My ol' cat Bentley

I was just reminiscing about my dear cat...he died in November but I still miss him so.

He wasn't much of a 'cat' cat, if you understand me.
Clumsy and dependent, he had more dog-like traits than any self-respecting cat should ever openly display.

I recall once, many years ago (yeah, yeah..here comes the my-cat-is-the-funniest-cat-ever! story) when I lived in a wee house with a large back yard filled with dwarf (or is it more P.C. to refer to them as "vertically challenged", I can never recall) fruit trees.

At the time I had two cats. Bentley of course, and a lithe little green-eyed gray cat named Avalon.

Avalon was a wonderful cat...tiny and graceful. She was quite the opposite of the behemoth Bentley. They were the best of friends.

She would encourage Bentley to chase her around the house, taunting him with her flying leaps high over his broad head until I sent them tumbling out into the yard to continue their free-for-all play.

And that's when it happened. The funniest thing I'VE. EVER. SEEN.

I was outside one fine spring day, sitting on a picnic bench out back near the aforementioned 'short' trees when Avalon and Bentley came ripping around the corner, top speed.

Avalon, with the grace of a little acrobat, flew straight up the little wizened old peach tree and perched jauntily at the top.
She peered down at Bentley who was looking up at her from the ground rather crossly.

He paced about a bit, glancing over at me in a pathetic bid for assistance. I shrugged..."You're on your own, Bent."

Eventually he appeared to have come to an important decision.
Gathering his ample bottom under him, he managed to charge up 4 and a half feet of the tree to the first set of branches before he realized what he had done and panicked.

Unsure what to do next, he stood (and with great trepidation I might add) on the limb peering confusedly around...he wanted to move further out but there was a twig in the way.
Inching his way along, he attempted to maneuver himself around the offending obstacle.

The twig proved an insurmountable barrier.
His was thwarted from...I'm not sure, possibly the end of the branch?

Avalon mewed encouragement (or maybe she was snickering unkindly....hard to tell.)

He reversed to what he considered a better attack position, then he began to CHEW at the base of the offending twig.

Hey, if you can't scuttle around a problem, remove it entirely!

This, too, proved a poor choice.

The twig was defiant.

Poor Bent had but one choice.
He must try to navigate around the twig to get to the end of the branch where he would miraculously...what? what exactly were you trying to achieve there Bent?

Alas, we'll never know.
He slipped you see.
But not completely.
No...he managed to wrap his big furry mitts around the slim branch, and there he dangled.

He looked for all the world like an overripe and too furry peach swaying in the light spring breeze.

And it wasn't just for a few moments that he maintained this un-cat like position, oh no, it was a full 5 minutes.
I know, because 5 minutes is about how long I rolled around in the grass at the base of the tree...tears rolling down my cheeks.

But hold on he did, until I was good and ready to pluck him from the tree (meaning until I could gasp for air long enough to stand up)!

Yup, I had to rescue my large young male cat from a tree branch four feet off the ground.

I do miss you Bentley.

I hope you've found a lovely tree with big sturdy limbs about a foot off the ground with none of those pesky twigs to bother you. Maybe with a pillow.

Thanks for being my cat.