When I came back to the campground from my weekend in the Valley, a woman camper came rushing over to me, asking my help to get her cat out of a tree. She reminded me greatly of the movie character, Gollum from Lord Of The Rings. Sly, devious, and kinda sad looking. She had big, bulging eyes and walked funny. Short and skinny, with greasy hair. I’m guessing her age at around 40, though it could be 10 years either way. Anyhow, she told me that a fellow camper’s puppy had chased her cat up a tree and it wouldn’t come down. The fellow camper had driven to the fire station hoping to find someone with a ladder to get it down. I looked up at the cat. It was 20 feet up a fir tree, sitting on the lowest branch. We talked a little and then a fireman showed up, with a water truck and no ladders. We brainstormed on how to get it down, when I suddenly had a great idea. There was a skinny dead tree, laying on the ground, that had lots of branches still attached. But it was about 12 feet too long and a little too heavy to lean it up next to the cat. I suggested that the fireman use his chainsaw to shorten it up, and then the 3 of us could stand it up by the cat and hopefully it would climb down.
So that’s what we did. After we leaned it up at an angle, it was a couple feet short of the cat. The other 2 stood back and looked at the situation, while I held the tree up. I decided to stand the tree up straighter, getting the branches close to the cat. As soon as I did that, the cat spooked and took a flying leap, landing on top of a rock. Then it ran up a hill, with Miss Gollum in pursuit. I felt bad about scaring it and wondered if it got hurt at all from landing on the rock. It would’ve been a soft landing, if it had went anywhere else. At that time, the other camper returned and wondered where the cat had went. We explained the situation to her. This camper was much prettier and just my type, but I behaved myself, keeping things light. Lol After 10-15 minutes, Miss Gollum returned, holding the cat. We asked how it was and she said it was dying. Well, that was a downer. She put it in her car, wrapping it up in a blanket. The fireman left and I went to check the bathrooms’ conditions. I checked back later and she was more optimistic about the cat. She said that one leg seemed crooked and had some blood on the paw. Maybe a damaged or broken leg. We talked a bit and then I went to check in some campers.
The next morning, Miss Gollum told me that Diana, the camper whose puppy had chased the cat, wanted to take her and the cat to her vet. But first, Diana had to meet with a realtor nearby at 11 am, for looking at a local vacation cabin that she was thinking of buying. The cat had been whimpering and meowing much of the night, but was now sleeping. I chatted with the ladies off and on all morning, between doing my work chores. I was liking Diana, the more we talked. She grew up in Porterville, after being adopted as a baby. So she knew this whole area well. She went to college and became a lawyer, doing pretty well for herself. She did move to Eugene Oregon for 3 years, after discovering she had blood relatives in that area. We know many of the same places and we both love the old highway going between Eugene and Florence. But she eventually moved back to coastal California. She is now 58 and planning to retire. She had a head injury a few years back and has trouble remembering stuff, which is not good for her line of work. She has a bigger house on the coast (don’t know which city) and the main part of the house is rented out. She lives in a garage apartment there, but is converting a backyard structure into a tiny home. Once that is done, she will rent out the garage apartment, too, just using the tiny home for herself when in town. The house is paid off. Diana is driving a new Promaster van that is converted to a motorhome. It has the lower roof, but she is only 5 foot tall and can stand upright inside. She is thin, which she says is due to food allergies, mainly gluten and dairy. She wants to buy a house in Camp Nelson, something small and easy to care for. Cheap enough that she can pay cash, not having to take out a loan or cash out any of her stocks or investments. I did warn her about the difficulty of getting fire insurance up here and the prevalence of houses without concrete foundations. She does love the area, but has to find just the right house or won’t buy. She has looked at lots and considered building, but doesn’t want the hassle.
Meanwhile, Miss Gollum was telling more about herself, too. She said that she has been disabled for her whole adult life and mostly bedridden. 7 years ago she decided that if she was going to be sick and maybe die early, she might as well do some traveling and see a few things first. She moved into her car and has been on the road ever since. Still has the same car, but it is really beat up now. Many dents and cracked windows. She discovered Quartzsite, Arizona last fall and spent the whole winter there. Her disability payments and food stamps pay her bills. Don’t know if she has other vices, but she definitely loves her pot! She is really into alternative medicine and Eastern religions. Not my type of woman at all, besides her looks. She had found the cat in the desert near Quartzsite, starving and looking sad.
Eventually the 2 ladies left, heading to a vet. I felt bad for the cat, but even worse for Diana. She had paid for 5 nights at the campground, planning to do a lot of real estate viewing and hiking, but was only able to stay one night. She told Miss Gollum that she would pay for the cat vet bills but not if there was any surgery or hospitalization involved. She had had her former dog put down just a week ago after some big vet expenses and got the new puppy from a shelter a couple days later. Miss Gollum said she had little money and would have to put the cat to sleep if the costs were too much.
So, that was my little excitement a couple days ago. If Diana buys a house up here or returns to do some camping, I’ll get to see her again. She seems like good people and is quite good looking for being 58 years old. It doesn’t matter to me if Miss Gollum comes back. But I will make sure she pays for her campsite next time. And keeps her cat on a leash.
iggyvandweller 