SOTK 2022

 State of the Kitties Report: 2022

by Tanner (Resident Cat-in-Charge)

I haven't made a report for a while, but I have been real busy. I work two jobs. During the day, I go outside and rat-patrol with Jim-Bob. At night I rat-watch in the garage. Skippy and Cedrick also patrol outside but they have a different territory. 

Here is Skippy is in his bed; Cedrick is rolling on the porch and trying to look cute, but I don't think he's cute at all.

  

I have mostly got used to Skippy as long as he stays out of my way, but I still don't much like Cedrick and Jim-Bob hates him. Sometimes they fight.

I like to ride the golf-cart with Mommy. Sometimes she drives me out to the field where I work.

Skippy wants to ride it too, but I don't like to share the seat with him. Sometimes we smack each other over who gets to ride shotgun.  Skippy is on the floor in the picture below. You can see his tail.

 

Things have been pretty quiet around here this winter, except we had some excitement on Xmas eve. Daddy came home from riding the tractor down the road and didn't feel very well, so most of us inside kitties kept quiet all through the house so as not to bother him. But soon after Mommy made a phone call, outside there arose a big clatter, so all the other cats and I sprang into hiding. There was some kind of big truck outside with lots of flashing red and white lights, and most of the kitties ran downstairs where the good hiding places are. I hid but peeked out every so often to see what was happening. 

Somebody carrying a big machine came right in the house—even though Mommy has not been letting people in because of the pan-dem-ick—and hooked Daddy up to it and said he had to go to the hospital right away. More big truck-things—bigger even than Daddy's tractors—were in the driveway with all their lights going. I was getting scared now myself, but I didn't want the kitties to see how scared I was because I am the cat-in-charge. A couple more people came in and they put Daddy on something like a bed with wheels but it didn't look very comfortable and said they would drive him down the road to where a hello-copter would meet them and he would ride the hello-copter to the hospital.

When I have to go to the cat hospital, Mommy just stuffs me in the crate and puts me in the car. I guess it's different when people go to people hospitals. I don't know what a hello-copter is. I wonder if it is anything like Mommy's golf-cart. I like to ride golf-carts.

Anyhow, Mommy and I worried for a couple hours until Daddy finally called. He told Mommy he now had two somethings (sounded like tents) in his artery now and he was going to get better. He came back home two days later, but a friend brought him so I didn't get to see a hello-copter. He feels a lot better now.

Another thing that happened is that cold white wet stuff fell all around outside on Sunday. It was in the front yard and the back yard. I looked in both places to be sure.

 

I knew it was snow, but some of the younger kitties weren't familiar with it. They watched from the window.

 Jim-Bob and I tried to go out on Monday so we could do our cat-work, but we had to keep coming back in. We asked Mommy to let us out another door just in case the weather was better through that one, but the weather was still bad. After we tried the third door, we decided we'd better settle ourselves for a long winter's nap. Except we got up to eat supper.

In the picture above is Orville in front, Jim-Bob and me in the middle, and my kitty Arlo in back. Below is Otis, me, Rufus (who is a real big cat), Grover, Arlo, and Jim-Bob.

Sometimes I snuggle my kitty Arlo to keep him warm. I raised Arlo from when he was a little kitty.

Finally the sun came out, but the snow didn't melt. 

It was hard to get any cat-work done, but at least I tried.

Skippy tried too, but he didn't get much work done either. The snow was frozen so he didn't sink in.

I decided it was best to stay inside and sleep in front of this vent that sometimes blows warm air on me. I like warm air.

Chloe got a new cat bed, so she gave up her old cat bed which some of the other cats—mainly Arlo and Rufus—had been coveting. 

I guess the other cats think if the old bed isn't good enough for Chloe, it must not be good enough for anybody else, so no one else uses it. Arlo has been coveting the new bed and sometimes sneaks into it and won't let Chloe have it back. That makes her real mad.

