Someone asked if cats are good paddling companions. Sort of. About 10 years ago I was paddling on the flood current up the Hudson just slightly north of the city across from Yonkers. Stopped to take a break to wait for the current to turn to ebbe to favor my return back to northern Manhattan. As I daydreamed on a small beach I saw a canoe heading southward with a lone paddler. He was shirtless, PFDless, etc.; an old fellow about 70 or so I would guess. He spotted me and turned toward the beach I was on. As the bow of his canoe hit the sandy beach, he walked toward the front of the canoe with a leash in his hand. On the other end was a cat. He lifted the cat on to dry land before pulling his boat up further on the beach. I looked over at the cat. It seemed to be fidgedy, going from place to place, to a boulder and then to a log. The cat didn't seem very happy. I took a closer look and realized the cat was soaking wet. I remarked to the canoeist, "Hey, your cat is wet!" And there in lies the tale. Seems he always paddled with the cat. To make certain nothing happened to the cat he had it tethered. On this particular trip, the fellow didn't notice that the cat had fallen overboard. He wasn't certain how long he had, in effect, been trawling cat! When he realized this, he pulled the poor thing in. The experience acccounts for the strange behavior of the cat! ralph diaz-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Jan 11 2002 - 15:09:29 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:48 PDT