Saturday, Jul. 14, 2007 - 9:56 p.m.
Vole Baiting
**************
I look at the clock
its 7:00 PM..
I look for Jinky
to take him down to the lake
as we usually do after supper
But I can't find him anywhere
he does not respond to a signal whistle
by 7:30 I give up
and go down alone
I know a A class Sunset coming on
and don't want to miss it
its been weeks since I have been to the lake alone
I always take Jinky
he has come to to expect our daily trip to the beach
but hey-
I guess he has other plans
kitten-hood has to end at some point
and his grand cathood autonomy kicks in
with all new priorities
Zip- I am at the lake in minutes
and I see people I know relaxing
under a shade tree pointing
I approach them and they tell me
"he went that away"
" your cat, following some girls"
Apparently Jinky had come to the beach
on his own initiative a half an hour ago
So I race up a side street
and there he is
dallying on a lawn with three girls
taking turns cooing and patting him
I salute them,
explain as best as I can quickly
and grab Jinky up
and zip back to the meadow above the lake
in two minutes we are back at our usual spot
and he walks down the iron stairs
to see the waves lap at the gravel beach
as if nothing had happened
There we meet a family from Denmark
on vacation
staying over in a local bed and breakfast
who want to see Niagara Falls at dawn
and then drive north to see some
real Canadian Indians
I tell them
its a 3 hour drive to get out of the built up part of Ontario
before they get to the deep woods of wild splendor
and add that they will love the drive and the destination
They find Jinky an irrresistable target
for their goodwill
and express amazement that he is
not afraid of the water
or dogs or strangers
and that
everyone around looks out for him
I tell them thats all part of being wonderful
they seem to understand the concept of
inheirent wonderfullness
and nod their heads in agreement
Then Jinky annoys some small dogs
and walks up to an old grey persian cat
who appeared on the meadow above
who lives in a nearby mansion
The old cat ignores Jinky
but Jinky loves him and follows him around
In a flash the old cat pounces on a mouse
and carrys it off in his mouth
Jinky follows closely behind the old cat
and just can't contain his curiosity
Old cat continues to ignore him
mouth full of mouse
and as i looked on
in an amazing gesture of generosity
Old cat drops the mouse
so that Jinky can have it
and then walks off to watch from a distance
' I see its not a mouse.
.but a vole'
Voles are much tougher than mice
and will stand up to a much larger adversary
this one stood up to Jinky
squirmed out of his mouth
and dropped to the ground
When Jinky attempted to
swat him into submission
the Vole lunged at him
The old cat watched from a distance
as the Vole got the better of Jinky
Then along came a man photographing the sunset
who then took some high speed action shots of
Jinky and the Vole squaring off in the meadow
Jinky was not prepared to have
a much smaller animal stand up to him
and was very frustrated
as the photographers flash blinded him
and the Vole didn't let up his defiance
If ever a sat was embaressed
it was Jinky
so i scooped him up
and carried him across the meadow
to the iron stairs
hoping he would just go
down to the water
and forget about the vole
.............But no...
he ran back and sniffed the vole out
from where he was hiding in the grass
and began swatting him
Vole lunged at him again
incredible nerve that Vole displayed
Jinky was easily
100 times larger than
his opponent
but he had only a fraction
of the tiny voles bravery
Again I scooped Jinky up
and took him right across the meadow
as he squirmed to be released
in order to resume the fight
But no..enough fighting for one day
I spirited him away
and rode him straight home
When we got home her' I let him down
and he gave me a dirty look
as if it was all my fault
he was not able to defeat the vole
Mice he caught before
- no big deal
but this was his first vole
I reminded him he didn;t catch it himself
and that an old fat Persian cat had done it
and given it to him as a gift
so, the vole was essentially
---take out food
maybe the old cat knew
how hard it would be
for a young cat to
get the better of a vole
old cats know valuable stuff'
Jinky is not an old cat
he doesn't know
a lot of valuable stuff
such as avoiding following girls
and the gentle art of
Vole baiting at sunset
