Intruders

Today’s excitement is brought to you curtesy of cat kind.

As it’s a lovely balmy evening, doors were left open. You may have noticed from past posts that Ozzie is getting cheeking with the walking in and scoffing our cats chow.

Well he did it again today. He came in the back, while Pearly (my cat) came in the front.

Pearly was not happy to discover that she had a dinner guest.

Not happy at all.

There was hissing and screeching from Pearly and Ozzie gave out the lowest growl I have ever heard from a cat. It sounded like it came from the beast from the deep.

I had to separate the pair, not easy. When I went to get Ozzie out, the picture attached is what I saw. He was not moving, Pearly was still hissing and when he saw me trying to get him out, I got growled at too. 

Closing the kitchen to sitting room door seemed a smart move, I didn’t want this dragging through the house.  And that’s when I took the photo to be honest.  The only way I could reach Ozzie meant standing in the way of his exist. Not a great idea.

So I fetched the broom. Now I know cats, and love them, wouldn’t hurt one. Very careful I put the broom under the table and knock it against the chair not the cat. That spooked Ozzie enough to run out to the conservatory, where Pearly had decided to lurk. I shooed her off, and she ran back into the kitchen, but I had to hold the broom in just the right places to get Ozzie out the back door, he seemed strangely reluctant to leave. But he finally did the sensible thing.

Herding cats really is as difficult as the saying suggests.

Jeopardy

The peace was jeopardised this morning when I came down to sit and write only to hear snarling outside.  Ginge, neighbourhood cat, on the patio facing off with Pearly – our cat.  I opened the door and they split, Ginge shooting down the garden and Pearly straight in to demand breakfast before trotting upstairs to bed.

Given that the weather has cooled down and we’ve had various showers over the last few days, I decided to play a game of jeopardy too – I put the washing on the line.

When I got out there and started putting things on the whirler, I discovered I was actually playing game of double jeopardy.  Some kind animal had left a substantial – well let’s call it a calling card, shall we? – within the whirler’s radius.  So, I had to change the way I hang long skirts and trousers because I do not want them accidently swinging into that.

While I was out there, Ozzie, a neighbour’s cat and frequent visitor to our garden, appears on the fence.  He wanders down to where I’m standing, sniffs the laundry basket and saunters off – straight through the open door and into the conservatory!  Cheeky blighter.  Inside I see him sniff at the kitchen door (also open), but at that point he turned, saw me looking at him, then he ran back out.

I finished pegging out the washing, assuming Ozzie had run off. When I came in, I closed the conservatory door behind me, only to hear a bell tinkling as Ozzie runs out of the kitchen from the direction of Pearly’s bowls and wants out.  I let him go.  Trapped with a scared cat is not a place I want to be.

I did check, and what little Pearly’s left of her breakfast, was gone.

At Odds

Today has been an odd day.

And I literally just typed that and had the oddest moment so far. Before settling down to write, I let my cat out. Typed that and all I can hear from the front of the house is cats screaming at each other.  So, I pushed my laptop aside and went out (in my PJs because I’d come to bed to write without the distraction of TV).

I go out, open the front door, call my cat – nothing.

Cats are still screeching, from which I could tell they are on the far side of the campervan.  So, barefoot, I step on to the drive go around and what do I see?

Not my cat.

It’s Collarless and Ginge.

I’m assuming they both live locally because they are often about and I have seen both scrapping with my cat. 

Collarless is called that, by me, because he’s one of two totally black cats in area. The one with the collar is Ozzie, don’t know what this one is called, so I just call him by the notable feature of his not wearing a collar.

Ginge is a pale ginger cat, don’t know if it (or Collarless for the matter) is male or female, but it keeps coming into our back garden.  The other day I found massive great clump of its fur, so clearly it was fighting out there and something got the better of it.

Since neither is my cat, and my cat wasn’t around, and it’s turned really cold, I left them too it. They are still, now ten minutes after the initial screech, howling at one another. 

That, I’m sorry to say, is the most interesting thing I’ve done all day. (Aside from finishing “Chariots of the Gods” audiobook.)