I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: family life

  • once upon a time there was a calico cat

    once upon a time there was a calico cat


    Once upon a time there was a thin elderly calico cat with a limp that showed up in the carport of Pretty and her wife who lived on Cardinal Drive. Pretty could never resist a stray cat, neglected dog or random unhappy person so the calico cat was the beneficiary of Pretty’s rescue efforts that began with a water bowl in the carport followed several days later by the addition of a food bowl which required a team to then keep up with fresh water in the water bowl and inexpensive dry pellets in the food bowl which over time became Fancy Feast delicacies – preferably chicken and liver. No fish, please. Seriously?

    Since I keep home fires burning while Pretty manages her antique empire, I begrudgingly became a member of the Calico Cat Rescue Team. Full disclosure: I have never been a cat person. There are dog people, and there are cat people, and sometimes they combine forces in the same lesbian household but I had an unsatisfactory experience with that combination 38 years ago so I wasn’t interested in another combo attempt. Hm…

    Plus, I have a doctor’s excuse for cat allergies.

    However, none of this is relevant to the Calico Cat Rescue Team because here we are six weeks later having a team meeting on a night of heavy rainfall mixed with sporadic lightning and thunder, but the team members aren’t worried about the calico cat named Carport Kitty.

    Carport Kitty is safe and dry in her new condo

    (A word of special recognition to Annie of Animal Couriers who predicted this next step for our team. Girl, you saw this coming all the way across the Pond in France. Ha.)

    The cast of characters for the Cardinal Drive Carport Cat Community now includes the villain Bully Cat and the sneaky Yellow Cat known also as the Orange Tabby who continue to drop in every day to share Carport Kitty’s leftovers, but no one dares approach her highness in her new castle.

    Once upon a time Pretty rescued a calico cat that both members of her team love.

    Pardon me while I go take a Zyrtec.

    ***************

    Stay safe, stay sane, get vaccinated, and please stay tuned.

  • Hail to the Chief!

    Hail to the Chief!


    (A/P photo/Carolyn Kaster)

    When the Fort Jackson military band played the first notes of “Hail to the Chief” indicating the entrance of President Joe Biden to the Smith Hammond Middleton Memorial Center at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg this morning, I was surprised to feel tears rolling down my cheeks as I watched him enter to deliver the commencement address to the 128 member graduating class. I’m not sure what moved me – I think I must feel sorry for this elderly white man who is trying so hard to do good for so many. And yet, recent polls indicated his popularity with the American people is a dismal 36%. I’ve always been part of a minority; maybe that’s why I cried.

    The Covid pandemic rages again with new twists and turns and more than 800,000 deaths in this country, vaccinations have become political punching bags, Americans may not get all they want for Christmas (and if they do it will cost more), gasoline prices spiked, black lives really don’t matter to police, workers are hard to hire because they are insisting on a decent wage which trickles down like a Reagan economic theory, the Senate is up to its ass in alligators who have forgotten their initial objective was to drain the swamp, January 6th. insurrectionists who attempted to overthrow American democracy are being released on their own recognizance and allowed to leave the country without supervision by judges who support the Big Lie, voting rights are assailed in every state and oh yeah, Russian autocratic president Putin has sent an army of 94,000 out of a projected 175,000 troops to the Ukrainian border to possibly invade in early 2022…to name a few of the problems President Biden has wrestled with in 2021.

    With these overwhelming concerns, what was this President doing in our state today giving a commencement address at a relatively small HBCU in a relatively smaller town 47 miles south of Columbia? The answer is his friendship with Congressman Jim Clyburn who resurrected Biden’s candidacy in the South Carolina Democratic Primary that made him the frontrunner and ultimately the party’s choice for its presidential nomination in 2020. President Biden can thank Representative Clyburn for his desk in the Oval Office of the White House if he has time to catch his breath, and today he did just that.

    Six decades ago a twenty-one year old young man from Sumter, South Carolina graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from the only publicly funded Black college in the state – now known as South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. His name was James Enos Clyburn, and he currently serves as the Majority Whip for the US House of Representatives where he has been a Democratic member since 1993.

    Jim Clyburn graduated from the HBCU in December, 1961 at a time when the college only held graduation ceremonies in the spring so his diploma was mailed to him. When spring rolled around in 1962, Clyburn was already teaching in Charleston and married to his wife Emily who he met while attending State. Both Jim and Emily Clyburn never forgot where they were from or where they attended college.

    Apparently sixty years later, though, Clyburn still wanted “to walk.” But on this occasion while his family watched, his diploma was presented to him by his friend Joe Biden, the President of the United States of America. In his introductory remarks, Rep. Clyburn recalled the parting advice his wife of 58 years gave to him before her death in September, 2019: if we want to win the White House in 2020, Joe Biden must be our party’s nominee.

