Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Alphabe-Thursday, "D" as in Demon...

Welcome to Alphabe-Thursday sponsored by Ms. Jenny over at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent."  For a list of this week's participants and information on how you can join in on the fun head over to Ms. Jenny's blog.

At least I hope when I get done typing this post I can find Ms. Jenny's blog.  This morning Blogger tells me I'm not following any blogs and my list of blogs is completely gone!  I have no idea how I'll ever find anyone again since all of that information was stored by Blogger on my Dashboard.  I'm hoping it's just a temporary glitch, but it's been all morning and now into the afternoon.  (Edit:  It's OK now!)

I was talking with my older son on the phone and telling him I had no idea what to do for the letter "D" on Alphabe-Thursday.  He suggested I write about DEMON.  DEMON was Keith's cat and one of the kittens that our original feral cat had under our deck.  This was when she was new to our yard.  Eventually, we trapped MaMa and had her fixed.  MaMa lived in our yard for nine years before running off when some workmen came into the yard.  I searched for her for five months, but we never saw her again.

MaMa originally had her kittens in our shed, but for some reason decided to move them under the deck when they were around four weeks old.  While we were out shopping there was a torrential rain storm and on the way home I became concerned because our yard sometimes floods when the rain can't run off fast enough.  I pulled into the driveway and when I got out of the car I heard the kittens crying.  Fortunately, my husband arrived home right after me.  The kittens had become trapped under the deck as the water rose.

My husband tried pulling up the boards on the deck, but he couldn't get them to budge.  Then we decided to remove the boards from the fence that ran alongside the deck.


We had some ivy that was growing under the deck and the kittens had managed to climb up into the ivy to keep their heads above water, but their heads were up against the floor of the deck and they were running out of breathing room.   My husband reached under the deck and pulled them out one by one.  He actually had to pull them under the water to get them out.

We dried them off and brought them inside.  There were three of them.


After the water receded MaMa came back looking for them, but we decided not to put them back outside.  We were afraid she'd put them back under there again, and she was not tame so bringing her inside wasn't an option.

We bottle fed them and then introduced them to cat food.  DEMON is the kitten on the left.  Keith ended up adopting DEMON and Imp.  Imp is the Calico kitten.  The gray kitten was adopted by someone else.



Here's DEMON with his litter mate.  They were a little bigger in this picture.


DEMON grew up to be a very large cat.  He was always looking for food.



Keith and DEMON...



Keith and Imp...



Sadly, Imp only lived a year.  She had feline leukemia.  We had never had them tested...just vaccinated in hopes they hadn't been exposed.  That was a mistake.  After Imp died Keith had DEMON checked and his test came back negative.  He was elated, but it didn't last for long.  Sadly, the test was wrong and DEMON also became sick with feline leukemia and died.

Now we don't bring any cats into our home unless they're checked for feline leukemia.  Since they were never outside after being rescued from under the deck we assume they contracted feline leukemia from MaMa even though she never became sick.

Keith now has two other rescued cats...Mittens and Katie.





"D" is also for DAD.

This is a picture of my DAD with his siblings taken in 2006.  They were all in their 80's and looked pretty darn good.  They're standing in front of the house they grew up in.  My DAD is on the right.  He died in September 2010.



Uncle Robbie is on the left.  He died last week after taking a bad fall.  The only one left now is Aunt Millie.  I'm really glad I have this picture.

Here they are a "few" years earlier with their DAD.  Yes, that's the same house. In this picture my DAD is the tallest one.  Uncle Robbie grew later on.



Now head over to Ms. Jenny's blog so you can visit some other Alphabe-Thursday posts.


23 comments:

  1. I love animal stories...I'm the original animal geek.

    Lovely pictures of your family. It's wonderful to have the pictures to remember them by...

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  2. So cute!

    Great ‘D’ post and Happy Alphabe-Thursday!

    Have a great weekend ahead & look forward to *seeing* you again next time,

    LOLA:)

    Btw Alphabe-Thursday

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  3. adorable.
    best wishes on finding your followers soon.

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  4. Demon and Imp look like they had a good life and lots of love. I love looking at old photos and your father and his siblings looked mighty dapper in those photos. Have a great day.

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  5. Anonymous6:27 PM

    It's such a shame the cats had leukemia. I'm lucky that I've never had a cat with that problem. So sorry you've lost your uncle. It is great you have those pictures.

    Teresa

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  6. Your son was right. This is a wonderful d to post about.

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  7. The story of the rescue cats warmed my heart, and the photos of your dad and his siblings also are just just beautiful..

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  8. Animals stories always make my heart smile! What a lovely family you have! And your Dad. He looks like a gem! I can just see the personality shining out of him!

    Thanks for a delightful stop this week!

    A+

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  9. Thanks for sharing some of your history - very interesting.

    I am sorry about the two cats - that has to be hard.

    My son and DIL have a feral cat inside! It has been a wild adventure for them.

    Your husband the hero.

    And what a nice picture of your dad, uncle, and aunt. Sorry your dad and uncle are gone.

    Love,
    sandie

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  10. This was a lovely post! My sister had a cat, Dylan, and he also died from feline leukemia. It is such a tragedy but think about the brief happiness those wonderful pets shared with Keith! I like this D post! Dad is a greta one too, especially for those of us who had wonderful dad's! Anne

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  11. Feline lukemia. That is seriously so sad!! Good thing they had you all to love them.

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  12. Blogger was wacky this morning. I love the name demon for a cat.
    That calico is too cute. I have a thing for calico cats.

    I love your post for all the memories you provided. Sometimes, our photos are all we have left of our loved ones which is why I take so many of myself. I love my mom when I was 12 and have very few. I want my kids to have photos of me when I am gone of our good times together.

    Have a great day.

    http://reesspace.blogspot.com/2011/05/alphabe-thursday-d-daughter-ducks.html

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  13. a lovely tribute to families.

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  14. I was biting my nails during the story of the kitten rescue. I'm so glad that you were able to get them out!

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  15. Thanks for sharing the stories and photos.

    Greetings from Germany,
    Birgit

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  16. It's so sad that those two died! My daughter has a non-profit for cats with FIV. She takes them and cares for them until the disease takes them!
    Loved the pictures of your family!!!

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  17. The family pictures are wonderful!

    I love the pictures of all the pretty cats..... and the saving story.
    Happy weekend!

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  18. Oh my. Some blogs have all the comments wiped off, some are all there and yours looks to have part of them, since I don't see the one I left you!

    Anyway.

    I loved this post. Animal stories always warm my heart. You have such a lovely family.

    Thanks for the delightful post!

    A+

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  19. Hello Betty, I am a cat lover and this story was wonderful. Thank you for the warmth, the caring and most of all, the love, Char

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  20. Betty,

    This is Stacy from The Precious Little Things in Life blog. I am enthralled, reading post after post. You write so beautifully. Those pictures of your father and his siblings is priceless. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving me a little note. How interesting that you left NJ and moved to Tx and I left Tx to move to NJ. Lol! I feel I am falling in love with New Jersey, although Texas will always have a special place in my heart. I live about 30 miles south of Westwood. In Texas, we lived in Fort Worth. I'm looking forward to keeping in touch, virtually that is. :o)

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  21. Aww, the story about Demon and the other kittens made me think of my in-laws. They also found a pregnant mama cat in their backyard and they cleaned her up and adopted her as well as the 4 kittens she gave birth to. I've never actually heard of feline leukemia but I think it's safe to assume that none of their cats have them since it's been 2 years. Thanks fo the lovely post about the cats :)

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  22. Demon and Imp look so cute.

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