As for the outside cat population, our oldest cat Twiggy—who was a fine and noble ratter—vanished a couple of months ago. I don't think she is coming back. A young wild kitty named Max showed up last summer and pretty much lives here full-time, but Mommy says he is too old to tame. She took this picture of him last fall.

That is about all the news I have for now. 

THE END!

~

Human Shield Ancestor

Part of the fun of researching your genealogy is not knowing what you'll find. Recently, I've been re-researching my Page line. My 8th great-grandparents were John Page who came from England to Virginia around 1650 and his wife Alice Lukin. The Pages first lived in the New Towne section of Jamestown, then York County in 1655, and finally Middle Plantation (now Williamsburg) in 1662. He also acquired other land in Colonial Virginia.

Since learning that I have several ancestors who were in Virginia when it was still a colony, I've been reading early Virginia history, like this book about Bacon's Rebellion. It's available on Amazon as a free Kindle download.

I had ancestors who were on both sides of the rebellion, but John Page was on Governor Berkeley's side, not Bacon's side. While there were several portraits of John Page online, I could find none of his wife.

John Page

But on p. 256 in the Documentary History of Jamestown Island, Vol. III: Biographies of Owners and Residents, by Martha McCartney, a publication prepared for the National Park Service and available online, I found an interesting mention of Alice Lukin Page:

My 8th-great-grandmother was used as a human shield! How did this happen? Was she the only one? I went back to The Story of Bacon's Rebellion ebook and looked to see if she was mentioned there.   She was indeed:

I wonder which one of the "fair ones" was sent back to Jamestown to tell Council members that their wives were hostages. Despite a bit of Googling, I couldn't find out her identity. 

I did find the incident mentioned in an article on the National Park Service's Historic Jamestown site: "He [Bacon] made several attempts at a siege, during which he kidnapped the wives of several of Berkeley's biggest supporters, including Mrs. Nathaniel Bacon Sr., and placed them upon the ramparts of his siege fortifications while he dug his position."

How long did Bacon keep them there? I have no idea, but I imagine only a day or so. Anyhow, his idea worked.

Bacon did not get to use his stolen artillery, though, because Governor Berkeley did not attack. When Berkeley's men started abandoning him, Berkeley—under cover of night—sailed away with twenty-some of his loyal followers. While they were gone, Bacon and his forces burned the city of Jamestown to the ground.

Fortunately, my 8th-great-grandmother would have been back home in Middle Plantation, aka Williamsburg, when Jamestown was burned. Did she see the flames and smell the smoke from where she lived? 

Alas, her reactions are lost to history.

Info about Governor Berkeley here: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/berkeley-sir-william-1605-1677/ 

An article about John Page here: https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-19950519-1995-05-19-9505190238-story.html

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January 2022 Snow

Today—January 3, 2022—the first snow of the year began early in the morning. 

While the frozen stuff was still falling lightly, I ventured out to feed the outside cats but the golf cart started sliding in the front yard. I managed to turn it around and headed back to the garage but it soon slid again. By now, it was obvious that what was falling was sleet, and I wasn't going to get unstuck—so I had to abandon the cart. Fortunately I keep a cane in the cart, so I was able to gimp to the front porch. 

Eventually the sleet turned to snow and started to pile up on lawn and deck.

. . . and in the driveway, too.

Before long, the snow fell harder.

Some of the younger cats weren't sure what was happening, but they were glad to be inside.

Jim-Bob, however, kept screaming to go out.

The wind increased and trees bent low. Snow blew onto the front porch, and I couldn't see out the storm door.

The boxwoods out front were bending over, buthe golf cart was staying put on the other side of the tree . . .

. . . and the snow continued to pile up on the deck . . .

. . . and in the driveway.

Finally, my husband (who'd earlier walked out to feed the barn cats and his hound), got his 4-wheel drive truck and towed my golf cart out of the front yard. He tried to see if it could  go all the way down the driveway. It got stuck again, so he towed it back to the garage.

In early afternoon, the sun came out and melted some of the snow.

I'm no fan of snow. I think I've had enough of it to last me the rest of the year.

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