Kitty-Q

Posted on July 30, 2016 by Laura Lindblom under People, Pets/Domestic/Farm Animals

People who hate cats just haven’t yet met the right cat. That’s all. My uncle’s cat, Kitty-Q, is one of those perfect cats. “Perfect” in that she is a delightful blend of normal cat and abnormal cat. She has all the grace and poise and haughtiness and independence and self-sufficiency of the average capable feline, but she has a desperately sweet side, the side that manages to knock down all sorts of barriers, even those created by cat allergies. She never gets tired of cuddling. She is quite the beautiful feline, and none of us would be surprised if she had a little bobcat in her.
No one knows where she came from. She adopted my uncle and his family about seven years ago – She wandered in as a stray and stuck around when they started feeding her. But for weeks she wouldn’t allow them to come near her. One day, my uncle was flat on his back underneath one of the tractors, and the cat came and sat on his chest. From then on, she was their cat.
Sarah and I are house-sitting for my uncle while he and his family are fishing in Alaska. Kitty-Q, without fail, greets us on the porch in the evening when we come inside, and greets us on the porch in the morning when we come out. She meows at us, begging for attention, roughly shoving her bony little head under my chin or into my hands, to insist on affection.

I can’t help but wonder if this is how Adam and Eve were able to interact with God’s creatures in Eden.

Laura Elizabeth

The Cat’s Meow

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Laura Lindblom under Pets/Domestic/Farm Animals, Photography, Writing

There’s nothing quite like the company of a cat. Or cats. I understand, some people have very strong negative feelings on this topic. If you are one of those unfortunate individuals, you doubtless just haven’t met the right cat yet. Luna is a bit on the dense side, it is true, but you’ll not find a more beautiful feline specimen. Ever since he was a few months old, he has looked just like “textbook pictures” of a cat. Gorgeous. And there is almost nothing that I find quite as winsome and heart-entangling as Kashka’s attempts at a meow when she wants attention, or as calming and comforting as her rumbling purr.
Not a lot is known about why or how cats purr – There are suggestions, some of which may have some merit, but it tickles my funny bone that purring is one of those things that just has modern science a little bit bewildered. Then I stumbled across this from the Live Science website: “A domestic cat’s purr has a frequency of between 25 and 150 Hertz, which happens to be the frequency at which muscles and bones best grow and repair themselves. It is, therefore, speculated that cats naturally evolved their purr over time as a survival tactic – a biomechanical healing mechanism that ensured speedier recoveries.”
I read that and just kind of scratched my head. That’s pretty amazing! They just naturally evolved their purr to within a specific frequency as a way to equip the species? (My sister Sarah’s response to this was, “Why don’t we purr?”)

Not to create any tidal waves of controversy here, but I have another idea – What if cats were given the ability to purr specifically at the frequency best for muscle and bone repair by Someone who knew what He was doing? And because God wasn’t driven by rigid practicality in His Creation, He created a sound that human beings in general find to be soothing and relaxing and delightful, simply because He could, because His Creation was meant to be a blessing and a joy, something that causes us to thank and glorify Him. What if what we see around us that seems miraculous actually is miraculous, and is a gift from the hand of a good and loving God? Perhaps that sounds silly and childish. But I find that the more deeply convinced I become that these things are gifts from God, the more beautiful His Creation is to me. I find that my love and appreciation the natural world is enhanced and intensified by the evidence I see of God’s fingerprints all over Creation. It humbles me and overwhelms me.

I got home today from work and found Anna out in the corral playing with her kitties – What fun she (and they!) were having, and what fun it was to watch the antics! The little spectacle was, well…the cat’s meow.

Pretty Kitty

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Laura Lindblom under Photography

When I left for a walk yesterday morning, I looked back towards the corral and saw a little black speck over by the sheds. It was Kashka, watching the morning. I walked back – that cat just tugs at my heartstrings – and called her over to me. She came partway, but made me come the rest. For probably ten minutes, I just sat there and watched her, as she watched the morning go by, prowling for little critters in the long grass, stepping daintily, silently, and swiftly, occasionally asking for affection.

What a lovely little creature. God is so good to have given us such delights in something so simple yet precious.

Creatures Great and Small

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Laura Lindblom under Uncategorized

Animals are, I believe, a wonderful gift from God. Created to beautify Creation, to be companions, to provide various necessities of life, and for us as humans to steward well and to enjoy. And God is glorified. Genesis 1 recounts God’s forming of the earth and filling of the earth with creatures:

²⁴And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

And it was good. Good. Good. When a good and wonderful God calls something good, it must be good. Of course, the earth now is fallen and corrupt, but God’s fingerprints are still all over His Creation. His love and creativity and glory are still wonderfully evident. Imagine what earth must have been like in perfection, before sin and death and decay! How beautiful it must have been.

When I am just sitting stroking Kashka or laughing at Luna’s antics, my little heart just wells with mirth – That God would pour so much uniqueness and loveliness and humor and fun and personality into these insignificant little creatures just amazes me. They each have their habits, their quirks. They have their ways of asking for and receiving and giving affection.

Time and again, when the cats are being darling or strange or comical or affectionate, I find myself asking out loud to whomever happens to be within earshot, “How could I ever think this little creature is the result of evolution? How could I think anything other than that God created and loves this little creature?”

Kashka likes to sit at the window and squeak her paw on the glass, the charming cat version of fingernails on a blackboard. She does that to ask to come inside. Or she jumps up on the windowsill of the Miner’s Cabin and looks at me with her big green eyes. She has a white patch of fur on her belly, and will roll over on her back to have the white patch rubbed. She can’t meow properly, but breathily chirps. She is delicate, graceful, and a pretty capable hunter.

Luna, on the other hand, is big, beautiful, clumsy, and talks to himself while hunting. Doesn’t catch a thing, as far as we can tell. He has a huge voice and a huge personality. He likes to stretch and walk at the same time, and looks really goofy while doing it. He knocks stuff over, rolls on the floor like a dog, and runs chaotically around the yard. I think he got dropped on his head while a kitten. Or God just gave him an extra dose of personality. Something like that.

Anna’s beautiful cats, such simple and ordinary creatures, are daily humorous or tender reminders that God cares deeply about His Creation, even the tiny and seemingly unremarkable. He didn’t forget to infuse evidence of His glory and creative power into even the tiniest of creatures. They were created by God, so they must be remarkable. Humanity was the crowning glory of the Creation, but I can’t help but believe that God enjoyed the process of creating all of His many creatures, from the smallest and least significant to the pinnacle of His Creation, from creatures great, to creatures small. The Lord God made them all.

A Cat’s Life

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Laura Lindblom under Uncategorized

Kashka’s favorite spot is still under the Christmas tree. The sun has been streaming brightly through that window all morning, and she has been basking in it since she came inside.