Thursday, June 30, 2011

Litter Bugs

Greetings friends! So happy you stopped by to check out my blog! I hope you read my tale last week about the wonderful folks and kitties at the Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary. I certainly had a wonderful time and I hope you enjoyed reading all about it.
The problem with visiting a place such as that is that you feel like there is so much more you would like to do to help. Unfortunately, my lack of a thumb and inability to drive a motor vehicle limits the contributions I am able to make. I keep in touch with Miss Alana and wait for her to mention something with which I am able to help.
Such an occasion presented itself recently when Miss Alana mentioned she was heading to the Food Lion to pick up some necessary supplies for the shelter. I have been to the Walmart and have experience operating an electric shopping cart – albeit the shopping cart ran amok, but I think that was more Bobbi and/or Corny’s fault – I think I would be able to handle it with my fellow feline companions. I told Miss Alana I was an experienced shopper and I offered my assistance. Miss Alana gladly accepted my help and I agreed to meet her that afternoon for some serious shopping.
My brother wasn’t working, so I bribed him with food to drive me to the shelter. Miss Alana hadn’t told the others I was coming, so they were surprised to hear the pitter patter of my feet as I entered the shelter. They all rushed up to me and gave me hugs and kitty kisses. We chatted for a while so I could catch up on all the shelter news. After I was up to date, I asked for volunteers to head to the Food Lion with me and Miss Alana. I couldn’t believe all the paws that shot up – everyone wanted to help!
We assembled by the shelter’s van and I handed out lovely hats for our journey. Not ones to keep still, we killed the time by chasing each other around the van. When Miss Alana finally arrived we all climbed into the van and found a place to sit. We each had to find something to hold on to so we wouldn’t slide around in the back of the van – though that would have been a funny sight!
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It was a quick trip and we arrived at the Food Lion in no time. We were very excited about getting out of the van! We were all pushing to be the first out the door, so a bunch of us went spilling out into the parking lot when Miss Alana opened it. We scrambled to our paws and I led the way into the store. I told the others to follow the sound of the jingling bell on my collar and I would lead them to the pet aisle. That worked great! We went parading through the parking lot and through the automatic door. Poor Miss Alana was left behind as she had to grab her purse and lock the van.
I grabbed the first basket I found and helped the others get in it or hang on the side. It was not electric, so it was a lot easier to control (though not as much fun!) It didn’t take me long to find the pet aisle and I stopped in front of the Frisky Party Mix packages. I pointed the others in the right direction and we all started flinging bags of snacks into the basket until there was room for no more!



Just as we finished and had started to talk about which bag we were going to open first when we arrived back at the van, Miss Alana walked up shaking her head. We showed her our basket full of “necessary supplies” for the shelter. Evidently, Miss Alana did not have the same idea as we did as to what constituted a necessary supply! She told us that while she loves to buy treats for the residents, there was a more pressing need at the shelter for cat litter. Litter?!?!?!?! Well that’s no fun! We all groaned and made faces. Miss Alana told us we could each pick one bag of treats and leave it in the basket. We begrudgingly put back the excess bags and headed for the boxes of litter.
The boxes of litter were pretty big and we could only get so many of them into the basket. It’s a good thing Miss Alana brought us along, because we ended up carrying a bunch of boxes!
We piled the boxes of litter on this moving black belt thing. Some of my fellow shoppers didn’t know when to let go of the boxes - they went rolling down the conveyor belt along with the boxes! I told the cashier that Casper was priceless, so don’t ring him up. We all had a good giggle at that!



Miss Alana paid for the necessities with money donated by generous supporters, and then we were ready to head back to the van. Before we left, I stopped at the customer service desk and asked if it was possible for us to meet the food lion. The women behind the counter looked at me funny. His likeness is on signs all over the store, so surely he was around somewhere. I told the lady that I thought he/she would like to meet some of his/her feline distant relatives. When she finally realized what I was talking about she apologized and told me that there was no actual food “lion” and that it was just a logo. What a disappointment!
We each took a deep breath, picked up a box or two of litter and headed across what now looked like a really biiiiiiiig parking lot. Some of the braver cats stacked the boxes high and looked like jugglers trying to keep them balanced. There were a few boxes dropped, but they eventually they all made it to the van in one piece.



It took a while to load all the boxes in the van. The litter took up most of the back of the van so we had to crowd in the front for the ride home. Fortunately, we had the bags of treats to keep us busy, so we opened up some bags and passed them around.
We had full bellies when we arrived back at the shelter. Now we had to unload all those boxes! We kitties decided we were going to make things easier by having fun with it, so we took off our hats and went to work.
While Miss Alana was distracted by a phone call, we started bringing in the boxes one by one. We carefully stacked them just so. It was tough balancing some of them just right, but when we were finished, we called to Miss Alana to come check out our creation. Can you tell what it is?



If you guessed it’s supposed to be a cat head, you are right! Pat yourself on the back and have a Friskies Treat!
We had fun poking our heads through the holes we left for the eyes, nose and mouth. Miss Alana thought it was pretty good, though she warned us that with it being in the middle of the floor, someone was bound to knock into it. She had a point, and since we didn’t want anyone to get hurt, we helped Miss Alana move the boxes to the storage area. I guess she won’t have to worry about running out of litter for a while!
After we finished moving the boxes, we all agreed that it was time for a catnap. I cuddled up with the others to nap while I waited for my brother to return. I was so exhausted that Miss Alana had to carry me to the car when my ride arrived. I slept all the way home. Hard work wears you out!!!
Well, that’s all for this tale. I hope I have other opportunities to help out Miss Alana and the kitties. I’ll let you know about it if I do!
Have a great week, and Happy 4th of July!

Love & kitty kisses,
Josie

1 comment:

  1. Loved your story Josie and thanks for helping with the shopping!!

    ReplyDelete