Saturday, February 23, 2013

Introducing Stumps, the Ranch Cat

Once upon a time, there was a cat whose name was Stumps.

He was as black as the night sky and as a tough as a whole litter of Catahoula puppies. He was born and raised on a ranch in Northern California and thought he would always live there.

One day, the owner's of the ranch died.
The owner's son, Jim, who was a very jolly, good fellow, came and took Stumps across the valley to live at his ranch.

Stumps thought this was a very stupid idea.

He liked HIS ranch. So he ran away, the whole 2 miles back to his place.

2 miles is a very long run for a cat. He was very paw-sore.

Jim came and got Stumps, afraid that he would get hungry now that no one was living there with him. Stumps ran away again.

This continued until one day a family moved into the house on Stump's ranch.

He decided to let them stay because his tail had been eaten off by a coyote and all that remained was a stump and the stump got an aching kind of kink in it that was hard to get at because he didn't have opposing thumbs.

The family obligingly pulled the kink out of his stump once a day.

Stumps showed the family what a stud he was.

He caught them burrowing owls and triumphantly left the remains on their door step.
He went on walks with the family, his tongue lolling out of his mouth and panting like an African lion.
He even liked to sit and watch when they roped the dummy, as long as they did not try and rope him. He fought big rabbits who tried to slice him up with their powerful hind legs, and when he won, he left the remains with the owls on the doorstep.

Stumps liked to sleep under the porch at night because the coyote who ate his tail really wanted to eat the rest of Stumps, too!

Stumps liked to sneak into the house and sleep on the back of the couch during the day. One day, the family noticed Stumps wasn't moving very much. And he'd got awfully skinny. And when he tried to lap up water for a little drink it would dribble out of his mouth. Stumps had gotten in an awful fight with something that ate half his tongue out!!! He was very sick for a while, but because he was Stumps the amazing Ranch Cat, he survived.












What sort of adventures will Stumps have next? Only time will tell, so stay tuned....for more Adventures of Stumps the Ranch Cat!!

xo xo Liz

Photo Credit: The very talented and lovely mums!! AKA The mums, or Alison Brannan


11 comments:

  1. Love it, keep writing about Stumps

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    1. Oh awesome!! I'm glad you like it enough you want more! There is definitely plenty of material to be had with Mr. Stumps!! :)

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  2. Great story! I had a ranch cat named Lia who lost her his tail too. We werent sure how he lost it, and was just as stumpy

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    1. Stumpy tailed cats have so much character! :) And Lia is a beautiful name btw!

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  3. This so reminds me of our cat Morgan!!! My sister got him in college, landlord found out and made them get rid of him. So my dad takes him in! After my dad passed I took Morgan and dads other cat in and they became my tame barn cats (My inside cat didn't want to share the house). Then we moved to Grouse Creek and all the cats came with! LOL, crazy I know, but we have to mice or rats!!! I don't know what we would do with out awesome, tough barn cats :)

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    1. Barn cats are the best! And love how Morgan is such a human name, all of our dogs have pretty human names! hahahaha I love that you took all your cats with you to Grouse Creek! :)

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  4. This was great! We had a three legged ranch cat for a while, got hung up in some twine. Look forward to hearing more about Mr. Stumps.

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    1. Oh my gosh, poor guy!!! Barn cats/ranch cats always surprise me with how tough they are and their ability to survive! :)

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  5. I had a cat almost just like this named Midnight - toughest little thing that ever lived. Loved this story, can't wait for more!!

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  6. That is a BA cat! He just looks like he's daring someone or something to try him in those pictures! Great story and please tell us some more.

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  7. Oh I'm SO GLAD everyone liked Stumps so much! Definitely cant wait to write another post about him!:)

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