Pierre is his name.
He is a Kentucky shelter cat who was put together oddly, his hind legs much longer than his front. He has six toes on each foot and, maybe because I saved his life when he was about four weeks old, he thinks his mission in life is to protect me.
About once an hour, all night long, he wakes up at the foot of our bed, walks up my body to lie like a necklace around my neck.
He is quite heavy and I already have a breathing problem so, during each of his nightly checks on my well-being, I wake up gasping for breath.
But that is not what I have to tell you. Pierre did something today that you won't believe but I swear, it’s the truth.
In our master bathroom there are two large sinks. I was standing in front of my sink, busily brushing my teeth, when he jumped up to catch the flow of water I was using. I sort of pushed him away so, what did he do? There is a table with drawers between the two sinks, so my little feline buddy simply walked across the table top, reached over with his right front paw and, I swear to you, he pulled the faucet toward him which turned on a nice, steady stream. Then he dipped his head under the stream and drank!
Meanwhile, I stood, absolutely amazed. No cat can turn on a faucet for a drink of water. But Pierre did just that.
I called for Gene to come see, which he did.
He said, “Oh, come on, you turned on the faucet for him, right?”
Well, I did not. And when Pierre was satisfied, he gave me a look like, “What?” and jumped down and left the room.
I went on to confess that just maybe if I did not turn it off, Pierre might do so or just maybe he figured it should run a nice, cold stream 24/7.
I reached over and turned off the faucet.
I mean, that cat has to realize I am a Depression baby, and water just cannot run all the time just to satisfy his needs.
I wonder if he will do it again. If he does, I will try to get it on camera.
Maybe he can learn to fill the cat bowls with their Science Diet Daily ration. Every little bit helps, right?
And I ask you — do you think my Pierre (or “P” as I call him) could learn to clean the litter box every morning? Surely not!
If he ever does such a thing, I will tell you about it.
The view from the mountains is wondrous.
