Cathouse

January 2006

Tonight's rising moon was remarkably big, bright, and orange. The sky is very clear, and the air is still and cold. It's going to get chilly overnight. The half-wild tomcat who lives on the porch will spend the night in his cathouse, if he has any sense.

I built his nice little cathouse. It has a small round door and he can go in and lie down on his blanket on the first floor if he wants. Or, once inside, he can go through another opening to the second floor of his house. All of his house is insulated, but if he goes to the second floor, he will be extra warm because I tacked down a foil emergency blanket covered with a scrap of carpet on the floor and then gave him an old sweatshirt to sleep on. His body heat will be conserved from all directions and he won't feel much cold air from the door.

I do see him lying on his first floor blanket frequently, but I've never had reason to suspect that he has been to the second floor. Maybe it's so well enclosed that it feels like a trap to him.

Skittles, Mouser of Merit

January 2006

Our cat Skittles is a hunter. One morning, I came home from taking Isaac to school and found a long pink tail lying on the front step and a rat head not far away. The body was missing, and I guess she ate it, because the next day, she hacked out a giant hairball. Judging from the size of the tail and head, the rat wasn't much smaller than her. We think she caught it in or around Clarence's barns.

As I was moving stuff around in my little garden shed one day, a mouse skittered across the floor and startled me horribly. Isaac brought Skittles, and we put her in the shed. She had the mouse within a moment, and to this day, she remembers that she caught a mouse there. Whenever the door is open, she goes in and checks to see if she can find another.

Our old tom, Happy, is worthless as far as being a mouser. Actually, he's worthless in most respects, but we like him anyhow.