On Thursday Nelly came home from the doctor's who suggested we ensure she exercises today. Following me outside I walked around the perimeter several times with her, then raked up late winter leaves, dead branches, twigs, etc. Nelly followed along, sniffing early crocus flowers and the scents other creatures have left as they visited our yard. She followed along as I wheel barrowed to and from the compost pile, and to and from the front and back doors to coax my indoor husband outside. I was watching her faithfully until I had some -heavy loads to carry and needed to get a hand truck from the shed. I moved them, then looked for her. "Maybe she went indoors,” I thought. Looking everywhere indoors, checking all hiding places. Even Bil looked. We looked outdoors in all the normal places, and indoors again. A beautiful day, in the middle 40s, here we go again looking for Nellie. Outside, viewing the waterfront below from the edge of the deck, then walking next door east, and I saw movement down the cliff and on the thin spit of beach. Running down the street, calling to Bil, hoping I could get there before she disappeared behind the boulders that reach from the cliff's edge to the cove, across from Terri's house I stop to see Nellie amble east towards the boulders, a couple dozen feet away. I move quickly to attempt intercept, picking my way down, holding on to saplings lining the diagonal slope, one not a tree but thorny dead colms of wild raspberry (ouch). At the boulders I look west - less than 10 feet away, so I call her and she peers at right angles to me with her one good eye. She ambles in that direction away from me up the hillside where dead branches, broken bottles and bits of trash make passage difficult and I'm rushing now in that direction uphill to grab her before she injures herself. Nelly, you know, had been in a car accident before we adopted her, and she doesn’t perceive things like a normal cat does. She looks the other way when you call her name, attempting to triangulate using only one almost blind eye and one possibly good ear. Sometimes she doesn't know you when you attempt rescue – I’ve learned not to pick her up as she struggles and scratches like she's fighting for her life. This time, however, she knows me and allows me to detain her, as long as I don't try to pick her up, while Bil climbs down the cliff with a cat carrier. This is the second time we've had to rescue her from this dangerous slope. There are all kinds of hazards in this area for little animals who don’t have protective clothing like we do. Little Ring Tail was injured last year. It took 43 stitches to repair the open flaps of skin, and two weeks in a room of her own with meds.
Last time I found Nelly she was further towards the top and frightened, after being missing for some hours. There were three or four times she went missing. Once we found her crouched beneath a tree just before the little bridge at the Kohrs house. The sun was going down and even though we called and called, she didn’t meow, even when we were right next to her. I don’t think I’ve even seen her look so frightened as that day when we found her.
Another time she found her way into the yard of the house behind that tree. Tim who lives there spotted her and came over to tell us, knowing that this cat is not able to navigate very well. We were out, but reached by phone (the number is on our front door) we were able to rush home and return her to safety.
