The Crow and the Cat and Father's Day

Still feels weird not giving a Father's Day card by hand or sending via Royal Mail even.

Sent mine via heart to heaven.xxxxxx

Dad would have loved this clip. Birds and cats. His favourites:o))) He used to keep pigeons, as most men did in those days. Don't know why it was pigeons. Why not budgies or parrots (my brother had one and Dad hated it!) Maybe it was because pigeons were like the underdog...or is it underbird? But you get what I mean. If ever an animal was 'picked on' he'd be there to stick up for it in his own way. Used to drive Mother nuts...but she also had a soft spot for pigeons and doves. He would never kill one to eat. Never. We had one, a dove. Mother rescued it and nursed it back to health. It had a little dovecote in the garden. Mum and Dad decided that it was time to let the dove go...live wild and free. Took it MILES away...in a car. Set it free in 'dove land'. Drove home...to find little dove waiting for them on the doorstep. Cool or what? Talk about devotion. After that, they gave up and ideas of 'freedom' and dove lived its life out with us:o))

Dad used to work in a mill. Hard work.. textiles. Anyway, come break and dinner times he'd sit on a little stool..in a corner of the mill and eat/drink whatever he'd brought in that day. At the last mill he worked in he noticed a little mouse. It'd look out for tit bits. He would, of course, share some of his bread with it. Eventually, the little mouse became so tame that it would sit at his feet and eat with Dad. Anyway, Dad was prone to illness. TB........he managed to acquire during the latter part of WW2 in the POW camp. So, he was off work for a bit. Came back to find that someone had killed the mouse. Set a trap for it. Needless to say, Dad was fuming. Unnecessary loss of life. The mouse couldn't do any harm but someone just had to kill it just because it was a mouse!!!

In the same mill, after the mouse episode, a cat took up residence. A feral cat. Trusted no-one AT ALL!! Usual story. Dad befriends the feline. Shares his dinner with it. It would go to no-one other than my Dad. Well, the mill was due to close. Textile mills weren't doing that well in those days. Dad wanted to save the cat. The mill was due to be purged by builders and the like and little mog would stand no chance. He eventually saved her...on the last day of his employment there. Cat was female...and he brought her home. She was kept in a bedroom for ages, until she became used to her new home...and she was hard work. Totally did not trust humans...except my Dad of course. She was a lovely thing. Mostly white with black bits here and there. Anyway, she gradually gained confidence and became a 'normal' cat. Loved him and he loved her. Total devotion. Lasted about six months. Someone across the road put down rat poison and she died. Must have eaten a poisoned rodent. Neighbour found her under a hedge. She was trying to get home.

Used to pee my Dad off. All this killing of animals...the ones perceived as pests, vermin. He never had another cat after the mill cat.

Wonder how he's getting on in heaven, with his mouse friend and cat friend? Fun and games, I bet:o))