Not just for poor Claudia, but it meant Cal had to leave. He had to go back to Stray Rescue and find a home without cats. We called Christine, and she told us to bring Cal to her house, and she would take him back to the Shelter. I will be forever indebted to her for her help on that terrible day. We were destroyed.

The good news is that Cal did find a good home, with a runner, which was perfect, as he was very high energy. The end comes for all of us, and there is no explanation for why some are luckier than others. Claudia was not a lucky cat, but she had nine good years, and will not be forgotten around here. Harry had done some fiberglass forms to be decorated by local artists as a fundraiser for The Humane Society. One imperfect cat had ended up in the studio, and Harry painted it gray and white in memory of D. Claudia (2004 – 2013).

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Sorry for the traumatic tale. Blame the gray day.

Stay safe, stay well. Peace.