Monday, April 12, 2021

Ellie the Black Hole Bandit

WAFFLES:  Hello, 119? Is this 119? 

OPERATOR:  This is 911. What is your emergency?


WAFFLES:  911? Are you sure? I swear I dialed 119.

OPERATOR:  This is 911. Please state your emergency.


WAFFLES:  Emergency? Well, it's not a major emergency or anything. But Glogirly is freaking out. 

OPERATOR:  There's a girl GLOWING???

WAFFLES:  Glogirly's freaking out. Ellie is stuck in the wall.

OPERATOR:  There's a glowing girl AND a girl named Ellie stuck in a wall???

WAFFLES:  Glogirly isn't glowing. I said she's freaking out. And Ellie is a CAT. Well really more of an inexperienced kitten. And she's stuck in the wall.

OPERATOR:  How did this Ellie cat get stuck in the wall?

WAFFLES:  She climbed through the hole. 

OPERATOR:  What hole?

WAFFLES:  That's what Glogirly said!

OPERATOR:  So we're back to the glowing girl again?


WAFFLES:  Nevermind. Me and Gloman are going to rescue her.

OPERATOR:  So there's a glowing MAN too? 


Wait, WHAT???

Ellie has a new name. The Black Hole Bandit


Last weekend, Glogirly opened the door to our tiny triangular shaped storage closet we have in our master bedroom. Gloman keeps all his tripods, camera cases, and stuff in there. She wanted to grab a spotting scope and tripod to look out the window at a brush fire that had started up in our canyon just a couple of miles from our home. Firefighters were already on the scene and working to keep it contained. She and Gloman were concerned though and wanted a closer look. 

When no one was looking, Ellie slipped into the closet and started rifling around through the camera bags. 

While Gloman watched the fire, Glogirly did a quick cat check. (shaking a bag of treats throughout the house to quickly establish Waffles and Ellie's whereabouts. Waffles was Johnny-on-the-spot but Ellie was nowhere to be found. 

The last place Glogirly had seen or heard Ellie was in that tiny closet. She started moving everything out of it, looking inside camera bags, calling her name...but still no Ellie. 

The back of this closet is opposite our fireplace in the living room. And inside the closet close to the ground and in the way back is a vent that leads from the outside, through the closet, into the wall and behind the fireplace. When she got on her hands and knees, she discovered a small hole in the wall under that vent. The vent is round and the builders must have cut a square hole for it to fit through. And tiny Ellie made her way into the hole. 

A flashlight revealed a fairly large space inside the wall between the fireplace and the closet. Probably about 4' x 6'. The flashlight also revealed you-know-who. But to Ellie this was just a fun game. Glogirly and Gloman tried luring her out with everything they could think of. Her favorite wand toy, treats, her plastic bottle cap fetch toy...she'd reach out to grab them, but would quickly pull her paw back in and wouldn't come out. Glogirly could reach her hand into the hole and pet her, but it was in such an awkward position, there was no way to pull Ellie out. It was such a small hole too, Ellie must have squeezed her way into it.

Meanwhile, back to the fire watch. 

Although a few trees were still engulfed in flames, (very scary!) we'd learned the fire was successfully contained and everyone and their homes were safe, Kudos to our amazing volunteer firefighters! Glogirly and Gloman continued trying to coax Ellie out. Had any sort of evacuation been necessary, Glogirly was ready to cut a gigantic hole in the wall, jump in herself, and get Ellie out. 

Nearly two hours passed and Ellie was clearly not going to budge from her hidey-hole. 

So Gloman took the vent apart and removed a section of it to open up the hole. It had been blocking Ellie's view of the outside world and possibly causing her to be scared to jump back out. With the vent piece out of the way, she could see all of us. Especially Waffles. 

Waffles to the Rescue!

Waffles meowed and purred like crazy. It was like he was telling Ellie it was ok to come out. 

And so she did. The Black Hole Bandit was out. And her hidey-hole is now permanently blocked.


ELLIE:  But I liked my new hidey-hole.

