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Rocky's autobiography (looong)



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 8th 04, 08:22 AM
Steve Touchstone
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Rocky's autobiography (looong)

Sorry if anyone thinks this is too long. I broke it down into parts
and seriously considered posting each part separately, but then
decided that if I were one of those reading I'd rather get the whole
story in one fell swoop. Anyway, there's Rocky's Story, from his
viewpoint.

Part One - I Become the King

It’s been a while now since I joined this here family, so I figured it
was time to sit down and tell my story. I probably wouldn’t bother,
but the one the hoomin calls Sammy tells me both she and her momma,
called Little Bit by the hoomin, have told their stories and that I
should tell mine.

I can’t tell you much about my early years. Really have no idea how
old I am. I know that the cold and hot times came several times. Momma
taught me how to hunt for food, how to find cool spots when it was
hot, and warm spots during the cold times. Momma taught me from an
early age that hoomins weren’t to be trusted. I figure she was right
about most stuff, but lately I’ve found that at least SOME hoomins are
OK.

After I got bigger and momma and I got separated. I really don’t know
where she went. Things were pretty rough there for a while. All the
older, bigger cats didn’t want me around, so I got beat up until I
learned how to fight and protect myself. After a couple more hot and
cold times came and went, it got so that I was winning more fights
than I was losing.

Things were really starting to look up. I established my own little
territory where I was the King. All the other cats in the neighborhood
gave me the respect I deserved. When some young upstart gave me grief
I’d either whip them into shape, or make life so miserable for them
that they moved out of my kingdom. There were always hoomins around,
but I avoided them as much as I could and didn’t give them much
thought.

Part Two - Changes

After living the good life for a couple more hot and cold times a
couple things happened that changed my life. You see there was a group
of hoomin dwellings in my kingdom where a brown-nosed tom cat used to
hang around. I later learned he was what the hoomins call a tuxedo
kitty. He had a white face and a black nose, but I always called him
brown-nose because of how he was always cozying up to the hoomins. The
hoomins called him Spot, though. He used to say he was the official
apartment complex cat. It worked for him, he used to go inside the
various hoomin houses to sleep at night, could got out of the worst
weather, and get all the best food.

The other thing that happened which ended up changing my life was that
about this time a new hoomin moved into one of the hoomin houses.
Eventually I’d end up trustung this particular hoomin and even let him
pet me, but that was still in the future. The first thing about this
new hoomin that changed my life was that when he learned about Spot he
started putting food outside to encourage Spot to come eat at there,
and sometimes spend the night sleeping on his bed. I couldn’t have
cared less about going into the hoomin’s house, but the food he put
out for Spot was GOOD, so I started eating it when the hoomin put it
out.

Life got even better. All us neighborhood cats had a new source of
good food, which of course is always welcome when you’re not sure when
the next meal is coming. At first I ran and hid whenever I saw the
hoomin, but over time I learned that he wouldn’t throw things or chase
me away. So, after a time I stopped running whenever I saw him. After
a while I started going closer and waiting while he filled up the food
bowl. I learned a startling fact, it actually feels nice when a hoomin
scritches you in that certain spot that you just can’t seem to reach
behind your ear.

Part Three - Betrayal and My First TED Visit

Life was good. I had the occasional challenge to my rule of the
kingdom, but still won all my fights. After one fight, though, I had a
war wound to my front leg. It really hurt and just wouldn’t heal
right. The hoomin noticed that my leg was all swollen, about three
times the size of the other one. He tried to touch it, but I wasn’t
about to put up with that so I hightailed it out of there and stayed
away.

After a couple days I was starting to get really hungry, so I decided
to go back and see if he was still putting out food. When I got there
the food bowl was full, and I was so hungry I let the hoomin take a
close look. The next morning when I went back to eat the hoomin was
there waiting. When I bent over the bowl he snatched me up and stuck
me in a box. Next thing I knew he carried me over to one of those big
moving monsters that the hoomins sit in and ride around in. The hoomin
put me inside the monster and it made a lot of noise and we were
moving.

It didn’t last long, and when we stopped the hoomin carried me inside
a different hoomin places. The hoomin talked to some other hoomin, and
then after waiting a while carried me to a smaller room where we
waited again until another strange hoomin came. This was the worst
hoomin yet, and I was really beginning to think my momma had been
right when she told me not to trust these hoomins. This new hoomin
looked at me through the bars on the box, and they opened the side of
the box.

I made a break for it, but there was no place to go. They threw
something over me and held me so I couldn’t bite or scratch them while
this new hoomin poked and prodded me. It ended up with this new hoomin
sticking me with something sharp, but it didn’t hurt much. When they
put the box with the bars on the table I decided it was a lot safer
inside the box than outside where they could poke, prod and stab me
with sharp sticks. So, when they loosened their grip a bit I darted
back into that box. Turned out, though, that’s what they wanted. The
hoomins exchanged some of their strange noises, then the hoomin who
had betrayed my trust picked up the box, and carried me back to the
moving monster. After the strange moving feeling, the monster stopped
and the hoomin carried me awhile. When he put down the box I found I
was back where the adventure had started.

The hoomin opened the side of the box, and I was OUT OF THERE. It may
sound strange, but after the trip in the monster and having that
strange hoomin stab me with the sharp stick, my leg stopped hurting
and healed up a lot quicker than war wounds normally do. I stayed gone
for several days before I went back to check for food, though. For a
long time I didn’t trust the hoomin and kept my distance. Eventually,
I forgave him, after all he kept putting out food, and things went
back to the way they were before.

