Thoroughly Poetic Thankful Thimble Thursday

Happy Thursday, friends! We're finally back to sharing our weekly poems on their rightful day of Thursday. The holidays left our schedule a bit wacky the past two weeks, but that's not the case this week. We always enjoy participating in Angel Sammy's Thoroughly Poetic Thursday challenge, and we're so glad to be back on track with it.

Our host is quite courteous and always shares a photo prompt to guide our poetic endeavors. This week's prompt is the somewhat terrifying image below.

All I can say is yikes. Now, I took some major liberties when scribbling up a poem for the above image. It does involve some great heights, but I went in a very different direction than the man climbing in the prompt. If you'd like to see what silly sort of poem I wrote this week, feel free to read on.

Sky High

Benny was no scaredy cat.

He was afraid of neither this nor that.
His favorite pastime was climbing high,
So high that he could nearly touch the sky.

Benny did not go on his adventures alone.
He always took along his friends Daisy and Smoke.
One day, Benny and his friends were tired of being on low ground.
They wished for excitement and danger rather than feeling safe and sound.

Benny, Daisy, and Smoke had themselves a little meeting.
They looked all around and weighed their options while eating.
"We've already conquered the Curtain Canyons," Benny said.
"And we've already scaled the Haute Couture Hills," Daisy added with a nod of her head.
Smoke chimed in, "And we've climbed the Mountains of Mankind again and again."

The three adventurous friends thought and thought.
Finally, out of Benny's mouth shot,
"We may have traversed the Mountains of Mankind over and over,
But we haven't yet mastered the great big Cherrywood Cliffs before."

Daisy and Smoke wholeheartedly agreed.
To the Cherrywood Cliffs they headed indeed.
They calculated this and measured up that.
Then they began climbing like the quickest of cats.

The Cherrywood Cliffs spanned quite far.
The three adventurers scaled them until the sky was lit with stars.
Suddenly, though, Benny's foot slipped as he walked along the edge.
Something fell to the ground after a fall that was quite a long stretch.

Benny, Daisy, and Smoke looked over the edge of their cliff.
At the base far below a book sprawled on the floor, its pages ripped.
"Woops," Benny said and then continued on his path.
Daisy looked around and asked, "Do you think anyone heard that?"

The answer to Daisy's question was a quickly revealed yes.
"What's going on in here?" a woman's concerned voice said.
From around a nearby corner appeared the woman's blonde head.
She gasped and shouted, "No, kitties! Bad kitties!"
She shook her finger and said, "You three are far too naughty and silly."

The human woman walked farther into the room and again spoke.
"What on earth are you doing up there, Benny, Daisy, and Smoke?
You've already torn down all the front curtains,
And you've wreaked all sots of havoc in my closet, that's for certain.
Not to mention you climb all over us lowly humans day after day.
And here you are now, even though I told you to stay away."

Even closer the woman walked and then frowned.
She shook her head as she looked her new shelves up and down.
She asked the three cats, "Why did you need to climb the new shelves?
You've scratched the pretty cherry wood and should be ashamed of yourselves."

Benny jumped down from the top of the mountainous shelf and mewed.
The woman couldn't help but pick him up, kiss him, and coo.
The same thing happened when Daisy and Smoke made their way to the floor.
The kitties the woman had previously been scolding were now being adored.

"I could never stay mad at you little scoundrels," the woman said.
She patted all three of them on their furry little heads.
Then she asked, "Do you cuties want some treats?"
Of course they did, and they let her know in a manner oh so sweet.
They rubbed her legs and meowed real cute,
And then they ate their treats and moved on to the next thing to do.

***

Today, Thimble and all the kitties are thankful that their beloved pup sister did wonderfully during her dental cleaning on Tuesday.

Pup Astrid didn't need any teeth extracted. She simply needed a good scrubbing of her teeth to remove some tartar. Thimble and all the kitties, as well as Astrid's humans here, are so very happy that all went well.

We're also of course so very thankful for supportive friends like all of you. Thank you all for the purrs and prayers you sent Astrid's way on Tuesday!

***

Last but not least, we have for you the statements for tomorrow's Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two, and I came up with the second two.

1. When I am _________ I __________.

2. I want to _________ for _________.

3. No one knows me better than _________.

4. _________ is a thought that crosses my mind often. 

We'll see you tomorrow, friends!

***

Tip of the Day

Yet another tip related to outdoor cat shelters is to ensure that the shelter is heavy enough to stay put, such as in heavy winds. Shelters made out of wood or other heavy material will of course be more likely to stay put in high winds. If you have a makeshift or any form of lightweight shelter, such as one made from plastic or Sytrofoam, do consider placing something heavy, yet also safe and secure, on top of it. This could be a sheet of plywood or anything similar that can safely and securely weigh down a lightweight shelter. In some instances, you also might be able to find ways to tether, bolt, or in some way secure a shelter in place. The weight of an outdoor cat shelter is yet another factor to keep in mind when caring for ferals, so take this into consideration and ensure that any shelter you put out is one that will not blow away in the event of a stormy or windy day.