No, it turns out that Junior is climbing the screen because he spotted a lizard!!!

No, he doesn’t need the lizard. He has plenty of food. We even open the door when he wants to come in. But that doesn’t stop our intrepid hunter.

That screen is gonna have to go.

I went to bed and half hour later or so, BMHusband came in. We’d been in bed maybe fifteen minutes when it sounded like a soccer game started in the living room.

“What was that???” Husband asked.

“Sounds kind of like the cats playing. Where is Junior? Maybe he’s playing with the balls.” We both got out of bed.

Husband said, “Junior came in while I was brushing my teeth. But Junior never plays with the balls unless Scamper plays with the balls.”

Lights on, we both peered about nearsightedly.

Husband said, “That looks like Scamper.”

“Yup. Sure does.”

“How did she get in here? I shut the door!”

“Looks like she found a way in.”

“Junior came in while I was in the back bathroom brushing my teeth. I saw him. Figured it was a good time to shut the door and lock it.”

“Looks like maybe she came in with him,” I said.

“But where was she when I shut and locked the door???” he asked.

“Not in the garage.”

While we had this conversation, Scamp sat there in the dining room, tail curled calmly around her legs. Junior came over and gave my legs a hug. There was no panic. Maaaaybe Scamper didn’t realize that she had no way back out. I doubt it. She’s a pretty smart cat and she knows her exits–at all times. Maaaybe she’s starting to believe we aren’t trying to trap her inside for nefarious purposes.

I asked her if she’d like to go back into the garage (it was still raining and now that we had interrupted the soccer game, it wasn’t likely to restart.) I opened the door to the garage and got out of her way. Sure enough, she scampered right on out there. She was still there in the morning when we opened the door. In she popped, had a bite to eat and then back out. Several times. You know. Like a cat, but not a particularly feral one.

Yes, he really is wedged inside a cinder block.

As for Scamp, here she is under the grill:

Of course it’s hard to see her. That is the plan. She prefers it that way.

It’s been raining quite a bit these last three days–and for the first time ever, we found Scamper in the garage out of the rain! We leave the door cracked for her, but other than exploring it a time or two, she has not used it that we know of. Apparently it was soggy enough that she took shelter there last night. It’s only been two years cat…

FINE.

I let him out. Back to bed. Almost asleep.

A few minutes later–cat fight. I marched out there…nothing. No cats. Quiet. Back to bed. 10 minutes later, cat fight. I marched out there…the cats were in the yard next door, no Junior running for help. Told them to pipe down. Quietly of course–it was the middle of the night. Back to bed. At 4, cat fight. Out again. There he was all fluffed up staring at the escape route to the front yard. Picked his Mr. Fluffy butt up and plopped it inside, closed door. Got some sleep.

Cats. Need I say more???

We’ve had these two kitties for almost two years now (well, we started feeding Scamper in July two years ago. We aren’t entirely certain when little Junior was part of the picture.) She’s come a long way since then. She came and sat next to me in the garden the other day. That is to say–juuust out of reach, but close enough to be company. I reached out one finger to her and she gave it a half-hearted sniff. When I put my hand on the ground near her paw, she was having none of it. No Touching! and she sauntered off in a huff.

Both kitties have been pulling guard duty in the garden–keeping the birds from pecking at my tomatoes! Of course, they aren’t too careful about where they jump when they go after birds, but they are doing their jobs.

Kitty cats!!!

Junior was very disappointed when strangers arrived. Luckily the weather was nice for the entire weekend. I did nab him once and brought him inside to introduce him to the two friends. Sorry to say that he was not impressed. He made a big show of trying hard to escape by climbing over my head, shedding copious amounts of hair and when finally released, ran for his life as though dire threats and actual promises had been delivered.

We were gone most of Saturday touring this and that. I thought it would give Junior plenty of time to get over the shock that we actually have friends. But nooooo. When we arrived home, he and Scamp were out on the porch. That little stinker *ran* from me. No, not Scamp. She sat there and waited for her food bowl like a polite little domestic cat, while I attempted to pet little Junior. Stinker refused to let me near him. I was *very* hurt.

Of course I brought their bowls out so they could eat without panicking. As dusk came around, Scamp left to go wherever it is she sleeps. Junior followed her, but I knew he’d be back. He isn’t allowed to go to her spots or doesn’t feel he really belongs there anymore. He checked at the door a couple of times, but wouldn’t come in.

