Autumn is here and the case of the mummified cat

So there have been some strange goings on in the PTC household recently, but I'll come to that shortly. I will start with the obvious statement.

Brrrrrrrrrrr

OK, not so obvious. How about this:

Its Autumn!

And yes it is indeed! The wind is blowing, the leaves are turning, the scarves have come out of their summer boxes and I've got cold hands. More to the point we had the fire lit last night in the PTC household. Last week seemed so summery, it was like the summer we never had delayed until September. However, Sunday morning came around and the weather turned. Its cold wet and miserable. However, I love it because we get to light the fire. I don't think we will have to wait very long until the first frosts. And better yet, it reminds me of days like this:

Loch Fyne at its finest last Autumn. Love it!

That photo was taken on one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen in Scotland, and I think this Autumn might just produce more!

So this weekend coming I'm going to get out and about with my camera and get some nice shots (well weather dependent!). I'll be getting all my gloves, my winter boots and the snow shovel from storage. I'll be collecting kindling for lighting the fire, sweeping the leaves from the garden paths and stacking logs in the wood shed. And there will be copious quantities of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows. I love autumn. Summer's all well and good, but sometimes a bit of wind in the trees and a snuggle in front of the fire settle everyone's needs!

So on to the strangeness (I'm doing this one small, in case it creeps you out):

We found a mummified cat last week.

Yes you read that right. A mummified cat. That means all dried and nasty and just a little scary. I cried!

We called the SSPCA (RSPCA to people not in Scotland), because it was just, well, weird. I've never called out the SSPCA before, so I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing,  but the poor creature had a hole in its stomach that just struck me as odd. Anyway, it gets stranger. The cat just 'appeared' on a lawn outside our village hall. No one seems to know where it came from. Even the SSPCA officer admitted it was unlikely that another animal had placed it there because it was smack bang in the middle of the lawn, like completely central, and all neat and tidy on the freshly mown grass. Very very odd. It had also been dead for somewhere between 2 years and hundreds of years, so it didn't get there by itself! (I should point out that I walk past there most days as the hall is right next to my house, and the lawn had been mown 3 days prior.)

It turns out that the SSPCA have recently found a 'number' (whatever that means!) of Egyptian mummified cats in the Edinburgh area, suggesting that they were stolen from a museum (or the museum just got rid of them!). Fortunately (or unfortunately) ours wasn't one of them. But it definitely piqued the curiosity of the SSPCA!

My neighbour took pity on the cat and buried it, providing a little vase of flowers as well. I just love my neighbour, she is so kind and thoughtful (I think she realised I was quite upset and somewhat beside myself because she get giving me sherry to drink). Luckily for me my kitties are on vacation with my parents (that's a whole other story), so I wasn't worried about them. But the first thing I think of when I see any cat remains, regardless of how long they have obviously been there is 'oh no, where are my babies?'.

Unfortunately for the owner, the cat had no chip (or at least none that the SSPCA officer could find), so the owner will never know that we found him. 

So there is the mystery of the mummified cat! I would put up a picture (I had to send some to the SSPCA), but I think it would creep all my dear readers out (whoever your are!).

Thanks for stopping by,

Rose

Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com