Thank you for making #Bonnaroo so special. Now take that positivity and love with you and spread it far and wide ❤️ We'll see you next year June 11-14. 🎶 : The Lumineers - "Gloria" 🎥 : Human Being Media
A Cat Story by Buster Wranks ======================== While it may appear as though I am a just another keyboard cowboy who is couped up in a dark room, staring at a pc screen feverishly waiting for the next opportunity to share my wisdom with another unsuspecting victim ....such is not the case. Please, allow me to shatter this false perception. Where I actually spend most of my day is outside, in my yard, where I have many birds, squirrels and a feral cat that I spent many weeks building a friendship with. My PC is conveniently located next to the door that leads out to my large porch and yard, which makes it easy for me to keep an eye on web activity while popping in and out. I have named the feral cat Scraps for obvious reasons. I first met scraps, when I discovered she had been living in the bamboo behind my pond and stealing the "scraps" I left for the birds. She was apparently only 1-3 years old, extremely skinny and obviously quite malnourished. Since there is a group of feral cats that live in my rural neighborhood, I assumed she had been banished for some unknowable cat reason. A piece of her ear was missing and she seemed to be having trouble with her eyesight since she couldn't really see the food I left out for her until she was close enough to it to smell it's location. Scraps was very skittish, as feral cats are, for the first month after I became aware of her. Over time though, and once she realized I was putting food out just for her, she became more and more approachable. The first time I broke the ice with Scraps she had been near the door to the porch, sniffing around the area at the time I would regularly leave food out for her. I hadn't put any food out yet and I noticed her through the kitchen window that looks out into the porch. "Ahaa, this was my chance" I thought to myself as I rushed to prepare a can of Fancy Feast for my little orphan cat, hoping I might finally have a chance to properly introduce myself. And maybe even interact with her. I slowly opened the door to the porch and inched my head around the corner, just in time to see Scraps darting away towards the bamboo she had been living in. Her puckered kitty sphincter aimed at me, bopping up and down and partially obstructed by the dust she kicked up in her mad dash to avoid the giant, scary human that she had been outsmarting for her meals. Just before she reached the safe cover of the bamboo I let out a friendly MEEEEEOOOOWWWW.....Scraps stopped dead in her tracks and looked back at me over her shoulder, head tilted partially to the side in curiosity. "Huh, what is this" she must've been thinking. "The giant is trying to communicate with me?!", she appeared to be considering. Being faithful to the old adage "curiosity gets the cat", she turned in my direction, sat her rear end down and responded with a cute but quite reserved and tiny "meow"...Again, "Meeooww" ...."It's OK Meeooww", I tried to say in a convincing tone as I held up the food I had brought her so she might be tempted. She hesitantly took a step in my direction and sounded off again, "meow", as if asking if her safety was ensured. "Meeow meow, it's ok meow" I promised. I then slowly walked to the spot I normally left her food in, placed it on the ground and backed away. Scraps was obviously still hesitant so I decided to go back inside the house and once again observe her through the kitchen window. "Success!" I thought to myself gleaming with the glow of victory and considering the possibility that I may have just laid the foundation for a new best friend. Over the next few weeks I interacted with Scraps cautiously to gain more of her trust and build our friendship. She has since gained a healthy amount of weight and her eyesight seems to have improved quite a bit. She now sleeps on a comfortable old microfiber couch cushion on the porch and comes running to greet me when I go outside. And she likes to have her neck scratched. She really turned out to be one of the sweetest and amazingly affectionate cats I have ever known. It was a lot of work and I have spent a lot of time, that I don't regret one bit, to make friends with Scraps the feral cat. And soon enough the big pay off will come when the Asians down the block buy Scraps from me so they can serve her as the main course for their holiday feast. Eat up Scraps, they pay $15 dollars a pound! Meeoowww, sucker!