Part Four - Little Bit and Sammy Move In and Another TED Visit

I was still the King, I lived the good life, and my sore leg was good
as new. Sometime during this period Spot, the self proclaimed
apartment cat, disappeared. I heard the hoomin say later that he had
gotten himself locked inside one of those BIG moving monsters with
some other hoomin’s furniture and gone to someplace called California.
Serves old brown nose right, but I hear he was happy as he stopped
being an apartment cat and had his own family.

Another cold time came and went. One of the neighborhood girls cats,
called Little Bit, moved in with the hoomin, had some babies. She
started living inside with the hoomin with Sammy, one of the babies. I
started trusting the hoomin again, and even went inside the hoomin’s
apartment to eat sometimes, since the cats that now lived there seemed
to get better food than what the hoomin put out for us neighborhood
cats.

Things were good, until another challenge came and I had to put
another pipsqueak in his place. Once again I got one of those swollen
leg wounds which just won’t heal. The hoomin tried to stick me inside
the box with bars, but I remembered from the other time and took off
and stayed away for a couple days. Guess I was getting spoiled by the
regular meals of good food, though, and it was hard to get enough to
eat when it hurt to walk, so eventually I went back.

Since it was so hard to walk with my wound, the hoomin managed to
catch me and stick me in the box. It was pretty much a repeat of the
first time - into the moving monster, back to the smelly hoomin place,
stabbed by the strange hoomin, then coming back to where we had
started from. I took off again as soon as the hoomin put down the box
and opened the bars, but didn’t stay away as long. You know, there may
just something about that stick the strange hoomin stabs you with,
because the swelling started going down again, and in no time the
wound healed.

Part Five - I Become Part of the Family and Get a Name

Things went back to normal. More hot times followed by cold times came
and went. Life was good. Then a time came when the hoomin started
saying he might move, and he started asking me if I would want to move
to some place and become something called a “barn cat”. He said
something about having something fixed before I became a barn cat. I
really had no clue about what he was talking about. I tried to tell
him I was the King, life was good, nothing needed fixing, and I had no
intention of becoming a barn cat - whatever a barn cat was.

One day when I went to eat he was waiting there with the bar-box.
There was no way I was going to go into that thing, especially not
this time as I didn’t even have a sore leg. So I took off and stayed
away for a few days. I checked a couple times, but he had stopped
putting out food. Then, one day when I went back he opened the door
and told me to come inside if I wanted to eat. By that time I was
getting pretty hungry, so I went on inside. Turns out that was a BIG
mistake, because as soon as I started eating he dropped
something over me and before I could get away I was back inside that
blasted bar-box and on the way to the monster.

This time we ended up at a different smelly place, and the hoomin
abandoned me and left me there with strangers. I ended up being held
captive for a couple days, and on the second day the hoomins did
something to me which I guess fixed whatever they thought was broken.
Finally, on the third day MY hoomin came back and rescued me. I knew
he was the one who had caught and taken me to the smelly place, but I
decided to forgive him and do a little sucking up so that he would
decide not to take me to wherever the barn way - if this was what was
meant by "Fixing" I sure didn’t want to find out what he meant by
becoming a barn cat.

Sammy, one of the girl cats who lives with the hoomin, was actually
pretty helpful telling me how to get the hoomin to let me become part
of the family. Little Bit, Sammy’s mom, didn’t like me, and kept
telling me how much fun I’d have as a barn cat. She didn’t fool me at
all, though, so I followed Sammy’s advice. It worked, too, and when it
came time for me to leave and go wherever barn cats go the hoomin had
decided to let me stay. I wasn’t always to sure when Sammy told me how
to get on the hoomin’s good side, but have learned that she’s a pretty
smart little cat. Lots of things have changed since the hoomin decided
I was part of the family. Guess the first thing was when I got a real
hoomin name. Before the hoomin called me "the mostly white, black and
white tom cat", or just Whitey, but once I became a family member he
started calling me Rocky.

I’ve learned a lot of other things, too. Once I became part of the
family I started making strange sounds that the hoomin calls meows,
and I started making a rumbling noise he calls purrs. After watching
the other cats I decided to try jumping up on the hoomin’s lap for
scritches, which is even better than head rubbing when I’m on the
ground. And BRUSHING - it feels so GOOD when the hoomin strokes me
with the brush. Once I was sure the hoomin wasn’t going to do anything
that would hurt, Sammy introduced me to toys. I had pretty much
forgotten how to play since it had been so long since I could really
relax when I was living by my wits. Now I can relax and play, and
playing is FUN.

I’m still the king, just sort of semi-retired now. For some reason I’m
not interested in girls anymore. I’m stay here at the hoomin’s place
instead of wandering the neighborhood. I still get the respect of the
other neighborhood cats, but seldom have to face a challenge and fight
- in fact I haven’t had a real fight since I was fixed. Maybe that’s
what they meant by getting fixed - if so it was worth it even if I was
sort of scared at the time. It may sound sort of corny, but it feels
pretty darned good to have a hoomin name and a hoomin family. If life
was good before, it’s GREAT now.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky

[remove Junk for email]
Home Page:
http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html
Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html
  #2  
Old September 8th 04, 08:51 AM
O J
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Wed, 08 Sep, Steve Touchstone wrote:

---------------------snip----------------------
It may sound sort of corny, but it feels
pretty darned good to have a hoomin name and a hoomin family. If life
was good before, it’s GREAT now.


When I looked at the header and it said 234 lines I thought it might
be slow reading. Just the opposite! I enjoyed reading about Rocky's
journey from semi-feral to lap sitter very much. Thanks Steve!

