Wistful Wednesday :1983

Remember those days gone by when you cleaned up your kids, made sure their hair was presentable and you took off to the local mall, or grocery store (Piggly Wiggly) or KaMe ApaRT to get the photo special?  You usually had to wait in line and hope your kid stayed presentable while you were waiting…and didn’t cry.

We rarely had extra money for a real photographer…perhaps that is why I don’t mind taking photos of my great nieces and nephews.  Some stores would run a 99 cent special…one 8 X 10 for 99 cents and then there were add ons ...the photos were taken one day and then about two weeks later you could show up for the “pitch” and buy more.  If you had a budget and we usually did…something had to be worked around to get the extras.

In 1983 I took the girls to West Acres Mall for their Fall/Winter photos.  The photographer had different background screens and you could pick a couple of them.

Trica was eleven and in sixth grade that year.  Jennifer was eight years old and in second grade.

Here is the wintery edition, it looks like they are sitting in a snowbank. I think we may have bought a few of these photos and sent them to Grandparents and Great Grandparents at Christmas time.

Back to school

Today is the day that all the kids go back to school in Minnesota.  We did some errands yesterday and Wally World was filled with kids and Moms in the final day of back to school frenzy. 
I remember those days…trying to get the girls to settle down at night and go to sleep when it was still daylight…clothing set out for the next morning and backpacks filled with school supplies.  New shoes ready to be worn.

1983 Jennifer and Trica in Moorhead Minnesota.

They were up before the alarm and sitting at the table dressed and ready to go in no time…but would barely touch their breakfast.  Too excited to find out who was in their class.  The big question would be Hot Lunch or Bag Lunch…they both had likes and dislikes with school food, but both liked Pizza Day which was usually a Friday.

Off to school…they were old enough to go by themselves we lived just a block and a half from the school.  Trica in 6th Grade, she had a Mr Larson for a teacher and Jennifer off to Second Grade…where her teacher was…??? a lady by the name of…??  See I must be getting old…that brain cell that used to know that name has died. Well that was 33 years ago. Jen will remember and leave me a comment.  It was Mrs. Robertsdahl...I had to look it up! 

There was to be no horsing around after school, they were to come home, change clothes, have a snack and then they could go back outside and play with friends (with permission) or do homework. 
 

A Kitten:Part III ( The Final Chapter)

God? Are You listening? ...Memories of Moorhead, Minnesota 1983 A Kitten : Part III (Final Chapter)

Apparently he was, I walked the neighborhood looking for a mama cat looking for a kitten. I never found her. However, after talking with the next door neighbor, her daughter had a mama cat that had a litter of three week old kittens. I spoke with Tammy on the phone. We developed a plan. I would bring out the orphaned kitten, she would meet me outside and rub one of her kittens all over our kitten. I would wait outside. Success! The mama cat took the kitten as her own, she nursed it and gave it a proper cleaning. Tammy assured me that once it was accepted..things should go well. They did for about ten days. Tammy called saying I should come and get our kitten, she had diarrhea and the mama cat was weaning the rest of the litter anyway, she was concerned that our kitten was ill. We found out from Tammy who was a "cat person" that it was indeed a little girl kitten..all Calico Cats are female.

I drove out to Mapleton, ND and picked up our kitten. On the way back home I stopped by the Humane Society and a Veterinarian's Office...I told them I needed milk replacer and a bottle. They all advised that the kitten be euthanized. Well that absolutely infuriated me. I went home...more determined than ever to prove them wrong.

I mixed my own formula, milk, egg yolk and a little Karo syrup. I had watched my Grandmother mix this up in her kitchen, she said it would do the trick for babies. I was praying that it would do the trick with this kitten. Now for a bottle, I needed something with a little nipple or it was back to the eye dropper. I took apart the eyedropper and punched a hole in the end of the squeezy part, and found a travel size whiskey bottle with a neck in Far Guys bottle collection. I slipped this makeshift black nipple over the bottle and gave it a whirl, with some fine tuning..it worked..yes I tried it myself! Now would the kitten take it? She did!! The girls were happy to have the kitten back in the house, they helped to feed her, they made her go potty, they exclaimed very loudly "She is pooping" so I would know that things were still moving. After a couple of days her diarrhea cleared up..and she started to really grow. The girls argued and argued about a name. Jennifer who was in second grade wanted to name her "Whiskers " after a cat in her Weekly Reader. It seemed like a wonderful name to me!

Whiskers ate and ate..and grew!

Jennifer and Whiskers (3 weeks old)

Trica and Jennifer were so good about helping with Whiskers, they did all the after school feedings, Far Guy did 10pm , I feed her at 1am when I returned from work, Far Guy fed her at 6am, then I took over again during the day. It was a family effort. The girls never complained, they shouldered their part in Whiskers survival with a love and tenderness that they still show to all animals. Eventually Whiskers was litter box trained when she was about four weeks old. What a relief! She ate real cat food moistened when she was about five weeks old. I took her into our hometown Veterinarian when she was six weeks old and introduced her to him. He was surprised to see her, but was more than happy to check her out and declare her in perfect health. He could hardly believe it..well frankly neither could I.

