The Trials of Big Eric

Big Eric is a pretty big cat. He is also famed as Almost Feral Eric. Always suspicious. Not easy to round up for flea medicine and has been known to circle the couch numerous times rather than allow himself to be cornered.

The other day I went out to the shed to water the seeds I had planted.

















That night, we did not notice Big Eric. He often sleeps in the barn, so we were not worried. The next morning, I went to check on the seeds and I heard meowing. "Hmmmmm" I thought. Some poor cat has gotten itself trapped in the shed. I couldn't find it, and still hearing it, I looked up. Uh oh.

OH No! Big Eric was up in the rafters! Was this a problem? Usually he can get himself down from anyplace he gets himself... but obviously, he had been up there ALL night!!!

Would he need to be rescued?

It looked like the answer to that was YES! As I am the opposite of tall... I tried standing on the step-stool.

I was going to have to leave for work. What to do? Just then kitty Conor Makem arrived on the scene. He had been out front in the flower bed.

He assessed the situation and raced up the side of the wall like Supergirl's cat Streaky!

Then he went right over to Big Eric.

Normally, Big Eric would probably have smacked Conor right off the rafters. But not today.

Conor decided to leave Big Eric to his own devices and leaped down and took off. What now? There was a plank leaning on the rafters and going to the floor. It would be simple for Big Eric to walk down the plank to safety... but for some reason he remained clueless as to what I was asking from him. Even trying to lure him down the plank with bits of ham didn't work. I ended up tossing it up to him as he was being pathetic.

I had to leave so I called John and told him the situation. Hours later... back from the library, John said he was still up in the rafters. He had set up ladders but couldn't get him to come down. That was it. i went out to the shed and climbed the ladder. Big Eric came closer to see what I was up to...

and I GRABBED him, normally a dangerous move as I could have been slashed to ribbons by his claws.

He was SAVED!

A Happy Ending for all!