Regards and Purrs,
O J
  #3  
Old September 8th 04, 08:51 AM
O J
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Wed, 08 Sep, Steve Touchstone wrote:

---------------------snip----------------------
It may sound sort of corny, but it feels
pretty darned good to have a hoomin name and a hoomin family. If life
was good before, it’s GREAT now.


When I looked at the header and it said 234 lines I thought it might
be slow reading. Just the opposite! I enjoyed reading about Rocky's
journey from semi-feral to lap sitter very much. Thanks Steve!

Regards and Purrs,
O J
  #4  
Old September 8th 04, 08:51 AM
O J
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Wed, 08 Sep, Steve Touchstone wrote:

---------------------snip----------------------
It may sound sort of corny, but it feels
pretty darned good to have a hoomin name and a hoomin family. If life
was good before, it’s GREAT now.


When I looked at the header and it said 234 lines I thought it might
be slow reading. Just the opposite! I enjoyed reading about Rocky's
journey from semi-feral to lap sitter very much. Thanks Steve!

Regards and Purrs,
O J
  #5  
Old September 8th 04, 01:06 PM
Christine Burel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Really heartwarming story, Steve. I loved it.
Christine
"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...
Sorry if anyone thinks this is too long. I broke it down into parts
and seriously considered posting each part separately, but then
decided that if I were one of those reading I'd rather get the whole
story in one fell swoop. Anyway, there's Rocky's Story, from his
viewpoint.

Part One - I Become the King

It's been a while now since I joined this here family, so I figured it
was time to sit down and tell my story. I probably wouldn't bother,
but the one the hoomin calls Sammy tells me both she and her momma,
called Little Bit by the hoomin, have told their stories and that I
should tell mine.

I can't tell you much about my early years. Really have no idea how
old I am. I know that the cold and hot times came several times. Momma
taught me how to hunt for food, how to find cool spots when it was
hot, and warm spots during the cold times. Momma taught me from an
early age that hoomins weren't to be trusted. I figure she was right
about most stuff, but lately I've found that at least SOME hoomins are
OK.

After I got bigger and momma and I got separated. I really don't know
where she went. Things were pretty rough there for a while. All the
older, bigger cats didn't want me around, so I got beat up until I
learned how to fight and protect myself. After a couple more hot and
cold times came and went, it got so that I was winning more fights
than I was losing.

Things were really starting to look up. I established my own little
territory where I was the King. All the other cats in the neighborhood
gave me the respect I deserved. When some young upstart gave me grief
I'd either whip them into shape, or make life so miserable for them
that they moved out of my kingdom. There were always hoomins around,
but I avoided them as much as I could and didn't give them much
thought.

Part Two - Changes

After living the good life for a couple more hot and cold times a
couple things happened that changed my life. You see there was a group
of hoomin dwellings in my kingdom where a brown-nosed tom cat used to
hang around. I later learned he was what the hoomins call a tuxedo
kitty. He had a white face and a black nose, but I always called him
brown-nose because of how he was always cozying up to the hoomins. The
hoomins called him Spot, though. He used to say he was the official
apartment complex cat. It worked for him, he used to go inside the
various hoomin houses to sleep at night, could got out of the worst
weather, and get all the best food.

The other thing that happened which ended up changing my life was that
about this time a new hoomin moved into one of the hoomin houses.
Eventually I'd end up trustung this particular hoomin and even let him
pet me, but that was still in the future. The first thing about this
new hoomin that changed my life was that when he learned about Spot he
started putting food outside to encourage Spot to come eat at there,
and sometimes spend the night sleeping on his bed. I couldn't have
cared less about going into the hoomin's house, but the food he put
out for Spot was GOOD, so I started eating it when the hoomin put it
out.

Life got even better. All us neighborhood cats had a new source of
good food, which of course is always welcome when you're not sure when
the next meal is coming. At first I ran and hid whenever I saw the
hoomin, but over time I learned that he wouldn't throw things or chase
me away. So, after a time I stopped running whenever I saw him. After
a while I started going closer and waiting while he filled up the food
bowl. I learned a startling fact, it actually feels nice when a hoomin
scritches you in that certain spot that you just can't seem to reach
behind your ear.

Part Three - Betrayal and My First TED Visit

Life was good. I had the occasional challenge to my rule of the
kingdom, but still won all my fights. After one fight, though, I had a
war wound to my front leg. It really hurt and just wouldn't heal
right. The hoomin noticed that my leg was all swollen, about three
times the size of the other one. He tried to touch it, but I wasn't
about to put up with that so I hightailed it out of there and stayed
away.

After a couple days I was starting to get really hungry, so I decided
to go back and see if he was still putting out food. When I got there
the food bowl was full, and I was so hungry I let the hoomin take a
close look. The next morning when I went back to eat the hoomin was
there waiting. When I bent over the bowl he snatched me up and stuck
me in a box. Next thing I knew he carried me over to one of those big
moving monsters that the hoomins sit in and ride around in. The hoomin
put me inside the monster and it made a lot of noise and we were
moving.

It didn't last long, and when we stopped the hoomin carried me inside
a different hoomin places. The hoomin talked to some other hoomin, and
then after waiting a while carried me to a smaller room where we
waited again until another strange hoomin came. This was the worst
hoomin yet, and I was really beginning to think my momma had been
right when she told me not to trust these hoomins. This new hoomin
looked at me through the bars on the box, and they opened the side of
the box.