    Hail to the Chief Joe and Hail to his friend Jim during this holiday season and in the New Year. Bless their hearts, minds and bodies in a time that tries all of our souls.

    *************

    Stay safe, stay sane, get vaccinated and please stay tuned for a holiday post on a lighter note: Dear Santa, Send Boxing Gloves.

  • it was just a matter of time for Carport Kitty

    it was just a matter of time for Carport Kitty


    Carport Kitty on the move

    Carport Kitty sitting in our driveway assessing the situation

    Hmmm…

    inevitable

    I told Pretty I believed Neighbor John must be out of town this week because Carport Kitty, Bully Cat and Yellow Cat a/k/a Orange Tabby have been frequenting our carport daily. For the past couple of nights CK has stayed in the box I improvised for her next to the back door steps she used as her signal it was time for me to prepare her meals. Yesterday was a nasty rainy cold day – I noticed she was in her box every time I opened the kitchen door.

    I had to explain to her that her new home was the best I could do under the circumstances. She seemed to meow back at me as if to say what circumstances? Sigh.

    Carport Kitty has arrived.

    ***********

    Stay safe, stay sane, get vaccinated and please stay tuned.

  • all cat adventures point to Pretty

    all cat adventures point to Pretty


    If the Jeopardy question was who loves to rescue people, animals, random family castaway treasures – the correct answer would be who is Pretty?

    If the Jeopardy question was what particular super Cat Sleuth solved the mystery of the Bully Cat’s permanent stomping grounds weeks ago – the correct answer would be who is Pretty?

    Bully Cat’s crib – one block south of our house

    Yes, Pretty observed with her cat detective skills several weeks ago that we have neighbors a block down the street from our house (the opposite direction of Neighbor John’s cat condo) who regularly leave their garage door open at night…just enough for a cat to scoot under. She suggested that cat might be Bully Cat since I mentioned I saw him occasionally in the vicinity of the open garage door on my morning walks. Aha.

    Today I spied Bully Cat hustling toward the garage door

    My last view of BC was his tail as he made himself little to slide under it.

    However, 15 minutes later when I finished my walk he mysteriously appeared in front of our house, gave me a wary stare and then looked longingly toward our carport – perhaps for Carport Kitty who never materialized.

    Bully Cat was exploring my yard trash today

    where in the world is Carport Kitty?

    Not to worry. Although CK was nowhere to be seen when we came home from babysitting late this afternoon, Pretty called to me from the kitchen a few minutes later with the welcome words the cat is out here looking for you and her supper. I sprang into full meal preparation mode with her Fancy Feast chicken pate plus a generous helping of Meow Mix pellets. Yummy. She allowed a brief pet as I placed the bowl in front of her. Sigh.

    I stood guard to protect her from undesirable interference from either Bully Cat or Yellow Cat now revealed to be the Orange Tabby.

    Seriously. I stood outside in the cold carport guarding a cat’s dining experience for what seemed to be an interminable amount of time. My dogs eat their meals in 30 seconds, but this cat made a career of her dinner.

    As for Pretty, she was safe and warm inside catching up on her Tweets, getting ready for tonight’s Jeopardy, perhaps plotting her next rescues. Thank goodness she rescued me.

    *************

    Stay safe, stay sane, get vaccinated and please stay tuned.

  • was Fats Domino in love with a cat?

    was Fats Domino in love with a cat?


    I’m walkin’, yes indeed
    And I’m talkin’ about you and me
    I’m hopin’ that you’ll come back to me, yeah

    (lyrics from I’m Walkin by Dave Bartholomew/Antoine Domino)

    Carport Kitty spied on morning walk today

    under Neighbor John’s truck

    Carport Kitty has been a no show in our carport for the past couple of days which is always worrisome for the Alarmist in me, but this morning I saw her in one of her favorite spots under Neighbor John’s truck. Neighbor John is the creator of the cat bed and breakfast where stray cats spend the night during cold weather – I am always happy to see CK in John’s driveway as I walk past even though she rarely acknowledges my overtures of good will.

    In the interim, whether sent as an ambassador by Carport Kitty or just another entrepreneur looking for food, this cat visited yesterday afternoon at CK’s feeding time.

    yellow cat

    I made this mistake.

    not a full meal, mind you – not Fancy Feast – just snack

    Later in the afternoon Bully Cat and a small black cat were seen running for cover out of our carport when Pretty and I opened the kitchen door to leave for the Gamecock women’s basketball game last night. (We crushed Kansas State to remain undefeated.)

    But why is Carport Kitty so fickle?

    I’m lonely as I can be
    I’m waiting for your company
    I’m hoping that you’ll come back to me    .

    Okay, Antoine better known to me as Fats, you must have been in love with a stray cat. I totally get it.

    Carport Kitty

    **************

    Stay safe, stay sane, get vaccinated and please stay tuned.