Monday, August 31, 2009

Cujo and the Kitty

Sunday afternoon....I have two hours. If I head west, I get into the foothills and a lot of climbing. If I go east, I can ride through the corn fields, small rolling hills and gain a little more speed. I head east.

I tend to stay on the 'Road Less Traveled' in order to avoid traffic; this has lead me into some beautiful, remote areas. Sunday afternoon I am marveling in the beauty of a long streching corn field and small quaint farm houses.

People drive fast in the country. The road is straight, no traffic. Really, what do you have to worry about? It's the country....live free or die baby.

As a car passes me....the only car I have seen for miles, I see a small tabby cat leap out of the corn field.....

And straight into the car.....The car was going 60, it was no contest. And much to my dismay....the car kept going! They didn't even slow down, no brake lights...just kept going! Boo! Hiss! Poor kitty.

Now, I am not an innocent driver. I have been the cause of many a roadkill (I think the most recent was a poor prarie dog) It was quite different however, watching the scene from a bike, watching it play out ten feet away from you, without the protection of steel, rubber, and 4,000 pounds. AND then to watch the culprit drive off, leaving you to deal with the poor kitty. Which, let's be honest, there wasn't anything really to deal with.

I was tramatized.

I was alone on the road....just me and poor (now dead) kitty.

I must do something to right this wrong; to set the world straight.

I look over and see a small farmhouse....the home of the kitty! I MUST tell them what happened. They can't just come out and see their poor kitty in the middle of the road.

Feeling better, I hop off my bike and head up the gravel path to the house.

Almost to the door, I encounter two, very big, very angry, very territorial German Shepards.

Oh shit

I'm trying to remember what to do when you encounter an angry dog.... Play dead

No, idiot, that's for bears.


Turn and run!

Um...yeah...not turning my back on Cujo and his buddy

Use your bike as a shield!

I remember someone saying to do this for mountain lions. Well, these dogs seemed as big and scary as mountain lions so I put my bike in front of me and started yelling my fool head off while backing down the path. This seemed to make them feel better and they started to back away. There was absolutely no doubt that if they wanted to....I could have been Heather Jerky.

I got back to the road and my kitty friend....Yeah...screw that, they can find their own damn cat.

I started to pedal my very frightened hiney home.

In life, I try to put a positive spin on negative experiences. As I rode home I thought what's the postive I can take from this? My conclusion?

Um....nothing.

No postive lesson here.....sorry.

I did learn that perhaps when by myself, on an empty country road, on a bike, that perhaps I should think twice before heading up to the farmhouse...I'll let the karma and the big hairy dogmas work it out for themselves.

5 comments:

Deana said...

So...I was awake at 3:00am with Max crying because...you know...it was 3:00am. And I was thinking of your blog post. And laughing at the thought of that kitty flying out of the field ending it all. And how that would have literally scared me to death.

You chose the smaller hills and the speed, compared to the climb...maybe a tougher ride. And why not, life is hard enough. When it's your own time, go for the speed.

But as I was laying awake, I thought of the lesson that could be learned...

We often think in our special needs lives that the people with the easier road in life have it made.

It's the slow and steady uphill climbs that we're used to. It takes more effort. And it usually hurts like a mother. But we can pace ourselves for when the crazy kitties fly out at us!!

Either way...I'm inspired by your rides. Your time alone, to recharge. Keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Oh man I am laughing so hard--only because I can relate and picture the whole scene vividly in my head because of your beautiful retelling. I would have crapped myself from fright and then probably hurled said crap at that horrible driving person....and all I would have accomplished is ruining my pants and getting poop under my fingernails....

love you!!!

Alissa

Princess Abigail said...

Oh Heather that was so funny! Well.... it was funny to read anyway, can't have been as funny to actually live through.... selflessness and altruism can prove too life-threatening sometimes eh??!!!! I laughed very loudly (in my office I might add) reading this one!

Lots of love to gorgeous Samantha!

Alison

Princess Abigail said...

Oh Heather that was so funny! Well.... it was funny to read anyway, can't have been as funny to actually live through.... selflessness and altruism can prove too life-threatening sometimes eh??!!!! I laughed very loudly (in my office I might add) reading this one!

Lots of love to gorgeous Samantha!

Alison

Unknown said...

Heather, I am sitting here waiting for my car to be fixed and feeling sorry for myself because it's a beautiful day, and here I sit, waiting for my car to be fixed... So, thank you for the comic relief (sorry that the comedy comes at your expense!). And, thank you for helping put things in perspective! I would rather be sitting here, bored, than to be that poor tabby cat.

And, maybe a positive spin on your experience (I, too, always look for the silver lining in every situation) is that now you know that you are tougher than those angry dogs! You can take on the world, woman!!

- Jenn :-)

Trauma should be the hall pass to life's other issues. Someone should tell the hall monitor

I posted something cryptic on Facebook Saturday. It caught a lot of attention from my tribe but it really wasn’t a big deal…. nothing ...