I made a break for it, but there was no place to go. They threw
something over me and held me so I couldn't bite or scratch them while
this new hoomin poked and prodded me. It ended up with this new hoomin
sticking me with something sharp, but it didn't hurt much. When they
put the box with the bars on the table I decided it was a lot safer
inside the box than outside where they could poke, prod and stab me
with sharp sticks. So, when they loosened their grip a bit I darted
back into that box. Turned out, though, that's what they wanted. The
hoomins exchanged some of their strange noises, then the hoomin who
had betrayed my trust picked up the box, and carried me back to the
moving monster. After the strange moving feeling, the monster stopped
and the hoomin carried me awhile. When he put down the box I found I
was back where the adventure had started.

The hoomin opened the side of the box, and I was OUT OF THERE. It may
sound strange, but after the trip in the monster and having that
strange hoomin stab me with the sharp stick, my leg stopped hurting
and healed up a lot quicker than war wounds normally do. I stayed gone
for several days before I went back to check for food, though. For a
long time I didn't trust the hoomin and kept my distance. Eventually,
I forgave him, after all he kept putting out food, and things went
back to the way they were before.

Part Four - Little Bit and Sammy Move In and Another TED Visit

I was still the King, I lived the good life, and my sore leg was good
as new. Sometime during this period Spot, the self proclaimed
apartment cat, disappeared. I heard the hoomin say later that he had
gotten himself locked inside one of those BIG moving monsters with
some other hoomin's furniture and gone to someplace called California.
Serves old brown nose right, but I hear he was happy as he stopped
being an apartment cat and had his own family.

Another cold time came and went. One of the neighborhood girls cats,
called Little Bit, moved in with the hoomin, had some babies. She
started living inside with the hoomin with Sammy, one of the babies. I
started trusting the hoomin again, and even went inside the hoomin's
apartment to eat sometimes, since the cats that now lived there seemed
to get better food than what the hoomin put out for us neighborhood
cats.

Things were good, until another challenge came and I had to put
another pipsqueak in his place. Once again I got one of those swollen
leg wounds which just won't heal. The hoomin tried to stick me inside
the box with bars, but I remembered from the other time and took off
and stayed away for a couple days. Guess I was getting spoiled by the
regular meals of good food, though, and it was hard to get enough to
eat when it hurt to walk, so eventually I went back.

Since it was so hard to walk with my wound, the hoomin managed to
catch me and stick me in the box. It was pretty much a repeat of the
first time - into the moving monster, back to the smelly hoomin place,
stabbed by the strange hoomin, then coming back to where we had
started from. I took off again as soon as the hoomin put down the box
and opened the bars, but didn't stay away as long. You know, there may
just something about that stick the strange hoomin stabs you with,
because the swelling started going down again, and in no time the
wound healed.

Part Five - I Become Part of the Family and Get a Name

Things went back to normal. More hot times followed by cold times came
and went. Life was good. Then a time came when the hoomin started
saying he might move, and he started asking me if I would want to move
to some place and become something called a "barn cat". He said
something about having something fixed before I became a barn cat. I
really had no clue about what he was talking about. I tried to tell
him I was the King, life was good, nothing needed fixing, and I had no
intention of becoming a barn cat - whatever a barn cat was.

One day when I went to eat he was waiting there with the bar-box.
There was no way I was going to go into that thing, especially not
this time as I didn't even have a sore leg. So I took off and stayed
away for a few days. I checked a couple times, but he had stopped
putting out food. Then, one day when I went back he opened the door
and told me to come inside if I wanted to eat. By that time I was
getting pretty hungry, so I went on inside. Turns out that was a BIG
mistake, because as soon as I started eating he dropped
something over me and before I could get away I was back inside that
blasted bar-box and on the way to the monster.

This time we ended up at a different smelly place, and the hoomin
abandoned me and left me there with strangers. I ended up being held
captive for a couple days, and on the second day the hoomins did
something to me which I guess fixed whatever they thought was broken.
Finally, on the third day MY hoomin came back and rescued me. I knew
he was the one who had caught and taken me to the smelly place, but I
decided to forgive him and do a little sucking up so that he would
decide not to take me to wherever the barn way - if this was what was
meant by "Fixing" I sure didn't want to find out what he meant by
becoming a barn cat.

Sammy, one of the girl cats who lives with the hoomin, was actually
pretty helpful telling me how to get the hoomin to let me become part
of the family. Little Bit, Sammy's mom, didn't like me, and kept
telling me how much fun I'd have as a barn cat. She didn't fool me at
all, though, so I followed Sammy's advice. It worked, too, and when it
came time for me to leave and go wherever barn cats go the hoomin had
decided to let me stay. I wasn't always to sure when Sammy told me how
to get on the hoomin's good side, but have learned that she's a pretty
smart little cat. Lots of things have changed since the hoomin decided
I was part of the family. Guess the first thing was when I got a real
hoomin name. Before the hoomin called me "the mostly white, black and
white tom cat", or just Whitey, but once I became a family member he
started calling me Rocky.

I've learned a lot of other things, too. Once I became part of the
family I started making strange sounds that the hoomin calls meows,
and I started making a rumbling noise he calls purrs. After watching
the other cats I decided to try jumping up on the hoomin's lap for
scritches, which is even better than head rubbing when I'm on the
ground. And BRUSHING - it feels so GOOD when the hoomin strokes me
with the brush. Once I was sure the hoomin wasn't going to do anything
that would hurt, Sammy introduced me to toys. I had pretty much
forgotten how to play since it had been so long since I could really
relax when I was living by my wits. Now I can relax and play, and
playing is FUN.

