I Have a calico cat very quiet and shy He disappears when my friends stop by
They tease and ask, does he meow or cry
Are we ever going to see this little guy
His toys are scattered around on the floor
I have padding on every corner and door When you are here in his invisible presence Things to know to make your visit pleasant
Sit still and be calm so he can get to know
His instincts will tell if you're friend or foe
He'll grab at your foot from under the couch
Then grab the other before you can say ouch
Time has passed and my cat’s doing well
He now wears a collar with a little bell
So when he hides he’s not so hard to find
Such a blessing cause he hides all the time
I don't let him out to play in the warm sun
It’s hard for I know he would have such fun
He bumps into chairs and walks into the wall
He doesn't know which way to go when I call
I've had my cat now for quite a few years When he leaves I will shed many tears He has been a handful but I don't mind
My precious little calico cat is totally blind.
Author Eileen Clark
It all started with me going to Texas with my daughter Kelly, her husband Henry and my two granddaughters and my little Shih Tzu Pookey. Pookey stayed all week at my son David’s home in Texas while I stayed in a motel in a near by town because the motel didn’t allow dogs, not even cute tiny ones. David has four dogs, three cats, and Kelly had her two dogs there also. It was way to much for my little Pookey plus the fact that she got loaded with fleas from the sand in my sons back yard. His wife Betty wanted me to give Pookey to her permanently. Are you kidding, that flea ridden yard would kill Pookey in a week, no way!
The trip started out to be a bit traumatic for her but did get better as the miles went by. Pookey was standing up on her hind legs with her paws on the window watching other cars pass us. When others in passing cars saw her little face they would laugh and wave at her. Then after our week long visit we went back home to Kentucky and Kelly made the choice to go back to Texas and stay, make it her home. Pookey loves Kelly more than anyone else in our family, yes, even more than me.
I gave Kelly my loveseat to take with her to Texas, it was Pookey’s little couch too. She would sit on the back of it every day and look out the big windows behind it at the birds eating from the feeder and at all the neighbors dogs that come in and out of our back yard, and cats. She didn’t know where to sit in my living room after the loveseat was gone so I bought a new loveseat.
Every day she sat at the sliding door that goes into Kelly’s house and made little sad noises. Not a cry, not a whine, just little sad noises, all day. Another week went by and I noticed her hair was gone from around both her eyes. The reason you wouldn’t notice it right away is because her hair on the top of her head is long and almost covered her big brown eyes.
A few more days went by and Pookey seemed to be getting worse. The skin around her eyes formed a crusty kind of mess and her nose was runny, she looked terrible! The following day I took her to the vets and he said the cause for her condition was anxiety, stress, and missing a family member that she loved, that’s what his diagnosis was.
He also said some dogs will get sick to the point where they will die when a person they love dies or moves away. He prescribed some meds and put a protective neck collar on her.
How we get her to take her pills is to put them in a small amount of peanut butter on a spoon, it works great and peanut butter is good for dogs.
Pookey no longer wears the cone, her hair is growing back, her eyes are clean and bright and her eyelashes are slowly growing back. It did give me a scare and I hope to never go through anything like that again.
With Kelly and the granddaughters gone I could see that I couldn’t take proper care of Pookey by myself. I sent out a couple of emails to close friends that I thought might take her and sure enough Leah my closest friend that I had hoped would take her called me right after the emails went out and asked me if I was really wanting to give Pookey away. The good thing was Pookey already knew this friend from her visits to my home so that helped when I had to say good by to Pookey. It was a painful and tough decision to make to give her away.
She is really happy with her adoptive family. She has more people around her all the time, mom and dad, grandma, grandkids, and others popping in and out of there home.
She actually gets out of the house and goes places like shopping, getting ice cream and to visit family friends. When she was with me she only got out on my deck. All and all it was a very good decision I made. The picture below is her on her way to McDonalds.
An update: Pookey died two months ago of old age, she was loved and had a good and happy life.
I got a letter from a very old friend She said my grandma's life has come to an end My grandma lived so many miles and states away I tried to get her to move, she said it's here I'll stay
There was a time the farm was pretty nice In my younger years I stayed there once or twice My friend said there's no point in you traveling out here The place is so run down you couldn't trade it for a case of beer
So I went there anyway because I figured what have I got to loose The farm is a shack on a dirt road and all I got is dirt in my shoes As the dust settled down something was becoming clear for me to see Hanging on the railing was a quilt and nearby her dog covered with fleas
Looking all around this barren land thinking well isn't this just my luck
Finding the right folks and do some fancy talking I might make a few bucks
As I was doing my planning I spotted a tattered note pinned to the quilt
It said, pull a few threads, in the lining there's enough for a mansion to be built
Author Eileen Clark 2022
Beautiful Painting by Bob Timberlake ~ collectiblesandarts.com
All the trees are almost barren, Now I can see farther across the hills. Heavy knit sweaters folks are wearing, Frost each morning sits on my windowsills. Gathering wood for my old iron stove, Hanging bird feeders in a nearby grove. Filling my cup with hot spiced tea, I’ll call on an old friend to share it with me.
