Around 7 Sunday morning, Fred came and woke me up and told me to come downstairs. Once there, he led me out back, where the gray tabby was sitting, and within a few minutes, the tabby was not only letting Fred pet him (it was a he – and he hasn’t been neutered), but he was sitting in Fred’s lap, purring up a storm. He let me pet him several times, and I went inside and grabbed the camera to take a closeup picture of him. He obligingly flopped down in the grass and posed, though wouldn’t look directly at me.
When I came back outside from getting the camera, Miz Poo followed me out. She got about a foot from the back door, saw the tabby, and puffed up. They moved toward each other, and I was just standing there until Fred said "You’d better put her inside."
So I put Miz Poo back inside and went to take pictures of the tabby. He was as friendly as he could be, purring and rubbing and flopping down to roll around in the grass. He wasn’t wearing a collar, but he seemed to be in good shape, so we thought he probably had a home somewhere. Fred was happily petting the tabby until I took a step or did something unexpected – I’m not sure what, exactly – and the tabby scratched Fred’s hand.
Fred decided he didn’t like the cat anymore, and kept his distance. From inside the house, Tubby closely watched everything we did, an intense look of hatred on his face.
Finally, we went inside, and the tabby hung around for a little longer, and then headed off to points unknown.
Monday morning, I was sleeping soundly when Fred came and woke me up to tell me that while he was snoozing on the couch with the back door open so that our cats could go in and out at will, the tabby had tried to come in the house. Fred chased him off, and as the tabby ran by Fancypants, who was sitting in the middle of the back yard, Fancypants took it upon his stupid-ass self to try to start a fight. Fred shooed the tabby off before Fancypants could get his ass kicked.
He’s a good little cat (the tabby, that is. NOT Fancypants), and mighty friendly, but it kinda pisses me off that he’s coming around so much – our dumbass cats hiss and growl at him and try to start fights, so I feel like we can’t leave the back door open all the time for them to go out, because they’ll either get out there and pick a fight and get their asses kicked, or the tabby will try to come inside, and believe you me, I do NOT need another shedding machine running around here. I have no idea how old he is – he’s small, so he may still be a kitten – and I have no idea whether he’s got a home, or if someone moved and left him behind, or what the story is. He’s not wearing a collar, and thus isn’t wearing an id tag. Neither of us is inclined to call Animal Control, because if no one claims him, they’ll put him to sleep, and like I said, he’s a really good little cat. Fred suggested that we make sure all our cats are up-to-date on their shots, and just let the tabby hang around. But Fancypants is an aggressive asshole sometimes.
He came around this morning, and I took a can of air out and sprayed it at him. He didn’t seem too terribly frightened, but he did run off into the neighbors’ back yard. And of COURSE I felt bad for scaring him off. But what can I do? Our cats have to come first, and since the entire reason we put up the fence was so that they could go into the back yard, I guess from here on out I’ll scare him off when I see him. I really wish, if he has a home, that his owners would put a collar and id tag on him.
Of course, I’m one to talk. Fancypants often jumps our fence to explore the neighbors’ yards, and he doesn’t wear a collar or id tag either. I’m going to remedy that this week, though – I ordered an engraved id tag, which will be here in a few days. The only problem will lay in finding a collar to fit around his skinny little neck.
Y’all, what does Chanel No. 5 smell like? Everyone always raves about what a classic scent it is and how much they like it, but I’ve never smelled it. It’s so expensive that I don’t want to spring for a bottle of it, but I’m really curious to know what it smells like. If anyone out there wears it and would be willing to spray a piece o’ paper with it and send it to me, I’d be grateful. Of course, as expensive as it is, you might not want to waste it like that! According to the description – Contains bergamot, lemon, jasmine and is accented with rose, vanilla and amber. – it sounds like it’s right up my alley.]]>
04/30/2002