I'm still the king, just sort of semi-retired now. For some reason I'm
not interested in girls anymore. I'm stay here at the hoomin's place
instead of wandering the neighborhood. I still get the respect of the
other neighborhood cats, but seldom have to face a challenge and fight
- in fact I haven't had a real fight since I was fixed. Maybe that's
what they meant by getting fixed - if so it was worth it even if I was
sort of scared at the time. It may sound sort of corny, but it feels
pretty darned good to have a hoomin name and a hoomin family. If life
was good before, it's GREAT now.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky

[remove Junk for email]
Home Page:
http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html
Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html



  #6  
Old September 8th 04, 01:06 PM
Christine Burel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Really heartwarming story, Steve. I loved it.
Christine
"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...
Sorry if anyone thinks this is too long. I broke it down into parts
and seriously considered posting each part separately, but then
decided that if I were one of those reading I'd rather get the whole
story in one fell swoop. Anyway, there's Rocky's Story, from his
viewpoint.

Part One - I Become the King

It's been a while now since I joined this here family, so I figured it
was time to sit down and tell my story. I probably wouldn't bother,
but the one the hoomin calls Sammy tells me both she and her momma,
called Little Bit by the hoomin, have told their stories and that I
should tell mine.

I can't tell you much about my early years. Really have no idea how
old I am. I know that the cold and hot times came several times. Momma
taught me how to hunt for food, how to find cool spots when it was
hot, and warm spots during the cold times. Momma taught me from an
early age that hoomins weren't to be trusted. I figure she was right
about most stuff, but lately I've found that at least SOME hoomins are
OK.

After I got bigger and momma and I got separated. I really don't know
where she went. Things were pretty rough there for a while. All the
older, bigger cats didn't want me around, so I got beat up until I
learned how to fight and protect myself. After a couple more hot and
cold times came and went, it got so that I was winning more fights
than I was losing.

Things were really starting to look up. I established my own little
territory where I was the King. All the other cats in the neighborhood
gave me the respect I deserved. When some young upstart gave me grief
I'd either whip them into shape, or make life so miserable for them
that they moved out of my kingdom. There were always hoomins around,
but I avoided them as much as I could and didn't give them much
thought.

Part Two - Changes

After living the good life for a couple more hot and cold times a
couple things happened that changed my life. You see there was a group
of hoomin dwellings in my kingdom where a brown-nosed tom cat used to
hang around. I later learned he was what the hoomins call a tuxedo
kitty. He had a white face and a black nose, but I always called him
brown-nose because of how he was always cozying up to the hoomins. The
hoomins called him Spot, though. He used to say he was the official
apartment complex cat. It worked for him, he used to go inside the
various hoomin houses to sleep at night, could got out of the worst
weather, and get all the best food.

The other thing that happened which ended up changing my life was that
about this time a new hoomin moved into one of the hoomin houses.
Eventually I'd end up trustung this particular hoomin and even let him
pet me, but that was still in the future. The first thing about this
new hoomin that changed my life was that when he learned about Spot he
started putting food outside to encourage Spot to come eat at there,
and sometimes spend the night sleeping on his bed. I couldn't have
cared less about going into the hoomin's house, but the food he put
out for Spot was GOOD, so I started eating it when the hoomin put it
out.

Life got even better. All us neighborhood cats had a new source of
good food, which of course is always welcome when you're not sure when
the next meal is coming. At first I ran and hid whenever I saw the
hoomin, but over time I learned that he wouldn't throw things or chase
me away. So, after a time I stopped running whenever I saw him. After
a while I started going closer and waiting while he filled up the food
bowl. I learned a startling fact, it actually feels nice when a hoomin
scritches you in that certain spot that you just can't seem to reach
behind your ear.

Part Three - Betrayal and My First TED Visit

Life was good. I had the occasional challenge to my rule of the
kingdom, but still won all my fights. After one fight, though, I had a
war wound to my front leg. It really hurt and just wouldn't heal
right. The hoomin noticed that my leg was all swollen, about three
times the size of the other one. He tried to touch it, but I wasn't
about to put up with that so I hightailed it out of there and stayed
away.

After a couple days I was starting to get really hungry, so I decided
to go back and see if he was still putting out food. When I got there
the food bowl was full, and I was so hungry I let the hoomin take a
close look. The next morning when I went back to eat the hoomin was
there waiting. When I bent over the bowl he snatched me up and stuck
me in a box. Next thing I knew he carried me over to one of those big
moving monsters that the hoomins sit in and ride around in. The hoomin
put me inside the monster and it made a lot of noise and we were
moving.

It didn't last long, and when we stopped the hoomin carried me inside
a different hoomin places. The hoomin talked to some other hoomin, and
then after waiting a while carried me to a smaller room where we
waited again until another strange hoomin came. This was the worst
hoomin yet, and I was really beginning to think my momma had been
right when she told me not to trust these hoomins. This new hoomin
looked at me through the bars on the box, and they opened the side of
the box.

I made a break for it, but there was no place to go. They threw
something over me and held me so I couldn't bite or scratch them while
this new hoomin poked and prodded me. It ended up with this new hoomin
sticking me with something sharp, but it didn't hurt much. When they
put the box with the bars on the table I decided it was a lot safer
inside the box than outside where they could poke, prod and stab me
with sharp sticks. So, when they loosened their grip a bit I darted
back into that box. Turned out, though, that's what they wanted. The
hoomins exchanged some of their strange noises, then the hoomin who
had betrayed my trust picked up the box, and carried me back to the
moving monster. After the strange moving feeling, the monster stopped
and the hoomin carried me awhile. When he put down the box I found I
was back where the adventure had started.

