Cats 101

My cat is . . . well, a cat. She is precocious, funny, lovable, and willing to bite to draw blood.

I was talking with a neighbor this week when he saw me out in the garden. He told me about his relationship with my cat. That sometimes she wanted to talk and hang out, and other times she has no interest in him whatsoever. The worst was when he told me that sometimes she asks him to let her into my house. Like all cats, she sees no harm in asking -- again and again and again. Just in case the answer changes.

She will also walk into any open door in the neighborhood. One of my neighbors was visiting another one day. It was warm, so they had left the door open. The next thing they knew Naomi had joined their little get together. She will also do this with open cars. One day she almost left with a workman, but fortunately the same neighbor #1 pointed her out on the seat of his truck before he took off. She used to be welcome in a different neighbor's house until the "unfortunate incident." This was when she was in the house without the neighbor knowing it and had to go. She went on the bedspread that was lying on the floor. Now she is banned, though the neighbor is still friends with her.

If I go to visit a neighbor, she will come along. She went with me over to another neighbor's house and he let her in. We had a great time watching her once she discovered the boa constrictor in his cage. He suddenly became more active, moving like he was enticing her to come closer. She would, very cautiously, and then jump back suddenly. She is used to garter snakes, but that thing was huge!

Another time she followed me all the way down the street when I went to the neighborhood garden club meeting. She sat outside the whole time asking to come in. It made everyone laugh and me blush. Late comers kept asking if they should let her in, only to receive a chorus of "No's."

About a week ago I heard yet another neighbor scolding a cat. I couldn't tell whether it was her Shadow or my Naomi, but one of them had caught a mouse and she was imploring the cat to let the poor little mouse go. I was laughing at this. That kind of logic doesn't work on a cat. They are just doing what comes naturally -- and a good thing too, or we would be neck deep in pests.

Cats also like to find little "nooks" to curl up in. Suitcases and bathroom sinks are highly favored for this. Naomi also likes the linen closet and I have given over a portion of it to be a permanent bed for her. Lately she has found a new place to curl up.

When not filling up a bucket, she likes to curl up in the garden, in the lettuce, or instead of the lettuce.

Needless to say she is NOT happy when I make her move. She is 100% cat and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Buck Stops Here - Well, There, Actually

I live in Boulder, Colorado. It is a fairly affluent city with a strangely diverse population. It was once featured on the Today Show as having the largest cross-section of religions of any other city in the country. This is a place of big money living side-by-side with New Age granola types. On Thursday evenings a group of hundreds get together to ride their bicycles all over the city - just because it is Thursday. I live in a trailer park, so obviously, I am not on the money side of things, as to the other side - you be the judge. My neighbors consist of an astrologer, three massage therapists, a Rolfer, a junk dealer, a recycled building materials dealer, and a young woman creating her own business of crocheted fashions. The first time I saw one of my neighbors she was jogging past dressed as a butterfly.

Our "trailer" park, or, more politically correctly, mobile home community, is not stereotypical of the "trailer park" of red neck comedians, though there is plenty of comedy around here.

We live with a fairly wide range of wildlife passing through. Fox, deer, snakes, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, skunks. . . Around here it really is a wild life. . .

One fine autumn day I was out in my yard raking leaves. I looked up with a doe came out from between two of the homes across the street. She turned and trotted down the street and then went between two more of the homes. Nothing unusual there. A moment later a huge buck came out from between the same first two houses as the doe. He looked around and did not see her, apparently his sworn lady love. On the other hand, he did see me and I didn't quite measure up. Thus, really ticked off, the horny beast lowered his antlers and started to rush my direction. I froze. What to do? I was too far from the house to make a run for it. I had my rake, but compared to those antlers I may as well have been holding a toothpick. I wondered briefly what impalement would feel like.

At the last moment, or maybe the moment before that, he caught the scent of his lady love, raised his head and trotted happily and lustily after her. I dropped to the ground and tried to get my heart and lungs working again. Not a hole in my person, other than those that are meant to be there.

Most of my wildlife encounters have not been quite so dramatic, but they are plenty. This may be a city, but we are just barely downstream from the whole Rocky Mountain Range. It is probably only a matter of time before I am faced with a bear - or worse.