EDITION OF TUESDAY, DEC. 21, 2021 [PetPowellPress] This photograph is a convergence of seasons. You see at my funspouse Martha is at work in her true field of endeavor, wrapping presents, and the little kitten, Captain Hastings Streetboy, is enjoying the sounds and springing-abouts of his first Christmas. Yes, the Christmas season and Kitten Season converge.
He’s the fellow I picked up in October from the middle of Hastings Street in Duncanville — he’s healthy now and can see and has enjoyed slapping flocking off the Christmas tree, trying to pull ribbons off of packages and posing motionless with Martha for a holiday photo.
He has defeated ringworm — and, as you know, ringworm is tough. An outbreak once grounded a certain 8 tiny reindeer. You cannot not be scratching out of unison and simultaneously manage a shingle-shaking safe landing on a rooftop. That’s what I heard. That was the year in the ‘50s everybody got a tube of ointment in their stocking if a grandmother tapped out her Lucky Strike and declared “That child’s nose is glowing red!”
Perhaps I misremember the entertaining folk tales of my childhood in Northeast Texas, land of pine trees and pastures filled with red-nosed ticks. Let’s move along with items of the day not related to fiction. MORE CHRISTMAS MEMORIES IN CONTEMPLATIONS…
AN UPDATE ON IVY JOY,
THE RESCUED KITTEN
As you can see in that photo on the left, Ivy Joy is no longer a kitten.
In late 2010 or early 2011 (my mind slips) we began writing about her after Houston rescuers Frank and Edna Taylor managed to save her from a solitary life in a dangerous field. She was adopted by the Ragland family in Dallas and has lived what is accurately described as “a wonderful life.” You may recall that Frank and Edna loved this cat so much that they drove her from Houston to Dallas to make sure she arrived safely!
She is an extraordinarily beloved cat!
Recently Ivy Joy encountered some medical problems. We’d been monitoring her progress via the loving words of her human Lezli Ragland. On Monday, we spotted this message from Lezli, “Hello Everyone From Ivy Joy!!! She has healed nicely from her cancer surgery and her bladder issues, etc., are doing better since back on the steroids. She is happy, feisty and full of joy…..She will be rechecked in a few more weeks. Thanks for the love and purrs. Our hearts are connected by paws.”
And that photo on the right is the very first picture we ever posted of Ivy Joy — that was taken before she was “Ivy Joy” — she was snapped while exploring a little trashcan in the Taylor household! Just a kitten and now such a beloved cat. That is a happy story!
SUCH A CROWD OF PUPPIES,
PLUS DAD; MOM’S SAD STORY
This is one sad danged story.
A Momma Doberman gave gave birth to 11 puppies. The people who had Mom and Dad and the 11 puppies, decided to give up Daddy and the puppies. Mom? She had died.
Here’s the story from the folks at 4-Legged Helpers who continue to monitor opportunities in small shelters in the greater Metrosprawl. The info note reads, “This is a sad case of a mommy dog that passed away apparently and someone released Daddy who is a purebred Doberman and all 11 puppies to the shelter. Daddy dog is a wonderful dog. Very sweet and loving. About 2 years old. Very friendly. Loving. Gives kisses. Knows sit. Sorry - I do not have all the puppy pics but have most - there are 11 total. They all look very similar. Puppies have had 2 sets of vaccinations and have all been dewormed. Please help!!”
CALL/TEXT 214-949-2726 or email [email protected]
AND NOW WE RETURN TO
THE EMU ADVENTURES
When last we addressed Emulie the Emu, our pal Della Wallace was monitoring the situation of two stray emus wandering her Oak Point neighborhood.
What do you do with an emu when your house is focused on dogs, visiting cats and a raccoon colony?
Our pal Della Wallace, the veteran rescuer and advocate, talked with neighbors and, after some calls, got the “stray” emus into the care of the Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch in Denton County.
Della kept us up-to-date on Emulie’s situation. Well, except for identifying the gender of an emu — we both know how to peg boy or girl cats and dogs, but emus are a different challenge. Probable takes more than picking them up, turning them over and looking between their back legs. First, they don’t have back legs…
For a while Emulie was “in a grove of trees next door and I can’t see her,” Della wrote. “She is sharing a water trough with a couple of cows. She is being fed grapes and other fruit.”
And Della reported this odd thing occurring at the same time as Project Emulie. “Birds are everywhere,” Della wrote “About 20 geese next door, birds in my bird-feeder and of course Emulie still eluding the guy trying to catch her in the pasture next door!”
She proved a little difficult to catch, but the professionals managed to get her and the other wandering emu.
