Finding Benson Zumalt
The inspiration of this blog, Benson Zumalt, our cat, slipped out of the house on Thursday night. We're not certain if it happened at the time one of our bike buddies left and the door wasn't properly closed, or if it happened when I went to run an errand. We're generally pretty careful to ensure the door to the garage was closed, but we really don't know. We noticed that about 9:30 pm the house was quiet. We searched the house top to bottom. Benson's dad took a flashlight and searched around the bushes. Generally Benson will meow if we call his name, but no response. I went to bed at 10:30, just hoping Benny would return. His dad kept looking until 2 am, then I woke up at 4:30 to see if Benny was back. The bowl on the front porch had been untouched. My spouse got up again at 5:00 and started looking for him again until 7:30. We decided not to go to work in the event he came back.
It's interesting the 2 approaches that my spouse and I took to finding Benson Zumalt.
My spouse took the Bush approach: go look for Benny by car, foot, and bike (preferably w/my help, but I had to stay at home in case the phone rang) on his own. Very much of going it alone in general, which mirrors Bush approach on the war on terror and on Iraq. Benson's dad did talk to people in the neighborhood when he encountered someone, but no one has seen him. He wanted to find Benson himself.
My approach was to ask for help through networks. I emailed JREG to pray or send positive messages for Benson's safe return soon. I also emailed colleagues at work who live not far from my neighborhood to enlist their help, and/or support; also made greeting cards with Benny's digital photo and particulars to put in neighboorhood boxes. I also called the Humane Society, the city Animal Control, and looked at advice from the county's Human Society on their website, all approaches Senators Kerry and Edwards would do.
As it turned out, the filing of a report with the Humane Society was the best route. We also went there to see if he had been turned in, and in bringing the greeting card and detail to the Society, they had received a call from someone that they had a cat and was looking for the owner. Benson's collar with name tag was intact, but the person thought the phone was disconnected. The Society also had our wrong address and had our phone number, but thought we lived in another town. Odd.
Mrs. J. Briggs, the nice lady as it turned out, found Benson in some bushes in a neighbor's yard which was connected to her backyard, as some folks don't have fences around here (you can debate if it's Frost's poem, "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors" or not) because he was crying for help. Benson trusted her just enough to come to her, she fed him, called our house, but also called the Humane Society. Her husband was a police officer for the University, so she called him to see if there was a Zumalt (my spouse's last name) and sure enough, the name Zumalt popped up on the university phone book with a home address.
Meantime, we had called our friend Rox63 (since she was driving down for the weekend) on her cell phone to tell her we might be gone as Benson was missing, and asked her to stay put in the driveway. She did, and as it turned out, it was a blessing. The nice lady brought Benson over, and Roxanne kept Benny in the car, then called my spouse's cell as we were leaving the Humane Society. We were so relieved, and it was a better weekend for the host, guest, and for the kitties.
We got back our precious little boy, and he's still trying to get back into the routine. Part of me feels so darn guilty because we didn't look for him sooner Thursday night, and we think he thought we abandoned him, but he also thought he would have a little adventure since he wanted to be outside. It turned out to be an ordeal for him as much as us.
Our president talks about election amnesia by Senator Kerry, who tends to evolve on his thinking of complex subjects. President Bush likes to decide, not agonize on his decisions, and move on. One can appreciate that at times, but in the war of terror, he has to enlist more than just the popular vote of the citizens because the results of the election, like last time, will not be a mandate.
Going alone and finding Benson Zumalt would have been a great satisfaction personally to my spouse and I would have been thrilled too. But prayers/positive thoughts appears to work, as so does having friends and networks to tap into getting the job done. This is the Kerry/Edwards approach.
It's interesting the 2 approaches that my spouse and I took to finding Benson Zumalt.
My spouse took the Bush approach: go look for Benny by car, foot, and bike (preferably w/my help, but I had to stay at home in case the phone rang) on his own. Very much of going it alone in general, which mirrors Bush approach on the war on terror and on Iraq. Benson's dad did talk to people in the neighborhood when he encountered someone, but no one has seen him. He wanted to find Benson himself.
My approach was to ask for help through networks. I emailed JREG to pray or send positive messages for Benson's safe return soon. I also emailed colleagues at work who live not far from my neighborhood to enlist their help, and/or support; also made greeting cards with Benny's digital photo and particulars to put in neighboorhood boxes. I also called the Humane Society, the city Animal Control, and looked at advice from the county's Human Society on their website, all approaches Senators Kerry and Edwards would do.
As it turned out, the filing of a report with the Humane Society was the best route. We also went there to see if he had been turned in, and in bringing the greeting card and detail to the Society, they had received a call from someone that they had a cat and was looking for the owner. Benson's collar with name tag was intact, but the person thought the phone was disconnected. The Society also had our wrong address and had our phone number, but thought we lived in another town. Odd.
Mrs. J. Briggs, the nice lady as it turned out, found Benson in some bushes in a neighbor's yard which was connected to her backyard, as some folks don't have fences around here (you can debate if it's Frost's poem, "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors" or not) because he was crying for help. Benson trusted her just enough to come to her, she fed him, called our house, but also called the Humane Society. Her husband was a police officer for the University, so she called him to see if there was a Zumalt (my spouse's last name) and sure enough, the name Zumalt popped up on the university phone book with a home address.
Meantime, we had called our friend Rox63 (since she was driving down for the weekend) on her cell phone to tell her we might be gone as Benson was missing, and asked her to stay put in the driveway. She did, and as it turned out, it was a blessing. The nice lady brought Benson over, and Roxanne kept Benny in the car, then called my spouse's cell as we were leaving the Humane Society. We were so relieved, and it was a better weekend for the host, guest, and for the kitties.
We got back our precious little boy, and he's still trying to get back into the routine. Part of me feels so darn guilty because we didn't look for him sooner Thursday night, and we think he thought we abandoned him, but he also thought he would have a little adventure since he wanted to be outside. It turned out to be an ordeal for him as much as us.
Our president talks about election amnesia by Senator Kerry, who tends to evolve on his thinking of complex subjects. President Bush likes to decide, not agonize on his decisions, and move on. One can appreciate that at times, but in the war of terror, he has to enlist more than just the popular vote of the citizens because the results of the election, like last time, will not be a mandate.
Going alone and finding Benson Zumalt would have been a great satisfaction personally to my spouse and I would have been thrilled too. But prayers/positive thoughts appears to work, as so does having friends and networks to tap into getting the job done. This is the Kerry/Edwards approach.
posted by benny06 at
Sunday, October 24, 2004
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