Operation Kitty Rescue

It does not really look that bad when you pare it all down to a few pictures. In real life, it was a bit insane. Headleys offered to come save the kitty in the ceiling. I thought that was great, as I really was getting exhausted from not sleeping. But the first plan to get to her through the front porch roof was squashed after we took down some panels, and cut through some wood---we could not see her. That sent us into the house to send Linda up into the attic.

It is not a normal attic. There is a little hole in the ceiling, with a door on it, inside the closet where the furnace and hot water heater live. It is also the nastiest closet ever anywhere--the mops and stuff life in there, but the floor is absolutely filthy. I cannot impress upon you how foul it is. Anyway, there are no stairs obviously, so Linda had to climb in a chair, stand on the hot water heater and haul her whole self up through the hole. That is what Head was watching in the first pic.

It was a successful mission. Within seconds, she had a kitty in her hand. She was nice and round but not the loud one. We had to keep looking as there was still some horrible hollering from in there. That is when it got ugly.

Kitty was on the move. There was no getting to her via the attic. So we called mom and had her bring a power screw driver and started taking down kitchen cabinets. I found stuff in those cabinets I had not seen since we moved here. The next problem was that the screws on the cabinet over the stove were stripped out. So it was not coming down. We had to hammer THROUGH the cabinet to get to her.

See what I am saying to you? all the way through the cabinet and wall. Not good. Even more not good, we still could not get to her. We took the cabinet next to it mostly off the wall and hacked into that wall as well. Back up to the attic Head went, with a flashlight. That helped us find her. By that time, baby was no longer in the ceiling. She was down on the floor--or so it seemed from the sounds. Eventually Head was able to see her from up there--and why not, we had wacked holes all over the kitchen.

Next, we pulled the stove out, and went to hammering back there. And voila! Kitty popped out.

I actually think this is the first kitty, but I am not sure. The first one was not so loud, but plenty round. The second screaming sister was really thin--I do not think she would have kept screaming much longer because she was pretty bony. Rita and Ed went to buy kitty replacer while we were destroying the house, so there were bottles for babies as they were discovered. It was pretty funny watching big ol Ed giving the baby a bottle, but you gotta go what you gotta do. Linda and Head took the babies home with them to take care of them, as obviously I suck at it. They kept Linda up half the night and early morning eating and undoubtedly carrying on.

When I came home after work tonight, I was still somehow shocked that all the kitchen surfaces are covered with cabinet contents. And I cannot get the one cabinet to screw down correctly on the wall, so that is not good. There is drywall and insulation and cat hair everywhere, which explains why I had to take three benadryl today, even though I did not even go in the attic. I cannot imagine how sneezy and itchy Linda and Head are.

I have to admit it was swell sleeping last nite with no racket. I am going to do it again right now