Four-legged fur ball nothing to lose sleep over
There’s only one thing on everyone’s mind each spring. That’s entering the annual Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette fish story contest.
It’s almost contest time, but not quite. This prestigious competition of true fish stories has been going for more than 30 years. So we here at fish story central figure it’s time to shake things up a bit and give the contest a new look. We’re tweaking it to include more critters than just fish — or maybe no critters at all. We’ll still have the swell prizes we’ve always awarded and all fish story scribes will have their entries published here in NWA Outdoors or at nwaonline.com.
Keep an eye out here during May when we’ll unveil this new and improved contest with easy instructions on how to enter.
One thing that won’t change is that my cat, T.C., will serve as chief contest judge, along with two human judges who’ll round out our trio of fish story magistrates. Readers who’ve been around a while already know how a cat can judge a fish story contest. We won’t let the cat out of the bag for you newer readers. A video of T.C. in judging action will be released when we announce the winners in June.
I’ll wager many of you have multitalented critters like T.C. who rule the roost at your house. Not only is she a gifted contest judge, she’s a genuine pointyeared alarm cat.
You’ll never be late for a fishing trip, hike or bike ride if there’s an alarm cat controlling the household. No need to wind your cat up, plug it in or change the batteries. They’re always wound up, except during their 19-hour power naps.
It all started last winter here at the shack-ri-la with T.C. making sure her cat butler doesn’t over sleep. Around 6 a.m. she’d start pacing around the bed and giving little nudges on my shoulder with her paws as if to say, “I’m up. Why aren’t you?”
Instead of a beeping clock there’s an occasional meow. If your alarm cat is yowling nonstop, it means not only do you need to get up, but the food dish is empty.
One day while biking with out little Tour de Madison County cycling group, I mentioned how T.C. woke me up at 6 a.m. sharp during winter. But now that it’s spring, it’s more like 5:30. By summer it’ll be 4:30 or 5 a.m.
“She knows it’s getting lighter sooner. That’s why she’s getting you up earlier,” one of the bikers piped.
That’s all fine because I’m usually up at 5 most work days. Now and then though, it’s nice to sleep in. Alarm cat owners get no peace unless they put two feet on the floor at the appointed hour, at least for a while. The trick with T.C. is, once she’s gotten me up and around she wants outside for an hour of yard patrol.
Then it’s back in the sack for me until she comes clawing at the door wanting back in. My favorite line in the play, “Cats,” goes “I’m a cat. Always on the wrong side of every door.”
So true, alarm cat or no alarm cat.