The Twink / Deck Incident

Yesterday was just another weekday off for this retail working guy. The plan was to sleep in a little and then head to the Charlotte International Car Show at Noon, you know, be the first one in the door kinda thing. Everything was going well until......



I left the house around 9:45 am to go to the local Weight Watchers meeting and get weighed in. I lost a very little bit of weight, but am happy to still be moving in the right direction. It was a warm blustery morning with wind gusts around 30 mph. I open the garage door and leave it open, planned on cleaning some stuff out of it and take inventory of the massive amounts of paint I have laying around. So I walked in the house, went right to the fridge to get the (skim) milk out, I then poured 2 cups of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios followed by 1 cup off skim. The wind whipped up outside, then I heard the door that goes to the garage slam shut.



Fear struck my heart realizing that for the last 90 seconds, the garage access door failed to latch and had been wide open. I immediately began to call for the girls. I called out "Twink-M-Toes" and "Cheeeeeeetoooooo" and ran through the house to their normal hiding spots. No kitties, I knew what had just happened.



I love our cats, but lets not kid around, I was fearing for my life at this point. I knew that there are 4 people in this household. 1 is the Queen, and she has her favorites. In order is Amanda the Queen, Princess Twink, Princess Cheeto, and Serf Jon. I knew I would most certainly be beheaded for this gross offense.



I headed out the front door of the house, I had hoped they would be very scared and would be in the garage, so I would walk in the garage door and spook them back into the house, brilliant plan, horrible research, the curious ones were long gone. A minute of searching and I spotted Twink on the west side of the house( the front of our house faces south) looking stealth. I called to her, shook a can of treats and she walked up to me, well, almost. She must have been spooked by something because she then darted under a bush. I then got on my stomach and reached out, fed her a treat, and while she ate it, I grabbed her and launched.... OH, I mean gently placed her inside the front door and went on looking for the much older, wiser, and curious Twink.



In case you don't know, Twink is black with white feet, not really easy to spot in the fall next to the backdrop of gray. I did two laps around the house, knowing that the other time I accidentally let her out, she stayed right up against the house, even when I had to chase her. I extended my search to the neighbors yards, climbing fences, walking in creek beds in Birkenstock's. I had to find this cat. I was really upset at this juncture and about to make the phone call to the boss. Then, I heard a bunch of dogs barking loudly, so I headed for the noise, splashing through the mud and muck that is our back yard. No Twink. I decided I had missed the most obvious place.



I looked under the deck and there were her frightened little beady eyes. Thank God, I found the cat.... OH SHIT, she's under the deck. Of course she is wedged in where the fireplace comes out, so there is no reaching her from that side of the deck. Also, my deck is only about 18 inches off the ground, which if you include the support beams underneath, leaves just about enough room for a cat. I know I have lost some weight, but I am not getting under that deck without a shovel.



Grabbing Twink's favorite toys and treats, I began my hostage negotiations with the cat. Twink was not feeling my offers of peace and happy resolutions. She would sometimes come closer to me by about six inches, but when the wind would blow hard (every freaking 30 seconds) she would take shelter and back further in. I tried to call Andy to help flush her out, but no answer. I wanted two things, the first was not to die, the second was to go to the car show, one of the highlights of my year. My brilliant rescue plan began to take shape.



First, I grabbed a spot light and would shine it in the corner underneath the deck. I then took my 15 lb pry bar and began to pull one of the deck boards up. It was getting stuck on the siding, so I was going to have to pull the whole 12 foot board up and then slide it out. I did it very slowly without any sudden moves. Twink was a good girl. she stayed put. I reached under the deck and then she decided to flee. I grabbed her hind leg and held on. She was not such a big fan of that move and clawed at my hand. She slipped out before I could pull her up and she took off out the back of the deck. I could not see in which direction she ran after that. I heard a rustle down the creek so I chased after her. Nothing. I was so pissed, frustrated, worried, that I got sick. The few cheerios that I had gotten to eat returned to nature.





After thinking in the "what would I do mode," I hoped that twink ran in the garage. I looked around and there she was behind the garbage can. Without making sudden movements, I opened the door to the house, after a 3 second pause, Twink ran into the house and under our bed for the rest of the afternoon.

I showered, went to the car show, and e-mailed Amanda with the above story. Don't we all love a happy ending.

(p.s. I repaired the deck today, and actually I made some more repairs to the surface. I went to Lowe's and bought some wood so I can replace a few rotting pieces of trim and some paint so I can touch up the house.)