We stole our neighbor’s cat baby

We rescued a kitty trapped in a culvert.

It was a long black culvert and several kittens were in it just out of reach.

We knew there were kittens in there because…

We were driving home from church when our headlights flashed across a kitten along the side of the road.

“Did you see that?” I asked MomBrain quietly.

She hadn’t.

I could have kept driving and continued living with one less thing to worry about. I certainly wouldn’t have all these scratches…

But no, I told MomBrain that I had seen a kitten (or were there two?) and put the car in reverse. Backed right over that cat.

Wait, that didn’t happen. We got out of the car and sure enough there was a kitten right outside the mouth of a culvert. I checked to see if any more kittens were in the culvert, and the kitty outside darted back into the culvert and out of reach!

The next morning…

There was the kitten. Outside and blinking in the sun.

This time I lunged straight at it and caught the creature before it escaped back into the cavernous culvert.

We took it home and tried to come up with a name. The Extraordinary Ellia said, “Carlo.” Not “maybe Carlo…” Or “Carlo?” No, “Carlo” full stop. So that seemed to settle it.

Of course we went back for the other kitten.

But then something strange happened.

We tried to get that baby cat out, but the culvert was long and our arms were short.

We tried to get Woody, our Corgi mix, to herd the kitten out, but he just jogged nonchalantly by the culvert. Or course Woody is afraid of cats, so maybe he played dumb to the whereabouts of the nearby kitten.

I came back the next day and I couldn’t see any kittens.

The next time we saw two kittens.

We were getting worried. How long could these poor abandoned fur babies go without a drop to drink? So we kept coming back.

Now by the third day, it started to dawn on me. The kittens were oblivious to their plight. In fact, they seemed healthy. I decided the mama cat must have put them there on purpose and happened to be out hunting every time we came by.

It reminded me of the time…

I found kittens under my car. I was about to go out driving for Lyft, when I happened to check under my car (maybe I heard something? I don’t remember). There were some kittens barely two days old.

MomBrain and I spent the rest of the day trying to bottle feed them.

Then I went back out to the car and saw an adult cat scurry away… So we put the kittens back under my car. Mama Cat learned her lesson, it seems. Because the next day they had moved on.

I know what you’re wondering. Did we take “Carlo” back to the culvert at the end of the driveway to our neighbor’s house?

Nope.

Monte Carlo seems to like our house. Felicity and the kitty are bosom buddies. We catch them sharing each other’s food. They even try to play with each other, which puts Felicity at a disadvantage because she does not have teeth.

Just like we had a terrible time getting kittens out of that culvert…

I had a terrible time writing.

DadFace Directive

Two weeks ago, I wrote more than I normally do for my day job, which I thought would make things easier as I went. The one day’s writing paving the way for the next.

It did not.

It was so bad I even tweeted about it:

Let’s focus on one of those strategies today.

Use A Timer

Here’s a recommendation that seems to work for some high performing writers.

Disclaimer: I can’t speak from personal experience because I’m watching a 9-month-old who, in the middle of the sentence I was typing, just kicked my phone out of my hand. (Yes, I’m writing this with my thumbs — the buttons on a laptop keyboard being too much of a temptation for the Mortal Munchkin). But the point isn’t to copy me, it’s to learn what you should do and what you should not do.

The Goal:

1. Set a timer for 20-30 minutes.

2. Don’t do any research or editing. Just write.

3. Then take a break and stretch or make sure the toddler hasn’t eaten her body weight in cat food.

4. Repeat as needed.

The Idea: Focus and train your brain to just spit out words during a short window of time.

Start Here: Start by timing yourself for five minutes. That way you can get used to just vomiting words onto paper. Then work yourself up to 10 minutes and so on.

So did I take my own advice this last week?

Um… no.

Instead I relied on the proven “strategy” I like to call “Power Procrastination.”

I simply did other work until about an hour or two before my deadline. Then I started writing.

This week I’m going to start by timing myself for five minutes. Hey, it worked for that timed essay on the GED back in the day.

New to this Newsletter?

1. Click here to join our family and get the the next letter.

2. I am pro-typo. In an effort to conquer my perfectionism, I am trying to edit less compulsively. You’re getting one step above a rough draft. Click here to read why.

The Extraordinary Ellia posed for an adorable cover photo. Yes, with food on her face and everything. And holding Monte Carlo!

It kept saving sideways inside the email so I left it out. But you can see it right side up by clicking here.

—DadFace

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