Slow day at the Globe

A quick glance at the lead stories would suggest there was something to write else to about, but evidently not: a cat stuck up a tree for three days makes the interweb limelight.

Feh! Years ago, when we had a cat who was not driven ballistic by travel, the three of us (spouse, myself, and cat) were spending a week at my mother's house. Almost at once cat took it upon herself to escape and climb a tree not much shorter and just as skinny as the one in this news story. Panic ensured. We got veterinary consultation and local fire department consultation. The consensus was that a rescue might be necessary by the end of the week. However, we were told, most cats manage to get themselves back down before a week is up because hunger overcomes fear.

Sure enough, when we went out on the morning of the third day to commune with the marooned cat, she had managed to get much closer to the ground. Then she covered the remaining distance in one of those chilling demonstrations of cats landing on their feet. She did indeed land feet first on soft turf, and stood still long enough to allow us to scoop her up and bring her indoors into a higher security situation. Subsequent examination showed she had injured nothing but her appetite and dignity.

Apparently we must add helicopter pet owners to the perils of helicopter parents. In this case, it's a pity the pet owners did not have a helicopter, and that the Globe couldn't find better things to do with its time.