Cats' Play - Mother's Love... the saga continues...

The story didn't quite end happily ever after. Soon after adoption, two of the five kittens died. The mother cat then took the remaining three kittens away, and all four of them - mother and kids have again vanished into the wilderness.

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Cats' Play - Mother's Love

Look at these cute little kittens. These harmless little creatures, how could anyone possibly be afraid of them? Isn't it surprising to know there are people who have such phobia?

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I was called upon by one such petrified person to get these little creatures out of her storeroom where the mother cat had secretly delivered them and housed them in.

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Two other guys were called prior to me. The first one dared not handle kittens so young as he felt that they were too delicate and so he left. The second one went there and tried grabbing them out by brute force one by one, but they (all five of them) clinged tightly together and refused to be removed.

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When I arrived, the kittens meowed and crawled out to me. I didn't even have to lure them out. They all happily came to me and allow me to pick them up. Somehow, they trusted me and volunteered themselves into my hands. Clearly, the kittens had sensed that I love them and wouldn't harm them. I then gently took them one-by-one and put them in a box, and brought them away from the petrified person.

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That was step one completed - bringing the kittens away from someone with a phobia. The next step was to find them a new home. That needed time, so we wanted to leave the kittens in a temple a few doors away temporarily before we can find someone to adopt them, but the temple caretakers said that the kittens were too young and that they will die without the presence of their mother. Without a better option, we left the kittens in a box with some water just outside the house where they were born, just to keep them near enough for the mother to find them and far enough from the petrified occupier of the house.

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Soon after we took the kittens out, the desperate looking mother cat came and quickly picked up her kittens away. She was very apprehensive and stared at us to check if we would harm her litter while she took them away one by one. Realising that we were causing the anxiety to the cat, we decided to leave them alone.

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The next morning, the kittens were in the house again, probably brought in by the mother cat who felt that was the safest place for her litter. The house owner was again petrified. Something hard for normal people like us to understand, but it was a commotion.

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Luckily, for the kittens, a friend of my niece came and decided to adopt all the five kittens including the mother cat; and so the story ended happily - for the cats and the petrified person.

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Cat's Play - Come back!

Two days ago, we were much saddened when we found Greygri, our grey cat laying dead by the main road. We brought the body back and buried it in our garden. Then curiously during the night, we heard the little cat door flapped, as if Greygri was back! Next morning, in a bizarre turn of events, we even noticed that the cat food was consumed and the dish moved! Then, as we were standing there, to our astonishment, Greygri came through the door. We were stunned!!!! “HUH? Wasn't Greygri supposed to be dead?” I thought. Then did we realised that we had buried the wrong cat!!! .

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Also two days ago, an old and good friend whom I have tried contacting many times since the year 2000, but to no avail, turned up online on LinkedIn.com!!! I had earlier assumed that he is 'no longer with us'. Anyway, he revealed that he had just came out of prison after 8 years, allegedly being framed for a crime he didn't commit. While he was doing time, he studied and achieved a first class honours degree and continued halfway into a PhD. Now out on good behaviour, he has enrolled in an engineering degree. He has also got an application for a patent pending for an online user authentication algorithm; and also waiting to test a concept he has, that would generate energy from a renewable source.

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I admire his strength living through all those years in prison and having attained those academic and intellectual achievements. He must have gone through immense agony though. I told him that the past is now behind him and he ought to endeavour to live in the present. That he says he will.

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Cat's Play 4 - The Kill

It was a beautiful day and I was strolling along the peaceful residential mall when a cat suddenly came pouncing on some birds at the side and ran away with one of the birds in his mouth. A man sitting nearby who saw it happened remarked that we should catch the cat and punish it.

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Actually, the cat did what a cat naturally do. It is doing its part in nature. Often, we hasten to make judgments about events and attempt to command what nature should or shouldn't do. However, the event is often but just a tiny part the bigger scheme of nature.

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Cat's Play 3

Go play with a cat when you have time. It is a great escape from the daily grind if you are a busy person forgetting about yourself.

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I know of someone who was very depressed until one day when she saw three kittens in a cardboard box outside the supermarket, with a sign, "Please take one". The three kittens were lovely and were shivering in the cold, or perhaps also out of fear in the strange surroundings waiting for someone to adopt them. She picked up one of the kittens, and since then, has gradually recovered from her depression. When we 'turn the other cheek' to face love, in this case, of loving the kitten, the darkness and depression disappears. We can't move darkness, but by shining light on it, the darkness disappears.

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The kitten was her saviour. Saviours do not have to come with supernatural powers, a bolt of lightning and a deep thunderous voice that echoes across the skies. They can be as simple as an abandoned and helpless kitten. Actually, if we look around in our daily life, there are many seemingly ordinary mundane entities that have much to offer us, waiting for us to respond and acknowledge,... that is, if we really listen hard enough.

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Cat's Play 2b - Up the tree

I was in the kitchen when I saw my neighbour's cat sitting there waiting and meowing, trying to tell me something. As soon as I opened the door, he went around my legs. I thought he needed a cuddle and picked him up, but when he was in my arms, he struggled, jumped down and ran towards the tall pine tree. He then leaped up the tree for about 1.5 metres then came back down on the ground and looked up the next tree.

