Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,
Before The Great Freeze of 2018 began (we've gotten down to 29 degrees a few times lately and the natives can't handle it when it's 60 so try to imagine how upset they've been), a lovely blogger named Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey posted some funny photos, including this one:
What? You think it's weird to organize my shoes? It makes the shoes happy and happy shoes feel good on my tootsies.
I heard a strange noise coming from another room and walked to the hall to discover Franklin tussling with something in the hall bathroom, also known as Willy Dunne Wooters' bathroom because the master bath is much nicer so it's mine all mine because the kindergarten teacher can no longer give me a minus in plays well with others, though I suspect Willy Dunne Wooters thinks I play just fine.
Anydog, I thought a rat had tunneled into the house through a wall because he didn't know about the fall of the Berlin Wall and Franklin was trying to educate him. I couldn't see the creature, but he was making some noise. I told Franklin to stop and moved in for a closer look.
It wasn't a rat! It was a cat! A cat on the bathroom mat!
I think she was a lady cat because she wore a pink collar with little jingle bells. With Franklin out of the way, she tore down the hall to my office.
No, Franklin didn't hurt the cat. It was such a nice day that I had the backdoor open. She wandered in.
I sent Franklin outside because I hoped to persuade Queen Kitty to leave. She was white and appeared to be a fairly nice--albeit frightened and upset--cat.
Penelope followed me into the office and showed me Kitty's hiding placer behind the shelves that serve as a resting place for my office supplies. Penelope was not in freak out or heart attack mode. She displayed nothing but cautious curiosity toward Kitty.
But Kitty wasn't having it. She managed to get underneath the shelves.
So Penelope joined Franklin outside. I moved the shelves out and spoke to Kitty for a bit. Then I touched her. She didn't recoil. I started petting her. All was well. I picked her up and headed to the front door. As we approached, she dug her claws into my shirt and then into my skin. She wiggled and fought. As soon as I opened the door, she sprang from my arms, leaving me with a few claw marks.
So that's the story of our uninvited guest. Florida has warmed up again. It's 75 degrees and the backdoor is open. Franklin lounges on the deck. As long as he stays there, I don't think any cats will try to see if our palace is a great place for a cat to live.
I'll try to come around to visit as many of you as possible, but if comments are still taking an eternity to post, I won't be able to leave many.
Infinities of love,
Janie Junebug