The hoomin opened the side of the box, and I was OUT OF THERE. It may
sound strange, but after the trip in the monster and having that
strange hoomin stab me with the sharp stick, my leg stopped hurting
and healed up a lot quicker than war wounds normally do. I stayed gone
for several days before I went back to check for food, though. For a
long time I didn't trust the hoomin and kept my distance. Eventually,
I forgave him, after all he kept putting out food, and things went
back to the way they were before.

Part Four - Little Bit and Sammy Move In and Another TED Visit

I was still the King, I lived the good life, and my sore leg was good
as new. Sometime during this period Spot, the self proclaimed
apartment cat, disappeared. I heard the hoomin say later that he had
gotten himself locked inside one of those BIG moving monsters with
some other hoomin's furniture and gone to someplace called California.
Serves old brown nose right, but I hear he was happy as he stopped
being an apartment cat and had his own family.

Another cold time came and went. One of the neighborhood girls cats,
called Little Bit, moved in with the hoomin, had some babies. She
started living inside with the hoomin with Sammy, one of the babies. I
started trusting the hoomin again, and even went inside the hoomin's
apartment to eat sometimes, since the cats that now lived there seemed
to get better food than what the hoomin put out for us neighborhood
cats.

Things were good, until another challenge came and I had to put
another pipsqueak in his place. Once again I got one of those swollen
leg wounds which just won't heal. The hoomin tried to stick me inside
the box with bars, but I remembered from the other time and took off
and stayed away for a couple days. Guess I was getting spoiled by the
regular meals of good food, though, and it was hard to get enough to
eat when it hurt to walk, so eventually I went back.

Since it was so hard to walk with my wound, the hoomin managed to
catch me and stick me in the box. It was pretty much a repeat of the
first time - into the moving monster, back to the smelly hoomin place,
stabbed by the strange hoomin, then coming back to where we had
started from. I took off again as soon as the hoomin put down the box
and opened the bars, but didn't stay away as long. You know, there may
just something about that stick the strange hoomin stabs you with,
because the swelling started going down again, and in no time the
wound healed.

Part Five - I Become Part of the Family and Get a Name

Things went back to normal. More hot times followed by cold times came
and went. Life was good. Then a time came when the hoomin started
saying he might move, and he started asking me if I would want to move
to some place and become something called a "barn cat". He said
something about having something fixed before I became a barn cat. I
really had no clue about what he was talking about. I tried to tell
him I was the King, life was good, nothing needed fixing, and I had no
intention of becoming a barn cat - whatever a barn cat was.

One day when I went to eat he was waiting there with the bar-box.
There was no way I was going to go into that thing, especially not
this time as I didn't even have a sore leg. So I took off and stayed
away for a few days. I checked a couple times, but he had stopped
putting out food. Then, one day when I went back he opened the door
and told me to come inside if I wanted to eat. By that time I was
getting pretty hungry, so I went on inside. Turns out that was a BIG
mistake, because as soon as I started eating he dropped
something over me and before I could get away I was back inside that
blasted bar-box and on the way to the monster.

This time we ended up at a different smelly place, and the hoomin
abandoned me and left me there with strangers. I ended up being held
captive for a couple days, and on the second day the hoomins did
something to me which I guess fixed whatever they thought was broken.
Finally, on the third day MY hoomin came back and rescued me. I knew
he was the one who had caught and taken me to the smelly place, but I
decided to forgive him and do a little sucking up so that he would
decide not to take me to wherever the barn way - if this was what was
meant by "Fixing" I sure didn't want to find out what he meant by
becoming a barn cat.

Sammy, one of the girl cats who lives with the hoomin, was actually
pretty helpful telling me how to get the hoomin to let me become part
of the family. Little Bit, Sammy's mom, didn't like me, and kept
telling me how much fun I'd have as a barn cat. She didn't fool me at
all, though, so I followed Sammy's advice. It worked, too, and when it
came time for me to leave and go wherever barn cats go the hoomin had
decided to let me stay. I wasn't always to sure when Sammy told me how
to get on the hoomin's good side, but have learned that she's a pretty
smart little cat. Lots of things have changed since the hoomin decided
I was part of the family. Guess the first thing was when I got a real
hoomin name. Before the hoomin called me "the mostly white, black and
white tom cat", or just Whitey, but once I became a family member he
started calling me Rocky.

I've learned a lot of other things, too. Once I became part of the
family I started making strange sounds that the hoomin calls meows,
and I started making a rumbling noise he calls purrs. After watching
the other cats I decided to try jumping up on the hoomin's lap for
scritches, which is even better than head rubbing when I'm on the
ground. And BRUSHING - it feels so GOOD when the hoomin strokes me
with the brush. Once I was sure the hoomin wasn't going to do anything
that would hurt, Sammy introduced me to toys. I had pretty much
forgotten how to play since it had been so long since I could really
relax when I was living by my wits. Now I can relax and play, and
playing is FUN.

I'm still the king, just sort of semi-retired now. For some reason I'm
not interested in girls anymore. I'm stay here at the hoomin's place
instead of wandering the neighborhood. I still get the respect of the
other neighborhood cats, but seldom have to face a challenge and fight
- in fact I haven't had a real fight since I was fixed. Maybe that's
what they meant by getting fixed - if so it was worth it even if I was
sort of scared at the time. It may sound sort of corny, but it feels
pretty darned good to have a hoomin name and a hoomin family. If life
was good before, it's GREAT now.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky

[remove Junk for email]
Home Page:
http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html
Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html



  #7  
Old September 8th 04, 01:06 PM
Christine Burel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Really heartwarming story, Steve. I loved it.
Christine
"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...
Sorry if anyone thinks this is too long. I broke it down into parts
and seriously considered posting each part separately, but then
decided that if I were one of those reading I'd rather get the whole
story in one fell swoop. Anyway, there's Rocky's Story, from his
viewpoint.