Author: Eileen Clark ~ November 2018
Painting ~ Sycamores on Clear Creek, Oil on Canvas
I was eight years old in second grade when I began to notice the kids in my class always had the answers when called on and I never did. I remember the year was 1947 and the reason I remember that date is because I can still see it written on yellow lined paper with a black led pencil. The teacher wanted us to put the date up in the right hand corner of our paper and I never could remember the date. I stayed back in second grade and that was the beginning of the rest of my life. I won’t drag you through all of the agonizing experience I had, just the ones that are still with me. Forth or fifth grade, walking home from school I threw one of my books in the bushes because I didn’t understand my homework and would skip school the day test were given. In the summer my two brothers went outside to play after they finished the chores and I sat at the kitchen table with my mom trying to teach me math, how to tell time and spell simple words. She painted pictures on the back of big sheets of wallpaper, balloons, apples, balls, and a big clock with moving hands. I also heard often, ” Why can’t you get this stuff right like your brothers do.” The sad thing is I also looked bad, very skinny, straight brown hair, a big space in the middle of my teeth, my eyebrows grew right across my forehead meeting each other. Also I was left handed, no one but me in my class was left handed and I had one front tooth that was BLACK! It seems I fell on my face one day on the sidewalk hitting my teeth, nice. I quit school a few days after I turned sixteen, who would of guessed.
So now we’ll go to my adulthood. I never thought about it catching up on me like it did. The first time was with my kid sister. She’s still in her teens and I’m married with one child. I remember the very day, we were in the post office and I said something to her, don’t remember what it was but after she answered I felt much younger then her and way less knowledgeable. She was passing me. The second time was even worse because this time it was my teenage daughter. We were in the yard at our home in Texas and after I got done telling her something she kindly corrected me, very scary. And then the worst of the worst, I wrote a nice letter to my granddaughter who’s about ten or twelve and a week later I see my letter on her dresser in her bedroom with corrections made on my spelling. Still I did pretty good bluffing my way through life. I had many good jobs, wrapping meat in the supermarkets, working in the insurance company, worked at a double wide factory hanging the curtains in all the rooms, cleaning, staining, trimming, and final inspection. At forty I got my GED, ya ! I got a job at a workshop as a therapeutic technician working with adults that had retardation issues, or as the correct way of saying today is ( special needs ). I remember one day saying to a co-worker and good friend, they don’t know things like I don’t know things, the difference is, they don’t know that they don’t know things, I know that I don’t know things, that I’m stupid!
I’m a Jehovah’s Witness and when I received one of our Awake magazine, on the cover was written, Does Your Child Have Learning Problems? I still have that magazine, May, 1983. I read it and then I went to our library and got several books on learning disability’s. As I read them I cried, it was me, everything I was reading was about me. My mom was telling me on the phone one day that my dad shuts down when he gets nervous or if someone is giving him directions to some place, so I guess that tells you who I got it from. I can’t read road maps, can’t drive far from home, can’t follow directions when to many are given, and get lost in big buildings. We with poor learning skills tend to shut down, became great con artist in that we have ways of squeezing out of tough situations if we’re called upon. We do much better with visual information then reading stuff. Now that I’ve read all this important information in these books I got, it’s answered so many things I had wondered about. I was an intelligent person, much more then many other people that I know so how can this be. Why did I have so much trouble learning something when so many others didn’t? Well now I know and I’m not afraid to admit it, no more shame. The bright side of all of this is people like myself are very creative and artistic and that I am! I paint, (watercolors), build things, water gardens, arbers, landscaping went to interior decorator classes, and write poems.
P.S. My writings I can spell check but I have not found a site that will help me know where to put commas so go easy on me please.
I was kinda sad and low when I went to bed
Unhappy feelings swirling round in my head
Mama said I would feel much better tomorrow
A new day often seems to wash away any sorrow
I sure don't know how that can possibly be
My best friend is really really mad with me
We had a terrible fight over such a silly thing
She even threw at me our friendship ring
I turned out the light and climbed into my bed
I need to tell her I'm sorry, words not easily said
As soon as I made that decision my heart felt free
And even the moon outside was smiling down at me
Author Eileen Clark 2022
My kitty’s name is Simply Sweet My Daddy found her on the street She was so skinny, shivering and cold Guess she was only a couple of weeks old
She hid in the pocket of my Daddy’s big coat Poked her head up, a meow slipped outta her throat I knew right then she’d be my best friend For always and ever, till the very end
I’m all grown up now, I’m almost three Mommy say’s big enough to take care kitty I’m an only child but not alone anymore Kitty and me share toys, my bed, and milk on the floor
I was in pain for awhile today
I was in pain all day yesterday
I will pray, yes I’ll get through
I will pray, that’s what I do
Sun is shining, that is good
When it shines I can smile
Stops the hurt, least it should
In my mind, just for awhile
Keep on going, get to days end
Don’t complain, not to any friend
Silent on face, screams in my head
Soon night is here, I slip into bed
So good, so soft, thank you God
Author Eileen Clark
Image:https://brainzaps.wordpress.com/depression-historical-perspective/
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