AARP Online Community: rae1tom

rae1tom

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Birthday: January 31

Gender: Female

Religion: Christian/Protestant

Location:
Washington
United States

Hometown(s):
Missouri
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Virginia
South Carolina
Connecticut
Washington State

Quote:
"Whenever God closes one door He always opens another, even though sometimes it's hell in the hallway" "Worry looks around, Sorry looks back, Faith looks up" "Do everthing to the best of your ability!"

My Comments (242)

"Our Coon Cat"

By RaeDi – June 2008

Ning Ma or Ningi as we call her has an identity crises going on. She acts more like a dog than a cat. I have spoken of my beloved Pixie Bob on several occasions. I have countless pictures of her in my photos. You can tell this “cat” isn’t loved at all. As she gets older her behavior changes as quickly as each new day on a calendar. She is a very loving and caring cat. She holds no grudges at all. When you call her she comes right away. She doesn’t make you wait. She is a strange one. I don’t know if it’s the breed or just her. She is as loyal as a dog. She doesn’t hold back like a cat does. She doesn’t meow either, hence her name “Ning Ma” that is her meow. One day last summer I was in a chase lounger and Tom was not far off sitting in the glider, we were relaxing and taking in a nice sunny summer day. A Doe came into the yard. The Doe and Ningi were having eye to eye contact. Before we knew it the Doe was chasing Ningi around the yard. They were going between all the Rhodi’s, then all over the place. Then through several of my flower gardens, I just held my breath. At one point Ningi had come around me laying there in the chase. The Doe was following not too far behind. This Doe was just inches from me and my face, her eye level was equal with mind, and she was coming around the back of the lounger. I sat very still and didn’t make a move. Tom gave me this look that said the same; he looked like he was ready to bolt any minute. He was afraid if I even twitched the Doe would go for me and start kicking. Well Ningi finally made it to our front door; we had left it cracked in case she wanted to go in. The Doe walked right up to the steps leading to our front door. They were in eye to eye contact again; Tom and I were both wondering if the Doe was going to go inside the house. Ningi went on in and disappeared from site. The Doe walked away going towards the far end of our front yard that curved to the right. She was now out of site at the end of our long row of Rhodi’s. It wasn’t but a minute or so when she came back and with her she brought her newly born twin fawns running right beside their momma. You should have seen them. They were slight in size and the color of their light rufus colored fur and the bright white spots was very striking. They had little thin legs and such wee minute size ankles. I had no idea how they could balance themselves let alone walk. After that encounter with the Doe, Ningi takes watch from the windows from inside the house. When any deer of any size and of any age come into our yard she growls at them, the ferocious sound would send a burglar running, leaving behind any intentions of what was planned. Fierce little Ningi, she’d make the best watch cat/dog except for one fact she can’t bark. We have been having a problem with a couple of raccoons that have discovered one of our hummingbird feeders. When they can get hold of the feeder they drink it dry. I noticed that one of them has put on a lot of weight and is now waddling around packing that weight in the hip – butt area (might be female). The other little robber is rather skinny leading us to believe that it is new at the game. The raccoon used to come to the feeder just minutes before dusk; always just a few minutes before we’d bring the feeder in after dusk, because the Hummingbird feeds until all light is gone. The raccoon has discovered when it should show up so it wouldn’t miss its (becoming a regular) sugar high. Tom started bringing it in earlier and earlier and the raccoon started coming earlier and earlier. Tom is trying to outwit a common thief. I don’t know who will win this battle. But Ningi has decided she is a coon cat/dog. The other evening just after 5:00 pm she came running into the kitchen and looked at both of us with concern, she was trying to tell us something. She has developed Uni brows (Neanderthal), when she is serious these brows are comical in size. There Ningi stood looking at us with her serious look with the brows way out there, then she took off like a streak running back into the other room and jumped up on a table that was window ledge high. By the time we were half way there she was coming to get us again. We went in and looked out the window; there on the deck rail was Miss Baby Got Back and Hips as wide as the Mississippi River - it had just finished emptying the hummingbird feeder again. Ningi was standing there looking at the raccoon and then us – back and forth. She had did her coon cat/dog job when she came to get us. We were just a little slow to see what it was she was up too. Next time we will know. But now we’ll ask her, “What’s that?’ or “What’s out there?” She responds just like a dog wagging her tail and heads to the window and looks out. When she sees its all clear she moves on to the next window. It takes her a while – we have a lot of windows, but she is our watch cat/dog. She knew to come and get us, if only she could have given us the coon hound bark, we would have known what she wanted right away. But she knows now if she comes running to get us – we better be hot on her little tail the whole way. She tried her best to communicate to us what was going on without the coon hound bark. It won’t be long before she will be chasing them up the tree.

Ningi is not allowed outside by herself. She’s real brave when there is a window between her and the coons. They’d have her for dinner before she knew what got her. We would never chase coons up in a tree. Well – if Tom has to keep making more nectar and sterilizing the feeders – he just may give it a thought!

Comments (2)

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rae1tom says:

Dear BJsBook, That is very true. When ever anyone is coming down our long lane way before we hear the car or if they are on foot - Ningi has her complete attention on the drive. She is letting us know that someone is coming. Thank you....RaeDi

Posted: June 9, 2008 8:04PM EDT

BJsBook says:

Great story! Having cats, deer, raccoons and bird feeders I can relate to everything you wrote about. I have seen my cats be very curious about baby deer. Once they lined up in a row to stare at a shrub. Silly cats, I thought. The about dark the mother came along and a baby deer tottered out to feed. Not so silly cats! I then thought. Always listen to your cat. They know about lots of things that we miss while living in our human world.

Posted: June 9, 2008 6:48PM EDT