Part One - I Become the King

It's been a while now since I joined this here family, so I figured it
was time to sit down and tell my story. I probably wouldn't bother,
but the one the hoomin calls Sammy tells me both she and her momma,
called Little Bit by the hoomin, have told their stories and that I
should tell mine.

I can't tell you much about my early years. Really have no idea how
old I am. I know that the cold and hot times came several times. Momma
taught me how to hunt for food, how to find cool spots when it was
hot, and warm spots during the cold times. Momma taught me from an
early age that hoomins weren't to be trusted. I figure she was right
about most stuff, but lately I've found that at least SOME hoomins are
OK.

After I got bigger and momma and I got separated. I really don't know
where she went. Things were pretty rough there for a while. All the
older, bigger cats didn't want me around, so I got beat up until I
learned how to fight and protect myself. After a couple more hot and
cold times came and went, it got so that I was winning more fights
than I was losing.

Things were really starting to look up. I established my own little
territory where I was the King. All the other cats in the neighborhood
gave me the respect I deserved. When some young upstart gave me grief
I'd either whip them into shape, or make life so miserable for them
that they moved out of my kingdom. There were always hoomins around,
but I avoided them as much as I could and didn't give them much
thought.

Part Two - Changes

After living the good life for a couple more hot and cold times a
couple things happened that changed my life. You see there was a group
of hoomin dwellings in my kingdom where a brown-nosed tom cat used to
hang around. I later learned he was what the hoomins call a tuxedo
kitty. He had a white face and a black nose, but I always called him
brown-nose because of how he was always cozying up to the hoomins. The
hoomins called him Spot, though. He used to say he was the official
apartment complex cat. It worked for him, he used to go inside the
various hoomin houses to sleep at night, could got out of the worst
weather, and get all the best food.

The other thing that happened which ended up changing my life was that
about this time a new hoomin moved into one of the hoomin houses.
Eventually I'd end up trustung this particular hoomin and even let him
pet me, but that was still in the future. The first thing about this
new hoomin that changed my life was that when he learned about Spot he
started putting food outside to encourage Spot to come eat at there,
and sometimes spend the night sleeping on his bed. I couldn't have
cared less about going into the hoomin's house, but the food he put
out for Spot was GOOD, so I started eating it when the hoomin put it
out.

Life got even better. All us neighborhood cats had a new source of
good food, which of course is always welcome when you're not sure when
the next meal is coming. At first I ran and hid whenever I saw the
hoomin, but over time I learned that he wouldn't throw things or chase
me away. So, after a time I stopped running whenever I saw him. After
a while I started going closer and waiting while he filled up the food
bowl. I learned a startling fact, it actually feels nice when a hoomin
scritches you in that certain spot that you just can't seem to reach
behind your ear.

Part Three - Betrayal and My First TED Visit

Life was good. I had the occasional challenge to my rule of the
kingdom, but still won all my fights. After one fight, though, I had a
war wound to my front leg. It really hurt and just wouldn't heal
right. The hoomin noticed that my leg was all swollen, about three
times the size of the other one. He tried to touch it, but I wasn't
about to put up with that so I hightailed it out of there and stayed
away.

After a couple days I was starting to get really hungry, so I decided
to go back and see if he was still putting out food. When I got there
the food bowl was full, and I was so hungry I let the hoomin take a
close look. The next morning when I went back to eat the hoomin was
there waiting. When I bent over the bowl he snatched me up and stuck
me in a box. Next thing I knew he carried me over to one of those big
moving monsters that the hoomins sit in and ride around in. The hoomin
put me inside the monster and it made a lot of noise and we were
moving.

It didn't last long, and when we stopped the hoomin carried me inside
a different hoomin places. The hoomin talked to some other hoomin, and
then after waiting a while carried me to a smaller room where we
waited again until another strange hoomin came. This was the worst
hoomin yet, and I was really beginning to think my momma had been
right when she told me not to trust these hoomins. This new hoomin
looked at me through the bars on the box, and they opened the side of
the box.

I made a break for it, but there was no place to go. They threw
something over me and held me so I couldn't bite or scratch them while
this new hoomin poked and prodded me. It ended up with this new hoomin
sticking me with something sharp, but it didn't hurt much. When they
put the box with the bars on the table I decided it was a lot safer
inside the box than outside where they could poke, prod and stab me
with sharp sticks. So, when they loosened their grip a bit I darted
back into that box. Turned out, though, that's what they wanted. The
hoomins exchanged some of their strange noises, then the hoomin who
had betrayed my trust picked up the box, and carried me back to the
moving monster. After the strange moving feeling, the monster stopped
and the hoomin carried me awhile. When he put down the box I found I
was back where the adventure had started.

The hoomin opened the side of the box, and I was OUT OF THERE. It may
sound strange, but after the trip in the monster and having that
strange hoomin stab me with the sharp stick, my leg stopped hurting
and healed up a lot quicker than war wounds normally do. I stayed gone
for several days before I went back to check for food, though. For a
long time I didn't trust the hoomin and kept my distance. Eventually,
I forgave him, after all he kept putting out food, and things went
back to the way they were before.