27 comments:

  1. You should hear my human groaning! Something about how kitties can be so BAD! I think Ellie was just having fun. My human has already warned me I'd better not be looking for that type of fun.

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  2. Ellie had lots of fun in her new hideout even if no-one else did.

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  3. I know you had some fun Ellie, but humans get scared when they can't reach you.
    Better and safer to be in the space your humans are in!
    Purrs, Julie

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  4. That had to be so scary, especially with the fire situation going on outside at the same time! I'm glad everyone is safe!

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  5. This post had my heart hammering. I was fully involved. LOL
    Thank Cod and Toona that adventure is over and everyone is safe from fire and black hole!

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  6. That was an awful thing Ellie. I know that wasn't what you thought of when you went exploring but my goodness, what a terrible time for your parents.

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  7. Yikes....that had to be scary!! We're glad you got the hole closed up so it doesn't happen again!!

    The Florida Furkids

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  8. They will always find ALL the holes. Glad Waffles convinced her to come out

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  9. Yikes, that is scary! Glad she eventually got out unharmed.

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  10. How scary. Glad you got her out.

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  11. Oh Ellie, no, your family was very worried about you. Please don't look for more holes like that.

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  12. Poor Ellie! Ham did that when he got into the unfinished space in the basement of the last house. There was a hole that went in and around the downstairs bathtub. Cats. At least she's out...

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  13. OMC I would have been DYING!! That hole is soooooooo small!!!! That tops when Roary got under our china cabinet when he was a kitten and we called the fire department because we couldn't get him out! Of course, right before they arrived he came out. Now, thankfully, he's too fat to fit under there. Yay Gloman for his rescue (oh and the stuff about the "girl glowing" cracked me up!!!! I am also happy your home and all of you aren't in any danger from the fires! Sooo happy Ellie is safe!!

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  14. Ellie, that sounds like a lot of kitten fun, but poor Glogirly must have been scared to death ! We're surprised she didn't destroy the wall immediately to get you out of that hole. Purrs

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  15. Oh Ellie, isn't it terrible when you find SUCH a cool new spot to play in and the silly humans freak out?

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  16. KITTENS! Oh my Ellie, what an adventure, but don't do that again. I am glad Gloman could get you out.

    We had brush fires near us April 1-2, high winds and such, over 200 acres burned. Just a couple miles from our house. I put some pics on my blog today.

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  17. Oh My Cat. What an adventure for Ellie but not for anyone else you really did a great post and instructive too. Years ago Dad left the bride and moved into two rooms here. He put a cat way into the wall so his kitty could go between the rooms. Well he did not know that the closet in the back room went straight through into the other closet. Yes you get the idea. Inky was waiting for Dad at the door and it took a day to figure out.

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  18. Whoa!Pretty cool job finding that hole, Ellie. In the B building a cat got stuck inside a wall for like 3 days until TW offered the family a peacock feather which the cat fell for.
    Thank you for the kind words to TW. Glogirly is one of TW's best blogging buddies.

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  19. Oh Ellie. You might like that hidey hole but I bet you'll never get to experience it again...thank cod. ~Ernie

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  20. Thankfully calmer minds prevailed. I probably would have put a bigger hole in the wall. I'm glad no one was hurt. Thank Cod for firefighters being able to put out that fire.

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  21. Scary but a bit funny now that it's over and she is safe..lol

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  22. Wow, that must have been so scary! We're glad Ellie is out of there, and that the fire has been extinguished!

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  23. Good thing she came out of that hole by herself, as the firefighters were busy somewhere else. Too busy to come for her...at least for a good long while.
    What a story!
    I had to block off the space behind my washer and dryer...they are in the kitchen, and there are lots of interesting wires and warm places to hide in or chew on...
    Kittens can get into the darndest things!!

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  24. Great job Waffles!! You did great with helping get Ellie out of the wall. But you saying you dialed 119 was just too funny. We are glad everyone is safe and the fire was put out. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day.
    World of Animals Rittenhouse

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  25. Ellie! You worried your humans, while they were worried about that fire!
    Glad you made it out safely, and something tells me that you won't be able to sneak back in there again.

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