As the pros were beginning their work, Della wrote that Emulie was “hiding in a grove of tree.” The Della wisecracked, “They think they may have to tranquilize her. Probably finish up tranquilizing each other.”
But, everything worked out and the pros got Emulie and his or her mate (uncertain!) to safety. Everything was tranquil without being tranquilized.
CONTEMPLATIONS
EMAIL, MUSIC & YULE DELIVERY
“Are these the BARN DOORS YOU WANTED?” read the email subject line and immediately I thought, “Oh, no! Another mistake trying to order a ring for Martha!” Fortunately it was not an error, just an advertisement. I’m not buying barn doors until I have a barn. And I won’t have a barn until Lotto Texas comes through for me. …
HERE’S A SONG FOR THE SEASON from Tony Bennett.. My favorite line is “from now on our troubles will be out of sight.” There are two versions of this song, as you can learn by reading this story by Maddy Shaw Roberts on the Classic FM page HERE. …
AN UPBEAT CHRISTMAS MEMORY: I'd have photos to go with this story, but we didn't have cellphones with cameras in 1965. We didn't have cell phones, either.
When I was a kid reporter and a senior in high school in December of ’65, I was not only a full-time Texas High student and full-time reporter (4 p.m.-11 p.m.) at The Texarkana Gazette, I was working part-time (on my nights and afternoons off) on a delivery truck for Montgomery Ward. It was a big department store chain many of you kids don’t remember. I needed the money to pay for junior college in the fall, assuming I'd graduate from high school in Spring of '66. (I did both.)
On one Saturday day-shift in delivery, the driver John Butler (father of a kid I knew), and I loaded up the big delivery truck. One of our last stops of the shift was going to be at a house atop a hill just west of downtown Texarkana. It was to an older house — two flights of stairs up from the street and another flight into the residence.
We were lucky we weren’t delivering a refrigerator or a “hide-a-bed,” two torturously impossible items to smoothly deliver up a flight of stairs. This time we were delivering a “console stereo” — a piece of cabinet-styled furniture about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide — inside were state-of-the-art stereo speakers, a tube-powered radio and a “record player” that played 45, 78 and 33 1/3 rpm records. You could stack records on the spindle and the mechanism would “drop” the record and the arm would move over the record, lower the needle gently to the record’s edge and then begin to play the music! It was magic!
We parked in front of the house. The family’s Italian name was on the mailbox so we knew we had the right home.
Mr. Butler and I pulled the boxed console stereo out of the truck, shut the door, then began to walk the bulky item up the stairs. Mr. Butler, a slim fellow of about 5-10, who wore his Montgomery-Ward uniform like it was a Marine uniform (very crisp!), began backing up the first flight and if, hefting my end of the console, followed him very carefully. These were steep steps made of decades old cement. You had to be careful where you stepped.
We made it all the way. And Mr. Butler took one hand off the console to ring the doorbell. Inside we could hear happy chattering exploding. The door opened and the “Mom” stepped aside to let us into this “decorated for Christmas” home.
There were also three teenage girls there — sisters, all beautiful, all happy, all with wonderful smiles and brown eyes. They were so excited they were giggly. One of them had a record album in her hands.
Mom showed us where to set up the console. Mr. Butler expertly cut the box away from the console and pulled it aside, telling me to fold it up. As I folded the box, Mr. Butler plugged the stereo into a wall connection. Then he opened the top of the console, reached in and turned it on. The yellowish glow of the radio dial accented the white paint on the wall.
Mr. Butler looked at the girls and said, “It’s ready to go.”
Mom said, “Put on a record.” And the girl with the brand new record album— she looked like maybe the middle sister — smiled and stepped the the console. But she wasn’t quite sure how to put the record on the spindle or start the turntable, so Mr. Butler helped her by giving her directions so she could actually put on the record and start it. And soon, that home of happy kids was gleefully listening to the stereo sounds of a brand new copy of Elvis’ Christmas Album from 1957.
I remember that day and seeing those sisters get that big family gift. It was, from the eyes of a helper on a delivery truck, a very Merry Christmas for three kids and a Mom.
Even now, in December 2021, 56 years later, the joy on those faces at the first notes of Santa Claus Is Back In Town still helps me find my own smiles at Christmas. And, of course, as a dedicated Boomer I miss the sound of new vinyl sliding down the spindle and slapping flat onto the record that just played. But just thinking about it makes me a little merrier. I hope you’re merrier, too. Turn up the volume. Shake the department store home-furnishing paintings off the wall!
— Offer tune tips or lectures about moving along into the future by clicking on ‘comment’ or by emailing [email protected] and put 2021 NITWIT in the subject line. —-