Part Four - Little Bit and Sammy Move In and Another TED Visit

I was still the King, I lived the good life, and my sore leg was good
as new. Sometime during this period Spot, the self proclaimed
apartment cat, disappeared. I heard the hoomin say later that he had
gotten himself locked inside one of those BIG moving monsters with
some other hoomin's furniture and gone to someplace called California.
Serves old brown nose right, but I hear he was happy as he stopped
being an apartment cat and had his own family.

Another cold time came and went. One of the neighborhood girls cats,
called Little Bit, moved in with the hoomin, had some babies. She
started living inside with the hoomin with Sammy, one of the babies. I
started trusting the hoomin again, and even went inside the hoomin's
apartment to eat sometimes, since the cats that now lived there seemed
to get better food than what the hoomin put out for us neighborhood
cats.

Things were good, until another challenge came and I had to put
another pipsqueak in his place. Once again I got one of those swollen
leg wounds which just won't heal. The hoomin tried to stick me inside
the box with bars, but I remembered from the other time and took off
and stayed away for a couple days. Guess I was getting spoiled by the
regular meals of good food, though, and it was hard to get enough to
eat when it hurt to walk, so eventually I went back.

Since it was so hard to walk with my wound, the hoomin managed to
catch me and stick me in the box. It was pretty much a repeat of the
first time - into the moving monster, back to the smelly hoomin place,
stabbed by the strange hoomin, then coming back to where we had
started from. I took off again as soon as the hoomin put down the box
and opened the bars, but didn't stay away as long. You know, there may
just something about that stick the strange hoomin stabs you with,
because the swelling started going down again, and in no time the
wound healed.

Part Five - I Become Part of the Family and Get a Name

Things went back to normal. More hot times followed by cold times came
and went. Life was good. Then a time came when the hoomin started
saying he might move, and he started asking me if I would want to move
to some place and become something called a "barn cat". He said
something about having something fixed before I became a barn cat. I
really had no clue about what he was talking about. I tried to tell
him I was the King, life was good, nothing needed fixing, and I had no
intention of becoming a barn cat - whatever a barn cat was.

One day when I went to eat he was waiting there with the bar-box.
There was no way I was going to go into that thing, especially not
this time as I didn't even have a sore leg. So I took off and stayed
away for a few days. I checked a couple times, but he had stopped
putting out food. Then, one day when I went back he opened the door
and told me to come inside if I wanted to eat. By that time I was
getting pretty hungry, so I went on inside. Turns out that was a BIG
mistake, because as soon as I started eating he dropped
something over me and before I could get away I was back inside that
blasted bar-box and on the way to the monster.

This time we ended up at a different smelly place, and the hoomin
abandoned me and left me there with strangers. I ended up being held
captive for a couple days, and on the second day the hoomins did
something to me which I guess fixed whatever they thought was broken.
Finally, on the third day MY hoomin came back and rescued me. I knew
he was the one who had caught and taken me to the smelly place, but I
decided to forgive him and do a little sucking up so that he would
decide not to take me to wherever the barn way - if this was what was
meant by "Fixing" I sure didn't want to find out what he meant by
becoming a barn cat.

Sammy, one of the girl cats who lives with the hoomin, was actually
pretty helpful telling me how to get the hoomin to let me become part
of the family. Little Bit, Sammy's mom, didn't like me, and kept
telling me how much fun I'd have as a barn cat. She didn't fool me at
all, though, so I followed Sammy's advice. It worked, too, and when it
came time for me to leave and go wherever barn cats go the hoomin had
decided to let me stay. I wasn't always to sure when Sammy told me how
to get on the hoomin's good side, but have learned that she's a pretty
smart little cat. Lots of things have changed since the hoomin decided
I was part of the family. Guess the first thing was when I got a real
hoomin name. Before the hoomin called me "the mostly white, black and
white tom cat", or just Whitey, but once I became a family member he
started calling me Rocky.

I've learned a lot of other things, too. Once I became part of the
family I started making strange sounds that the hoomin calls meows,
and I started making a rumbling noise he calls purrs. After watching
the other cats I decided to try jumping up on the hoomin's lap for
scritches, which is even better than head rubbing when I'm on the
ground. And BRUSHING - it feels so GOOD when the hoomin strokes me
with the brush. Once I was sure the hoomin wasn't going to do anything
that would hurt, Sammy introduced me to toys. I had pretty much
forgotten how to play since it had been so long since I could really
relax when I was living by my wits. Now I can relax and play, and
playing is FUN.

I'm still the king, just sort of semi-retired now. For some reason I'm
not interested in girls anymore. I'm stay here at the hoomin's place
instead of wandering the neighborhood. I still get the respect of the
other neighborhood cats, but seldom have to face a challenge and fight
- in fact I haven't had a real fight since I was fixed. Maybe that's
what they meant by getting fixed - if so it was worth it even if I was
sort of scared at the time. It may sound sort of corny, but it feels
pretty darned good to have a hoomin name and a hoomin family. If life
was good before, it's GREAT now.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky

[remove Junk for email]
Home Page:
http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html
Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html



  #8  
Old September 8th 04, 02:34 PM
CatNipped
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...

snip a great story

Thank you Steve, that was so touching - you're a really wonderful guy!

Hugs,

CatNipped


  #9  
Old September 8th 04, 02:34 PM
CatNipped
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...

snip a great story

Thank you Steve, that was so touching - you're a really wonderful guy!

Hugs,

CatNipped


  #10  
Old September 8th 04, 02:34 PM
CatNipped
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...

snip a great story

Thank you Steve, that was so touching - you're a really wonderful guy!

Hugs,

CatNipped


 




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