Tigger has become a travelling fool! For those of you who know Tigger, part of her charm is that she is a little (how shall I say?) shy. So, travelling to the lake is a big deal. She comes up to the cabin with me and she loves it! I bought a really fun blue carrier for her where the top lifts off. She gets in, settles in and sleeps all the way up to Hayward.Her first trip was a little tricky. She found the furnace room where she hid between the furnace and the cement wall. When I found her, she had cobwebs all over her. After that, she was finding all sorts of fun places to hang out. She loves sitting in front of the sliding glass door and watching the birds and ducks on the lake. She also finds the ottoman in front of the fireplace comfortable. When I am relaxing on the sofa, she likes to climb up on the back of it and relaxes too.
A couple of days ago, I walked outside. I looked on the deck and I could not believe it. There she was sitting next to the deck. We both looked at each other and she knew that she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. She ran back into the house and hid under the bed. She seemed to be enjoying herself out there.
I found Tigger on my sisters farm. I knew she liked the outdoors since she was outside when we first saw her. She was so cute looking in at the other cats in the house from the deck. She would roll around on the deck until I came out to feed her. She was skinny with lots of ticks all over her. We would give her lots of food. She would come back each night to eat. What can I say, she stole my heart. With some sibling conjoling and brother in law saying “c’mon Reeney make up your mind and take the cat home”. I packed Tigger up (after a much needed vet appointment) and brought her home.
What Tigger learned from her early days on the farm is that she would take cover in a safe place during the day to sleep and come out at night. I would never see her during the day. In fact, this is the same pattern she followed when I brought her home to our house. When she became "the studio cat", she found a little hole in the vault cement wall would hang out there during the day. We didn’t know where she was. In fact, I thought she was roaming around the Wyman building basement (not a great place to roam around). We knew she was still around, because her food would be gone when we came in the morning. Finally, I found her in the wall. After some time, she would only go to her hole in the wall when there were new people in the studio. Otherwise, she would be out and about with us.
We had a great day of weather today at the cabin. I was all set to go for a bike ride and a walk. I decided it would be a good idea to bring Tigger outside for a little fresh air. We sat out on the deck together. It was super nice. I guess I got a little too relaxed. Tigger decided she was going to go for a big adventure. She jumped off my lap and off the deck. I thought for sure she would run into the cabin. When she didn’t, I couldn’t believe it. She ran in front of the cabin, down one retaining wall and up the other, with me running behind her. She thought it would be a great idea to go behind a recycling bin next to the blue cabin next door. I almost caught her but she was too quick. She ran off and I could not find her anywhere.
Well, you can imagine my panic. I love my cat very much and didn’t want to lose her in the woods somewhere. I looked everywhere in front of the blue cabin. No Tigger. I called for her, no Tigger. I had horrible thoughts about what might happen to her. After all, she didn’t know where she was and there are so many critters (including the human kind) running around. But I know she has great outdoor skills (her days at the farm) and can take care of herself. I decided to stop by my neighbors house (Labby is his name). He is an older gentleman who is very kind and helpful. I gave him my phone number just in case he saw her.
I thought I would look in front of the blue cabin one more time. This time, I had a flashlight. I looked under their deck and near the dock. No Tigger. Then I thought, what if she is under the stairs that go down to the lake? Well, sure enough. There she was. I could shine the flashlight and see her eyes. Whew…I found her. Now what? I couldn’t get at her at all. Just then, Labby came to check to see how I was doing. He suggested we dig her out. He went and got a shovel while I tried to keep an eye on her. Labby came down the hill (did I mention he was an older gentleman?) and almost wiped out. That wasn’t good. We surveyed the situation and realized that we were not going to be able to dig her out. The ground was just too hard.
Just then, Labby’s wife came over and suggested that we could take apart the stairs to get at Tigger. Labby offered to take the stairs apart. Now, I know my cat. She is very shy. If we started to tear about the stairs, she might freak out a little. I kindly turned down his offer. I told them that I would see if I could call her out. Thankfully, they thought it would be a good idea to let me do that on my own. So, there I was, laying on the hill trying to coax her out. No luck. After a couple of hours, I thought I better try and take apart the stairs myself. I pulled off one stair and Tigger moved up the hill! WAHOO. I could get at her! I had my hand under her belly and I was ready to pull her out. One problem, she wouldn’t fit out the opening where I was laying. She managed to get away and go further under the stairs. YIKES. Now what am I going to do?
I kept pulling apart the stairs. Finally, she got sick of all the noise. She decided to get out of there. She ran down the hill next to a shed. I had no idea where she went. I couldn’t find her. Meanwhile, I stepped on a bees nest. I forgot that they sometimes create nests in the ground. Bees were buzzing around. I ran up the hill but I kept hearing the buzzing. I was just about to run into the house when I felt the bee on my foot! It was caught in my sandle strap! OUCH!After I killed the bee, I went back to find my cat. I was really starting to get impatient. It was about 4pm by now. I had been at this for 4 hours! I went down by the shed and looked underneath,
there was Tigger – wedged underneath. I could not get at her. What a smarty cat. She found the best place to hide again. For about an hour, I tried to pry her out from underneath the shed. She hissed at me and swatted at me. Finally, I thought I better just relax. She will come out of here when she gets hungry. So, there I sat....waiting, and waiting. I realized Tigger was pretty relaxed. She took a nap. I decided to just go with the flow. She will get up and want to eat when dusk hits. Sure enough, she got up to stretch after she made sure the coast was clear. She slowly came down to the food I put out for her. I FINALLY was able to grab her and put her in her carrier. I was never so happy to get her in the cabin. It took until 6pm (6 hours), but she made it. She is here with me safe and sound. She is a little dirtier, very tired and isn’t the happiest with me at the moment, but I am glad to see her all the same. 
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