OK, I’m an animal lover. As you may know from my screen name. So this train related story made me feel good. I thought I would share it.
Maybe they just wanted to get the heck fire away from Chitown (AKA “Chiraqu”).
And the Chicago Tribune doesn’t know the difference between a boxcar and a container. Nothing new there. And “Spayed and nuetered” is redundant. But the kittys are alive! So I B happy.
Railroad cats are the best. I got me one little orange boy from the railyard (someone dropped off the pregnant mother).
Someone came around and collected the rest of the cats right after I grabbed my boy (only one that would let me catch him), don’t know what ultimately happened to them.
At least the writer of the cutline on the Tribune photo got the “boxcar” right!
I think my own experience was even more amazing. I was working the platform in Cheyenne, as a mail-baggage handler, more than 40 years ago. Meeting No. 105, “The City of Portland,” one morning, we were amazed to discover a kitten riding on top of one of the wheel trucks on the baggage-dorm! There is no question he had arrived in town with the train … we found him as quickly as one of us was able to roll a handtruck up to the door of the car.
He was dirty but otherwise none the worse … not even spooked. I took him home with me; we named him “Excess Baggage” and made him one of the family.
Seeing the phrase “boxcar kittens” reminded me of the book that some of us older folks may remember from grammar school: The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. (I admit I had to look it up to find the author’s name.)
Of course, today the book would probably have to be titled “The Container Children” to be more contemporary. [:)] And yes, it is true that the kittens were in a container and not a box car. Cute kittens, though, who should have no problem adopting some humans as their personal staff.
I hope you did the right thing, and named the little orange boy Milwaukee Road.
Since one was male and the other femaie “spay and neuter” is not redundant. And with the exception of the photo caption it is consistently called a container.
Rescued animals seem to know it, and stay grateful and loving. Apparently a brother and sister, I hope these two can stay together in a loving new home. BTW, females are spayed, males neutered.
OK, I don’t want to get into a thingy about the meaning of spay and neuter. But…
I did spend 13 years owning and breeding racing Greyhounds. I also put a lot of volunteer time, money and effort in to seeing that these magnificent animals were placed as pets when their racing days were over. And not just my dogs.
No Greyhound adoption group that I worked with would place a dog that could reproduce. To render an animal incapable of reproduction is to “Neuter” it. Male or female. (Actually, there are no female dogs, but that’s another story and I can’t use the correct term here.)
“Spayed” is a specific neutering procedure used on females. But if you just say “Neutered” you’ve covered both genders.
I’m just glad the kittens made it alive to Calgary and are now in good hands. Back to trains.
I remember my second grade teacher reading the first book of the series along with Pippi Longstockings (though it would have been fun having grandfather read it in the original Svensk). FWIW, The Boxcar Children books are available at B&N.
Seeing mention of “The Boxcar Children” made me remember reading some of the adventures in my Sunday School paper–about seventy years ago! I am glad to know that it may be possible to find some of the books (I did not know until a few minutes ago that there was more than one book).