The Rescue of Midge, Christmas 1999

Background

On Christmas Day, 1999, Midge (our highly inquisitive 2-year-old tabby cat) disappeared into the framework of the house through a little trap door that she had been able to open in an upstairs bathroom. We assumed that she would eventually come back out, so we left food, water, and a catnip plant next to the trap door and periodically called for her. But we saw and heard nothing for four days and had pretty much given her up for lost. However, on the fifth day we heard her through the garage wall. This is the account of her rescue.

	This is about 8 p.m. First we ripped pieces of sheetrock off the wall. That part was easy.
	When it became obvious that our tools were inadequate, we called the fire department. The Captain of the local station came to help, and during the course of the evening returned to his station twice to get heavier tools.
	We cut holes in the plywood. This was much slower and we eventually destroyed a big paddle bit doing this.
	From her cries we thought Midge was down in the bottom corner of the wall and so we removed a (non-load-bearing) plank with a crowbar to open up that area. At this point we could go no further because we didn't have tools to remove brick, so the Fire Captain went back to the station (about 10:30 p.m.).
	While we were clearing up, we heard Midge again, but this time higher up. By looking with a mirror and torch/flashlight through one of the holes we had made, we finally saw her above us and so started to make a hole in the ceiling.
	Through the first hole we made we could see Midge and touch her, but the beams were too close together to pull her through.
	At about 2 a.m. we eventually got to Midge through our second hole in the ceiling. Although she was very glad to see us, she was not so glad to be hauled headfirst out of a hole several feet up in the air.
	And this is the final damage that we were left with. We had it repaired about a month later. We have also screwed closed the trap door in the bathroom. Midge appeared unharmed by her little adventure. She was even clean, which was more than could be said for the humans involved.
	Here's the repair work in progress...
	...and the workers admiring their handiwork after they had finished.

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