Whiskers was a special kitten, she terrorized our old dog "Snuffer" she sharpened her claws on all the furniture, she ran up the drapes, she ran through the house ninety miles an hour. She stole our hearts..even Far Guys!

The down side was that she imprinted on just the four of us and Snuffer. She did not know she was a kitten. She thought she was part human/part dog/part tiger. As she grew older she rejected everyone but us. She stood guard at the front door ready to terrorize and hiss at anyone who entered. She wouldn't allow anyone in or out of the bathroom. She hid in the Peonies and would pretend she was a tiger in a jungle of leaves.

I am convinced that Whiskers was sent to us for a reason, she lived for a reason. Two little girls willed her to live, God allowed her to live. She helped us to recover from Snuffers death in 1985. She gave a little girl companionship when she needed it the most when we moved from the city to the country and away from all her friends. She became an inspiration for that little girl to pour out her heart into poetry and write about her feelings.

Whiskers gave us all courage to face situations that others would call hopeless. She was a fighter, from the day the girls found her in the gutter until the day she died in 1989. She lived with us six years. She died in the rocking chair at home very peacefully while I stroked her soft fur. She lived a good life, her mission must have been complete. I still have that rocking chair, I will never get rid of it, when I look at it I no longer remember a dying cat..but a spunky kitten that would hide under it and attack peoples feet as they walk by:) THE END My Daughter Jen has published the poem that she wrote about Whiskers it can be found here.

A Kitten: Part II

I am clueless..or am I? ...Memories of Moorhead, Minnesota: A Kitten

Maybe I could take my knowledge about dogs and apply it to cats. "Snuffer" our Scottie mutt mix had a litter of puppies when we were stationed in Florida. I assisted with the birthing, basically I was there for moral support, encouragement and bringing clean towels and chicken broth. Snuffer was such a good mom, her instincts took over, she knew what to do and when. Trica who was just one year old would join me in watching all the puppies. We watched Snuffer and her puppies for hours...it was better than television! Are dogs that different from cats in how they care for their young?

We would need something to feed this kitten..well I had milk in the refrigerator. Something to deliver the milk to the tiny, tiny mouth. An eyedropper. We warmed the milk and tried to feed this poor orphaned kitten, one drop at a time. It was a messy ordeal, the kitten was not very happy, it sneezed.. it choked..it tried to suck on the end of hard old eyedropper. We wrapped it tightly in a towel with only it's head sticking out, and were able to get enough milk down it's throat to calm it down. Either that or it was simply exhausted. It's head was wet we dried it off with a blow dryer. The girls found a box and a heating pad covered with a towel to keep the kitten warm.

Whew..so far so good, the girls were encouraged, so encouraged they wanted to know if they could keep the kitten. They bantered back and forth with Far Guy, they cried, they cried some more. Finally they got the best of him and he declared very loudly "Fine. IF it lives you can keep it." I was shocked, he doesn't like cats and now he says that the girls can keep this tiny little motherless creature? With those words he has sentenced me to becoming the mother to a cat. As if I didn't have enough to do already, but I am sure it will be dead by morning. Later Far Guy told me it would be a miracle if it survived.

I knew one thing, if food goes in.. something must come out. Everything must move along, if it doesn't we have a big problem. I took a towel and cut it into small squares, I used those scraps of towel wet with warm water to massage it's bottom much like the mother cat would have done..low and behold it peed...hooray for pee!It was a long night of eyedropper feedings and peeing. Everyone is asleep except of course the kittens new mother. I am exhausted, I am awakened to the girls hollering "Mom it's still alive, and we think it's hungry." Wonderful.

After I got the girls off to school, I got on the phone. Veterinarians in town are on my list. I explain the situation, orphaned one day old kitten..complete with umbilical cord. Well it was not good news. Call after call the result was the same..the kitten will die..It's not worth the effort..bring it in and we will euthanize it for you. I called the Humane Society after they opened at eleven..certainly they could send me in the right direction. I was told not to bring it to the shelter because they were not equipped to handle such a young kitten. DUH? I am not equipped either. Come on people please give me something..ideas, tips, hints.. a clue..anything. In total frustration I finally called the Veterinarian in our hometown ninety miles away. He is a kind man, he was sympathetic but said "Mother nature will take it's course and the kitten will die." I said "That's not good enough I need help, and I need it now." It is a good thing that this man knows me well, he offered one bit of advice..find a wet nurse. He was not optimistic and wished me the best of luck. ( 25 years later he is still our Vet.)

A wet nurse.. another mama cat that would accept the kitten as her own. Maybe. Locating it's own mother, was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I was already working on the haystack, I had instructed the girls to ask all their classmates at school, maybe someone had a mama cat, or actually had the proper mama cat.