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Up the tree was about five storeys high, was... guess who? My silly kitten, crying for help! Haiz! Will she ever learn? This is the third time. I will wait till I later to bring her down. Right now, I was busy.
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About half an hour later, I went to the tree to take a picture of my kitten, but to my astonishment, she was gone! Did she jump? I looked around, and to my relief, saw her playing with the neighbour's cat in the far end of the garden. Saves me the hassle of climbing up the tree with a basket again! So she has finally learned how to back track down the tree. Not so silly after all! :)

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These is about what it looks like (re-enacted pixs):

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What amazes me was the clarity of what my neighbour's cat communicated with me. It was just that we don't have a common language to talk to one another.

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A Tao master once told me that everything (including the so called 'non-living' things) around us have intelligence. Their intelligence is their nature. But at present, we don't know how to communicate with them. For more of the Tao master's talk, click here

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The hero

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Cat's Play 2a - Up the tree

She did it again! Up on the tree crying for help in the dead of the night! You would think that after the saga the night before she would have learned not to climb up the tree again. *SIGH*

Here we go again, all the improvised equipment, torchs, ladders, sticky tape,...etc.
That's only half way up.
Anyway, this was second time round and it was easier. :)
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Cat's Play 2 - Up the tree

This is my silly kitten.In the dead of the night, she climbed up the tree this high! She knows how to go up, but didn't know how to come down in reverse order. So she was stuck about 11m high (5 storeys high) and was crying out for help. We were brought to the attention by the kitten's mother, who was circling around the kitchen table nervously and calling us to follow her into the garden.

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My ladder is only 6m tall. She was another 5 metre above me and it was dark and cold outside. Climbing the almost branchless 5 metre section was too risky. We called the firemen, but their truck wouldn't be able to access our garden. It is also not possible to enter from the forest side. They would have to climb up the extra 5m after the ladder. Sometimes, the fireman might inadvertently frighten the kitten and she may panic and jump to her death. So they suggested that we leave her out there for a night and see what can be done the next day, but no more than a day as she will starve to death.
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Meanwhile, we cracked our heads and came up with an idea to tie something heavy to one end of a rope and throw it up over the branch where the kitten was, then lower the heavy object, and attach a basket to it. I tried that but it was too difficult. I dare not throw it too near the kitten in case I smash her face killing her, or scare her and she jumped to death. Besides, it was difficult standing at 6m on the ladder and throwing the dumbell (yes, we use a small one used by joggers!!!) almost vertically. I tried throwing up a few times - the last time it came down and landed on my chin. So now I have a bruised chin and the kitten was still up there crying in desperation.

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Next idea: we tied a basket to a fallen tree branch, but the branch was too short... haiz.

.So we extended the length, by with a few of them...

Thus, there I was at the top of the 6m ladder, in the darkness under the canopy of the night forest, straining my arms holding the bottom end of the heavy five metre long stick, moving the basket at the far end till it reaches the kitten. When the basket reached her, she looked into it, but didn't jump!!! URGH!!! My arms were now aching and wobbling, as it was heavy holding the stick with the basket at the far end. Besides, I was recovering from sciatic pains and every stretch of the leg was a stinging pain. As I persisted, my arms and legs shivered. I knew it was a point of no return. If I give up and lower the basket and the kitten happen to jump, she would jump to her death.

After ten more minutes, my persistence paid off. She finally got the hint and jumped into the basket. The sudden weight in the basket at the far end of the long stick threw me off balance momentarily, and I had to grab the tree quickly to keep still. So at last, the rescue is done. I got the basket and saw her. She looked petrified, but relieved.

A few months ago, I had another problem. I dropped my Dopod stylus in between the terrace timber floor boards. The gap is barely 1 cm wide and it is 10cm above a sandy ground below.

See picture below. We managed to rescue the stylus without taking out the floor boards or tunneling the ground. :) Do you want to think about how we did it? :)

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Cat's Play

My cat likes to bring back dead mice into the house, meant as presents for me. It is his own way of saying "thank you" to me. However, I don't really want these dead creatures like, mice, frogs, birds, dragon flies...etc, in the house as I will have to clean up and throw them out again. It is work for me. Also these creatures, including the mice, are from the woods and are not house pests, they had been minding their own business until they were caught by my cat.

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Isn't life sometimes like this? Each of us acting out our own part in our own nature, often meaning well and hoping that we fit into the grand picture?

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Like the teenage daughter bringing her 'cool and hip' friends home, to the worry of mum and dad when they meet them? Or the industrious husband coming home after a long day, only to be met by the wife's distressing naggings about his long hours at work? Or the overzealous boyfriend chasing the girl of his dream, eventually scaring her away?

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Each of them are acting out their part in their own nature, often perceived to be well meaning, but with conflicting desires, demands and results.

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Other posts:

Bucky Group - Thankful

Somedays we forget

To look around us

Somedays we can't see

The joy that surrounds us

So caught up inside ourselves

We take when we should give... more

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