CFA Southern Region

GC NW Velvetkist Pack'n Heat by Noralyn Heisig

Pack'n Heat, aka “Frankie”, was a pure pleasure to show. A natural show kitten that charmed judges, spectators and even his competition. This achievement came about fueling itself, as I had no intention of running this kitten alongside his older brother, GC NW Velvetkist Fiori Di Como (CFA's 10^th best cat). In the beginning it never crossed my mind. I was full of stress campaigning Fiori. So I decided to take Frankie along to some shows to relax me and just have some fun in the kitten class and defuse some of my stress in the championship class. Frankie was all about the fun. He loved the shows, it was his own personal party. After a couple of shows, Frankie was stacking up the points and blacklining more shows than his older brother in championship. His coat grew and grew and grew and Frankie required a 2 hour show bath and dry at 6 months of age. Between Frankie and Fiori, I was spending 4 hours before each show bathing and grooming. Then I had cats to grand too. So I would take along a champion to show sometimes as well.

The National Birman show in early October proved to be quite a test of my stamina. The show was three hours away. I decided I would drive back and forth each day due to family obligations. I had both Frankie and Fiori with me as well as a champion. All three cats did extremely well on Saturday, as I was on the road to blacklining in both classes and possibly granding the champion. Sunday morning at home I was rushing around doing cat chores and grooming with a schedule to leave no later than 6am to reach the show right at 9am. I put the last cat in the car, threw in my purse, tossed my keys in the console and shut the passenger door and I heard “click”. Oh no. This is not happening. Yep, locked out. No problem as I have two extra sets of keys. Somewhere. I spend 20 minutes searching and no keys. I start to panic and the Louisville slugger baseball bat leaning against the garage wall is starting to look like a quick answer. Reality sets in and I trudge upstairs to wake up my husband. He can't find the extra keys either. We call AAA. They tell us to call the police since I have live animals locked in the car. The police laugh and say call a 24 hour service station to come break into our car. The Louisville slugger is looking better and better as I glance at the clock and have a meltdown. We call a 24 hour service station that sends out someone that arrives 40 minutes later. Apparently, my SUV is one if the best anti-theft cars on the market. Which is usually great news, except that I need my car open immediately and 30 minutes later the garage man and my husband are still trying to break in. I am on my 4^th cup of coffee and my heart is racing. I feel like I could have jogged to the showhall by now. Patience is not a virtue of mine and I am on the verge of a caffiene fueled rampage. I yell at them and tell them that the Louisville slugger is coming out in 5 minutes. My husband recognizes this as a sign that The Fury is about to be unleashed and gets out the duct tape...DUCT TAPE and finagles a gadget that manages to magically slip in and open the car door. I yell at the useless service station man to get his truck out of my way as I back out of the garage with another cup of coffee in hand. As I speed up the road my husband (who is an attorney) calls to check on me. He asks where I am and I reply “I'm doing 85 mph through a construction zone while talking illegally on the cell phone with you”. He says “well, since 20 mph over the speed limit is considered reckless driving and your twice that, when you get arrested and call me from jail, it will be a while before I can pick you up as my tee time is in 30 minutes”. As it turns out, I did not get pulled over or arrested and I made it to the show without missing a ring. Frankie blacklined the show, Fiori went 2^nd best in show and my champion granded. Who says cat shows are boring? Oh, and I found the extra sets of keys to my car....in the bottom of my purse...the purse that was locked in my car.

** I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dave and Shirley Peet for agenting Frankie at a few shows that I could not attend. Some weekends, the highest championship count and the highest kitten count were across the country from each other. Since it was impossible for me to be in two places at once, I took Fiori in one direction and the Peet's took Frankie to the other.

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