I spent the rest of the day, feeding. peeing and pooping for that orphaned kitten. I stroked it, held it close and prayed. Most of my conversation with God went like this.. OK God..you sent me this kitten..now show me some way to help it live so my little girls hearts aren't broken. God are you paying attention??? More tomorrow:)

A Kitten

One chilly Autumn night in 1983 things changed... Memories of Moorhead Minnesota: A Kitten

Jennifer was eight and Trica was eleven, they were outside playing after supper at 5'o'clock. We were very structured back then supper was at 5 and there were no excuses for missing it. I worked nights and Far Guy worked days, if I left for work before five, supper was in the oven or ready to be reheated at the appropriate time. It was the only time of day that we could possibly be together as a family.

The girls came bursting into the house hollering "Mom, Dad come quick!" Not exactly the words that have a calming effect on any parents. "Look what we found !" I am afraid to look. Holy Cats! It is alive! Breathlessly they explain that Jen saw something in the gutter outside on the city street. They are grinning from ear to ear as they extend their treasure. A teeny, tiny newborn kitten. So teeny tiny it still has it's umbilical cord attached, it hangs sadly from it's wet cold little body. It is alive and squeaking. The girls look at me with those sad doe eyes as they say "Mom, you have to help it." Far Guy says "It's a goner." The girls burst into tears. They showed him exactly where they found the kitten and they all walked around the neighborhood searching for the Mama cat, who had obviously just given birth to the squalling little wet creature that I now held in my hands.

No Mama cat could be found, No one had seen a cat or kittens. No one knew of any pregnant cats either.

It was getting dark, Far Guy and the girls came back home. In the meantime I had dried off the kitten and warmed it up. It was so tiny, it weighed maybe 5 or 6 ounces, it was a kitten of three colors, black, white and tan. The girls wanted to know if I thought it was a boy or a girl? It really didn't matter, there was no way this kitten was going to live without a mother. The girls took turns holding it admiring how cute it was, talking to it softly saying "It will be okay, we will take care of you."

Time for a family meeting. How do you explain the laws of nature to two little girls that have fallen head over hills in love with something they found in the gutter. It certainly would have died if they had not found it. They were convinced that they saved it from certain death in the street. If they had left in there in the street untouched would the mama cat have come back for it? We will never know. Our problem at hand was impressing upon the girls that this kitty had ZERO chance for survival. Far Guy finally told them flat out "It will die." Which of course brought them to tears, which of course brought me to tears. The water works are really flowing now. the girls are sobbing, I am trying hard to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from sobbing with them. Far Guy reminds us all "We are dog people, have you girls forgotten that?" Yes, momentarily we have forgotten everything rational.

"Mommy can't you do something? It is so little and all alone." The girls were pleading with me to do something. "Could we feed it? It looks hungry." Could we? But what and how? I gently explained that I knew next to nothing about baby kittens. Sure we had barn cats on the farm but those mama cats would hide their baby kittens and did not bring them out to meet us until their eyes were opened, and they could walk and play and hiss. If we accidentally discovered a litter of kittens the mama cat would move them to a different hiding spot. I never got to see the how and what of the process concerning newborn kittens. . I am clueless..or am I ? More tomorrow:)

A Traveling Song

Years ago I took the girls south with me, when Far Guy was TDY someplace..Florida or Mississippi. I drug them out of school on many occasions to go to Air Force Bases in the south, where their Father was. I absolutely hated that the Air Force put families second, and it was my way of "fighting back" for family time. I always traveled alone with the girls one way, then we would meet up with Far Guy and at the end of his deployment, he would accompany us back home to Minnesota.

The girls were good travelers, and they learned about the southern part of the USA. It was like a travelling History or Geography lesson. Now this was way before eyepods and personal music players..way before..DVD players in a vehicle. We played games...the ABC game where you had to spot something that began with each letter of the alphabet. The CAR game.. I still play this game with the grand kids if they are someplace and bored. It is harder to play now a days but back in the time that the girls and I played it, it was fun. Everyone picks their color, and they count the number of vehicles that you pass of their color. Back then you could actually play "The car game" picking Yellow, Orange, or Purple. Now a days you would get a big fat zero with those colors. We sang songs, the old ones, the songs you sang in rounds, Row, Row, Row Your Boat...and another .."Make new friends, keep the old, one is silver and the others gold." Since I am tone deaf and can not sing..but sang anyway very loudly..I am sure it sounded like a bunch of dying quails. Of course they did their homework in the car, and did lots of reading aloud. I used to divide and conquer them, one in the front seat, one in the back seat. With both of them in the back seat a "She is touching me" OR "She is over the imaginary line you drew again, and is on my side" argument would in sue. Just the kind of argument that used to drive me nuts. Then of course they took naps. They both felt important when I said "Help Mommy watch for road signs so we don't get lost." We listened to the Radio...and sang along with the songs!

On one return trip to Minnesota in 1983 or there abouts, a song by the Oak Ridge Boys was on the radio. So much so that the girls learned the song word for word, as did Far Guy..and can those three sing ..all on key..as long as I didn't join in and throw off the pitch. I can still hear them accentuating the Foreverrrrrrrrr in that tune called "Leaving Louisiana in the broad daylight."

It's just an ordinary story 'bout the way things go
'Round and around nobody knows but the highway
Goes on forever, that ol' highway rolls on forever.......

A really good traveling song! At the end of their song fest Far Guy would say "Thanks squirrels" :)