This story begins 10 years ago. It has been told countless times by Me, @krazzytrukker & Kelly, @pooky-jax to anyone that will sit still long enough to listen. This story of how a little ball of fur changed 2 peoples lives in such a big way, has been posted on many media sites in many stages of what it will be here today. This re-work of Sammi Jo, A Rescue Story, will be it's final. Compliments of the ENGAGE ON HIVE contest. I will apply what I have learned in the past few years of reading many of several delegates writings. Delegation or not, I am just glad to be posting...
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On Sunday Sept 26th, 2010 around 6-7 pm our phone rang. It was the Crazy Cat Lady that lived near us. She said they had found a litter of kittens underneath their car. One of them, was the kind of kitten that we had told them, we had always wanted.
Siamese / Rag Doll.
My wife Kelly and I walked over to our next door neighbors to check the litter of kittens out. Both of us talking about this kitten & agreeing that we did not need a 3rd cat right now, as the 2 we had were nearly 17 yrs old & would not handle the stress of a kitten very well at all. I also was NO Fan of the 2 we had, and tolerated them only for Kelly, She Loved them Unconditionally.
When we arrived, they handed us a dirty little ball of white fluff with Big Blue Eyes. She was the runt of the litter and we could tell She was weak & needed help. She was so small She fit into the tee shirt pocket my wife was wearing. Kelly looked at me and said, "Can we keep her?"
We both just knew that little runt of the litter, rag doll kitten would not survive the cold, N. FLA (USA), late September night, if the momma kitty did not return.
As we were walking home, Kelly had a smile and a sound in Her voice I had not heard in a few years. My wife Kelly had lost her Mother after a long battle with breast cancer. Kelly's mom Pamela had passed away near mothers day earlier that year in May of 2010.
Kelly was fighting her own battle with a long, deep, dark, depression, from going thru the several year agonizing & painful loss of her mother to that horrible disease we call cancer.
When we got the little kitten inside and were cleaning her up, we found some blood on the tee shirt, and on the kittens belly, a closer look found an open wound on her belly. We first thought maybe her belly button had become infected, or the aggressive Florida fire ants had gotten to her. We then saw something moving, There was something ALIVE inside her belly button! It was a BOT FLY LARVA! (A bot fly larva is a maggot), We knew then for sure, this little kitten was in Trouble! And so were we. Now it was 8-9 pm on a Sunday night. Slim to no chance at a Veterinarian. And if so it would be very expensive. We searched on the internet to find info on the removal, it sounded like something we could do.
This little kitten was tired & weak from the parasite inside her. We decided to do the removal, but we needed something very sharp to lance the hole that was the size of the tip of a ball point pen. A bot fly larva has barbs on the outside, and a toxin inside it. If pulled thru the hole, it would break open and the already weak kitten might die.
Kelly had worked in a secretarial position for the Department of Corrections, for nearly 15 years, and she suggested we do what the inmates do. Make a weapon scalpel out of a disposable razor. So while Kelly drove off to the store, in search of kitten milk and food. I created a scalpel with a small pair of vice grips and a razor blade.
At 11:00 pm that Sunday night, we performed minor surgery on a kitten that changed our lives. A kitten soon to be named "Sammi Jo."
We put little Sammi Jo in a basket, and slept with her between our heads that night. Needless to say, Not one of us slept much that night. The next morning Kelly said to Me,... "I can not take Sammi Jo to work with me, You will have to take her out on the road with You." "You will have to pull over to stop & feed a bottle of kitty milk to her, every 3-4 hrs."
How could I say no? After all, I had just cut this poor little kittens tummy open and plucked a live larva from inside Her.
Well I did it, I took the kitten out on the road with me....... That day was the beginning of...
"Sammi Jo - The Trucking Kitty"
Thanks for this Contest Ya'll, It is just the kick in thee arse I needed to get back to work on the on going story of my best friend and co-pilot! In the next 6 days I will try to find time to re-work...
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As the next chapter also tells a little bit more about who we are, and what we do.
After some tutelage wtf? I do not use proper english, LoL.
After some guidance from someone I have never met, but think very highly of, I hope these chapters will be easier to read, and also will look a little less 3rd grade-ish. (Many ......'s were removed and about 35-40 caps)
An amazing start to your purrfect story. We look forward to hearing and seeing more of Sammi Jo. You're all so wonderfully brave ๐งก
Hey mate, thanks for having a crack at the #post-onhive thing.
You know, what you have going there, with your cats and how much they mean to you is really touching. It's amazing how important pets become to us but it's clear you have a very special relationship with yours. As a fellow-cat dude I get it.
A nicely laid-out and presented post here fella. It was very easy to read and I noticed.....a distinct lack......of..........fucking dots!
Nice work my bro.
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Haaaaa........ Gotta get a few in here on this comment...... They are like crack to an addict. Or now it is like picking my nose in public, cuz ya got me self aware of them. I will have to go thru all the chapters and clean them up.
Fun and challenging all at the same time.
Darth gets it....
src
Lol.
Yeah I can imagine how difficult it was for you not to add so many ellipsis into your post. Probably near-killed you.
It reads way better though, you have to agree right?
Oh yeah!
Backspace button will be worn out before I break the habit. I just did
B4,and had to back up and put the word before in instead. I am a fucking train wreck with the grammar. I type as backward ass As I talk....But I need to be able to turn it off and be professional on the intra-webs if need be. Like I do in real life with people. (shippers & receivers, police, etc.)
So the guidance is much appreciated, and WAYYYY overdue.
Now I gotta git bizzy wit it. And find a load to tote.
I just spent over 50k.... Yep. You read that right!
What do You do when Your staring down the financial abyss?
I will tell ya more about it later. $50+ thousand USD!!!
You'll get there and will get better each time you post.
I'm keep to hear about the 50K...
Go chase that load, and keep the shiny side up.
That is amazing and this was a two way street, three way actually. You saved each other <3
Thank you for sharing and I can totally see how Sammi Jo has a special place in both your hearts..