Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Chula
As I pulled into my driveway today, I saw a squirrel chasing my cat. Now this is no ordinary cat. Her name is Chula (Spanish for "cutie") because she is adorable. I pulled her out from under a barn when she was a kitten, but it was obvious to her that she was a princess, and that barn thing was just an accident of birth. She knew she was meant to lie on soft blankets, and to be petted, and to have plenty of food delivered to her. But she's never forgotten her roots. She has always been a hunter. When she was younger, she would lie perfectly still in the grass until the birds flew down to eat around her. Then she would leap straight up, twist her body in the air, and come down with a bird in her mouth. (We live in a bird sanctuary, but she has never learned how to read the sign.)
Once, when I came home from a trip, I found feathers from the entrance hall to the back hall. The Professor said he had been shaving when he heard an awful racket. He went to look and found the front door open (that was another cat who loved to open the door) and Chula squared off with a grackle twice her size. The Professor said the grackle was getting smaller by the moment as it lost feathers. He didn't think he could adequately describe the battle to me, so he left the feathers for me to see. (Like the Grinch, he thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick.)
Chula is 13 now, and she hasn't taken on a grackle in years. She still catches lizards and an occasional bird, but that's about it. But she is no sedentary old lady. She is the fastest of our 3 cats, and even though she's small, she's the tough one in the house. I was astonished to see her run from a squirrel. But then I realized that our squirrels are a gang of thugs. They steal our pecans. They sit on a branch and cuss at us when we come outside. I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm afraid of squirrels, but I swear sometimes I think they're going to attack me. So while the squirrels are getting tougher, Chula is getting older and is no longer able to keep them all run off. But as testimony to her energy level, I tried 10 times to take her picture, but she wouldn't hold still. I finally had to put her on my lap, hold the camera at arm's length, and hope.
4 Comments:
she does suit her spanish name!
we have squirrel issues here as well, they walk around our backyard like they own the place.
She looks quite like my Fat Boy Simpkin, who looks like a real bruiser but in reality is a big coward. The squirrels would have him terrified :).
You want to borrow my American Foxhound to deal with your squirril situation? She's a runt at 25 lbs and when she was just a puppy at around 15-20 she bagged herself one of the squirrils in my backyard that was just as big as her! I stil have yet to figure that one out, my other hunting dog still hasn't gotten herself a squirril. Oh and the pup also nabbed a baby bird, that was the first kill which shocked me cuz I've never been brought presents like that :/
She certainly IS a Chula! Great name for such a pretty girl. You know I have a soft spot for kitties!
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