Eventually the guests were safely in bed. He did come in, but he still eyed me suspiciously. Stinker.

We made sure he stayed in both nights; I didn’t want him running around getting into trouble. He has a shelter outside on the porch, but I was afraid he’d be too nervous of the house to use it. So BMHusband nabbed him and made sure he was safely inside at night. Once inside with no activity going on, Junior was fine. Skittish at times, but fine.

Sunday morning, Junior was content to run in and out as usual. The guests weren’t up yet and Junior has many appointments in the morning (one assumes from the going in and out). On one such trip inside, Junior had just finished a sample snacking at the food bowl when our young guest (7 years old) came trooping out of the hallway, cleverly wrapped in a pink blanket that trailed out behind her…Junior took one frozen look, jumped straight out of his fur and ran for the nearest…kitchen was the best opening he had. Young guest didn’t really notice Junior so she hopped right into the dining room, scaring him further round to the opposite side of the room. He took one last good look at the pink apparition–the look on his face was a cross between, “What in all God’s glory is that thing??!??” and “I think I swallowed my tail!” before slinking as fast as his little legs could scamper–into the safety of the bedroom. He planted himself under the bed and did not come out again until the guests had gone.

Now, really. Our guests were wonderfully behaved and nice people too. I really think he could have given them more of a chance. Hmph. He was such a naughty kitten.

He’s always been partial to flowers.

At any rate, since that episode, little Scamper has been afraid to come inside. She came in once to eat, but now sits pathetically outside staring in the new cat door. Yes, we have a new cat door. Q, I mean BMHusband, decided that we needed a way to lock other cats out when she or Junior come IN. Step one was to build a more rigid (and see-through) cat door, rather than the heavy, colored flexible plastic one we had.

Once BMHusband had that cut out and attached, he also attached a one-way lock. Thus if Scamp ever decides to come in again, and if she doesn’t fritz when we move towards the door, we can actually keep other cats from following her in. She can still hop out at her leisure. The only problem thus far is that she refused to believe us when we told her the new door was better and that she would be perfectly safe inside. She comes by and will eat if we put food out (which we did as soon as we discovered she would not come back inside.) We have to monitor it closely though because we do not want other cats to find out when feeding time is. It must be mating season or prowl season because we’ve seen about 6 cats, three of which we’d never seen before. One is a very aggressive (male, we think). He chases Junior, sprays everything whether it moves or not–and gets chased out of the yard by us. I get tired of constantly hosing down wherever he has been, the bugger.

The neighbors on our other side also adopted a cat. It’s young, probably a fixed female. She hasn’t made any friends or enemies yet. Like all their other pets that are “inside only,” she escapes on a regular basis and visits. We have returned more dogs to that home (of various sizes, including a Great Dane, a boxer and a small fluffy dog about the size of a chihuahua) than we see on a week of walks.

It’s been a busy two weeks at the Schneider Pet Hotel.

This is your basic…well, okay, NOT so basic garage door opener style device. When the cat crosses the beam on his way to the door, a chime sounds on the wireless (yes wireless–why would we even consider a boring old wired speaker???) speaker in the bedroom. “Ding!!! Junior is home!” Well, it doesn’t really say “Junior is home,” it just chimes. And we can then investigate to make sure it is, in fact, Junior or Scamp and open the door. When it is one of the invader cats, we tell it to go home (the neighbor cat is still trying to convince us to let it move in.)

“Our” cats took less than a day to figure out that they don’t even have to tap on the cat door anymore. They simply sit in front of the door and wait. Magically the humans appear and let them in!!! Junior was convinced that he could now send us mind-messages. He was so pleased! Except we still don’t give him treat every time he sits at our feet in the kitchen. And this morning when he hopped on the bed and began “the stare” we did not immediately shower him with food, let him out or otherwise give in to “the stare.” But when he wants in on a rainy morning, we hear about it.

Not speaking cat language, but feeling those eyeballs…I opened the door. Pretty soon she came in. Checked and exited the escape hatch…I’m sure she was pleased to have successfully trained the humans.

This morning BMhusband got to play the game. She came in to eat breakfast and of course checked the escape route, but alas, it was not available. When she was eating her treat, BMhusband took the opportunity to open the door. She was very pleased! Used it immediately! And then came around the house, onto the back porch and inside to eat more food.