Confederacy of a Dunce - There goes the neighborhood 2

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

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Since I'm on a roll writing about crimes and criminals, I may as well keep it going, this time to talk about our recent home invasions. I would have thought the rear of our house was fairly secure, being surrounded on all sides by neighbors' back gardens, all of which are separated by (approx.) 5-foot wooden fences (and plenty of windows). But how wrong I was. We have an intruder who comes into the house for the purpose of petty thievery on a daily basis: several times a day in fact.

Fortunately this intruder is not human, but a feline friend of Zosi who lives next door. We've been introduced to him before (at least, we think he's a "him") but his name didn't stick, so we call him Orangey (unimaginatively referring to his color). He's an older cat, fixed and perhaps for that reason quite mellow in his behavior. He gets along quite well with Zosi (not THAT well, thanks to the fixing). But we leave the cat flap open during the day so Zosi can come and go (especially "go": the litter box is barely used these days. Sorry neighbors. I hope you keep the lid on the sandbox.). But this results in access for Orangey as well. Poor Orangey has no cat flap, so he has to stay out once he's been let into the great outdoors. When he gets hungry, well, I guess there aren't many vermin around, because he loves to sneak into our kitchen and snack on Zosi's food. He's quite aware of our routine (letting Zosi out when we first wake up [possibly because she has waken us up]), since he usually has had a snack before we come down for breakfast. He knows he's not supposed to be there (if he sees us, he runs quick-like out the flap and sits on the stairs awaiting his chance to come back in), so it's a serious dash and grab sort of situation. You can tell he's been at the food because he eats like a bulldozer, scattering food everywhere in his rush to eat before he's caught (Fortunately we are a dry-food only household). Sometimes he eats so quickly that he gets a little sick (a cat after my own heart). It's sort of like we have a second cat, but one we don't really have to take care of. Except for the stealing, that is (a scoop or two of food per day, and perhaps a catnip-filled mouse that is nowhere to be seen). I'll try and catch a picture of him in the act, but he's a sneaky little devil.

beasts

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 2:23:38 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)