Kitty on the Telephone Pole

 A stray dog in the neighborhood may or may not have had something to do with our neighbor's cat ending up perched at the tip top of a telephone pole in White River.

 

Much like the eagle Danny photographed this morning, only the kitty scenario happened after dark, when it was hard to get a picture and plus rescue operations were not worrying about photos. All we know is that suddenly a text was telling us about the situation and asking us to pray that the cat would somehow be gotten down. It had been up there at least 24 hours already because it was too scared to come back down.

I googled how to get a cat to come down from a tree (because I figured a tree was more ordinary than a telephone pole for a cat to climb) and learned that a cat will usually come down on its own. 

But if not--set a can of fish or warm some tuna and let its fragrance waft up past the kitty's whiskers.

Do not, said google, call the fire department. Fire departments really should not have to deal with cats up high. 

However, one can always call one's neighbor--especially if the neighbor happens to have an 18-year-old son named Danny who is strong and tall and knows where a special ladder is that is sort of like a tree-hugger.

Danny loaded the ladder, unbeknowns to me, and drove up to see what he could see.

Darkness had settled over the new lots at the edge of White River where our friend lived, but a bright light was shining toward the top of the telephone pole.
Danny set up the ladder and climbed to the very top, reaching as far as he could. 

But it wasn't quite far enough. He could not quite reach the cat's leg.

Now what?

He climbed back down and searched in the truck, finding a box. Back up he climbed, gingerly keeping from touching any wires. The cat could not be coaxed into the box. Danny climbed back down and found a crate in the truck and climbed up again.

The kitty seemed to want to be rescued, but was quite nervous about the crate. It took four tries, but finally it was coaxed into the crate, and down Danny came, much to everyone's relief.

A few days later, the neighbor came whose kitty had been rescued. His daughter came with him, bringing a Black Forest banana bread. 

"You do not need to share this!" our friend told Danny stoutly. It was a thank you for his wonderful act of heroism! This mighty rescue had been told about all over town, the neighbor said,

"at the bar, at Wigwam, all over!" 

Wow! Danny has become famous in White River!

When a volunteer fireman from White River last week asked Danny his name when they met at a fire, the man said, "Oh, I know who you are!" He had been told about the kitty rescue!

News travels like wildfire in a little town like this!