Hi! My name is Ashlyn Anstee, and I tell stories with words and pictures. Sometimes, that’s picture books (like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Select “Hedgehog”), or graphic novels (my series “Shelby and Watts”), and sometimes it’s animation (I’ve directed at places like Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network).
This column, “For the Fun of It”, will also have words and pictures. Sometimes it will be stories, or how-tos, or thoughts. A little bit of everything. Hope you enjoy!
The Story of Squeaky Mama
In a previous column, I introduced you to our cats. I said then that we have a lot of stories about Squeaky Mama in particular.
So she was a mama at least once, and feral. When we first met her, she was pretty little and in rough shape. Tough to tell if she was old, or a young teenage mom. After having her kittens near our porch, she was still pretty jumpy.
She didn’t want to go too far from the food (which we had put on our porch for her and the kittens), but she didn’t want to get too close to us either. At first, she settled for sleeping under the cars on the street, which is very dangerous and we didn’t like that at all.
Moving to the Backyard
My husband Grant and I decided to start feeding the cats in our backyard, in front of the garage. At the time, Grant was working out of the garage, which was unfinished. The cats happily moved to their new feeding spot. Mama was now further from the cars which she had been sleeping under, and now she looked for her new place to sleep.
Tree
First, she chose the crook of a tree.
Pile of Wood
Then, she chose the edge of a piece of wood. This wood pile had been left over from our contractor disaster. She liked to sleep on the edge of one of them, like a little diving board. This is when we began to suspect she was strange.
Roof
Then, she moved into the garage. But not on any of the lovely couches set out for the cats. No. Mama decided to climb all the way up into the rafters and sleep in the roof vent. This is when we realised, ok, this cat is either very smart, or absolutely bonkers.
Rafters
Her next spot was the rafters. This was better- she could lay across the wood in the ceiling above Grant. Here’s the problem though- she would fall asleep, and then fall out of the rafters down to the concrete floor. It was probably 8 feet or so.
Grant would watch as she fell with a thud, got up, sneezed for about 5 minutes, and then went back up to the rafters. He tried to leave piles of pillows under the rafters to catch her.
Sometimes she would sleep with her legs on either side of the beam- that was probably her safest place.
Now
We finished the garage, and it has become my studio! Mama can’t sleep in the rafters anymore, but she didn’t go back to sleeping under cars. Now she has a variety of spots- a little towel, a couch. She’s become more comfy. Or, she lost so many brain cells after falling from the rafters so many times that she’s now more trusting.
Thing of the Week
Now that I work out in the garage, I have to set up certain things- mainly a heater. It was so cold and rainy this winter. My friend Michelle Thies suggested this space heater from Costco and it’s been great! It’s tall enough to hit me in my chair while I work. I like to be the temperature of the surface of the sun, at all times, thanks.
I loved this story. 🥰 I'm a cat person so I can really relate to your adventures you write about. I've had a few squeaky Mama's in my day. I used to foster cats, they're odd little creatures 😉