Bernice, Bernice, Bernice

Bernice joined our family about two weeks ago. I am not sure how much longer she will survive being a Smith, but we hope she will be with us for a long while. I say that, because she has had a pretty tough journey since becoming part of our family. Let me take you back to Day 1…..

 

I have been talking to Veo and Ali Moore about getting a kitten from them. They had three little bitties show up at their house a while back. They had fattened them up and started trying to get rid of them. Me, being the lunatic I am, decided that we needed another animal added to the craziness around my house. I wanted a kitty, because we have a severe mouse problem in our garage. I guess with all the farmers clipping their fields and the weather turning cooler made them decide to flock to my garage? You see, my garage is very inviting. There are dog beds, cabinets, dog food, a golf cart and all sorts of stuff for them to make a nice cozy home. After one of these unwelcomed guests ran across my foot one night I decided that a kitty was just what we needed.

This is the picture that Ali sent me of Bernice before we got her. We fell in love with her cute little tail. Too bad she failed to mention that she was so mischievous.

One afternoon Suzy and I went to Veo and Ali’s house to pick up our sweet baby girl kitty. She was just a doll. We decided that we would name her “Bernice”. Strange name? Yes, it is. I wanted to name her something that had the name “Ben” in it somewhere, since Ben is their son that is giving up the sweet kitty to us. I googled names that contained the letters B-E-N and Bernice was the lucky winner. I think it fits her quite nicely. I got all the essentials for a little bitty baby kitty and headed to introduce her to her new home. She fell in love with her new crib. She even got a new necklace. What girl wouldn’t like a bright pink necklace, right? The first night of her arrival was probably the best night of her existence here. After night one, it all went down hill…. We got her on a Thursday and this is her life up to date.

Bernice the first night that we got her. She was getting some loving on my guest bed. Wish I would have known what kind of "love" she would give the bed later.
Notice her pretty necklace.... She obviously doesn't like it as much as I thought she would.....

Friday- Bernice decided that the litter box was not where she wanted to do her business. She decided that my guest bedroom was her new bathroom. The bed would be the perfect spot. She not only peed, but pooped on my bed. So, several clothing items and the comforter made a trip to the dry cleaners that day and Bernice took a trip to “outside land”. That was the last night that Bernice spent inside. That afternoon Bernice got a little to close to Lola. Lola chased her into our garage and guess what she ran straight into? Remember the mice? Well, I had sticky traps set in corners for them. Bernice ran straight into a corner that housed a sticky trap. She was captured. I had to rip the trap off her foot, which was quite the task. After getting it off of her I thought that I would put her down so she could walk the stickiness off of her feet. WRONG. She stuck to everything she touched. She had big hunks of grass and leaves stuck to her paws.

The weekend- I was too aggravated with her to do much with her over the weekend. She spent most of her time exploring her new surroundings and climbing trees. We let her in here and there so Suzy could play with her, but that was the extent of our interaction (besides me knocking her down from a tree with a flag pole because she was too scared to climb down) . I was still pretty mad at her for the whole comforter and clothes fiasco.

Having such a fun time playing!

 

Bernice follows Suzy everywhere. They were having a big ole time in my closet one morning before work.

 

Monday- When I left for work I could not find Bernice, so I started calling for her. I heard her meow from a distance, looked up in the tree next to the garage and she was there. I decided that if she was dumb enough to get that high that she would just have to tough it out and figure out how to get down herself. I didn’t have time to fool with her. Monday afternoon I got off work at 4:30, went to the gym, ate with my parents, and got home around 7:00. Bernice was still in the tree. She was not smart enough to “figure out how to get down herself” obviously. I had to coax her out of the tree, yet again.

Tuesday (AKA “The Day From Hell”)- I woke up Tuesday morning, got dressed, got Suzy ready, loaded my car, put her in her seat, and went to crank my car. It wouldn’t crank. I checked all my lights and switches and I had not left anything on. I immediately called Papaw to come get us, but he didn’t answer (what’s new?). Finally, Mimi answered the phone and came to our rescue. Papaw called me back that morning and told me that he was sending the wrecker to get my car and that they would get it fixed for me. Around ten or eleven Tuesday morning my phone rang and it was Mimi. She never calls me while I am at work, so I knew she probably needed something. I got to a stopping point and returned the call. This is the conversation dialogue:

Mimi- Dad just called me and asked me if you had gotten a cat.

 

Me- Well, what did you tell him?

Mimi- I told him you had gotten a kitten. He asked me what it looked like and I described her to him.

--- I am thinking the worst at this point. ---

Me- And……?

Mimi- Well, she must have been in your car when the wrecker came to get it this morning.

--- My heart sank. I just knew what had happened (or so I thought).

Me- oooooooookkk, and?---

Mimi- When the mechanic lifted the hood of your car she jumped out from under there and was lose in the shop. They finally caught her and locked her in the lobby, but she scared the mechanic to death.

Me- (I’m laughing at this point) OH CRAP!!

Mimi- They are going keep her in the lobby until we can get there to pick her up.

Mimi went to get Bernice over lunch and I got her later that night from her house and took her back home, again…..

When I went by to pick my car up from the shop the next day I was joking around with the guys in the office about all her ridiculousness and they informed me that she didn’t know what glass was either. She tried to jump through the office windows as well. They said she looked like a Garfield toy attached to a car window at one point.

The rest of the week- I had to continue to dig her out of my car every morning before work and every afternoon if I went somewhere after work. She did not learn her lesson from her trip to town.

Bernice is a very peculiar cat. I think she may be a little “special”. She has been a handful, to say the least, but Suzy loves her. Bernice is great with Suzy, too. She lets her abuse her and does nothing to stop the madness. Maybe, because she “special” and doesn’t know how to defend herself? I don’t know, but I do know that we already love her weird little self and couldn’t be happier that she is so good with Suzy.

She loves her tail the most.

She picks her up by her tail and carries her everywhere. Bernice never makes a sound.

She also tries to use her as a chew toy.

 A big thanks to The Moore Family. I’ll send you a bill.