Born Free...

 Yesterday for a short while, Stink Pot was a fugitive... she had escaped. It was awhile before I realized it was awfully quiet and then I noticed the cat was nowhere to be found. I searched the house high and low for all of her favorite spots and finally determined she must have snuck outside unnoticed. She has made her run for freedom a couple of times and usually I find and capture and return her back inside within a few minutes. I am not sure how long Stink Pot had been missing but it could have been an hour or more.... I felt so guilty.

So I walked around the house softly calling "here Stink"..."here Stink"... and then louder..."here Stink"... just hoping the neighbors weren't outside to hear me. I was worried, she wasn't answering. I looked high and low and still no Stink Pot. I went back inside and looked again. Frustrated I stood looking out the back bedroom window and called again.

Then I saw her. She crawled out from among the shrubbery onto a rock and looked up and meowed and ducked back underneath a bush. She continued this game every time I called her. She knew she wasn't suppose to be outside. She knew she was in trouble. The more she ignored me, the more a dark cloud settled over me.

That darn cat....

I begged and called her to come, while she frolicked among the shrubbery. I mentally kicked myself for planting the shrubs in the first place. I had a mixed border of wiegelia, spirea, viburnum with an assortment of perennials mixed in. She chose the biggest shrub to hide under, the one that was blooming profusely and covered in bumble bees... I hate bumble bees...

After so long I realized I wasn't going to get near her, she was going to have to come to me. I then thought of the bright idea of dangling a piece of string, and hoping with her playful nature, she would take the bait. ...I could not find a piece of string..or yarn...or anything... I momentarily considered dental floss, but pulling a piece of it out of the package, I realized it was just way too thin. Finally after digging in my closet I found an old belt from a terry clothe robe. I stood at the edge of the border and coaxed her with it till she crept closer and I could grab her...

She hissed...she growled...she spit...

I hissed and growled, (but didn't spit), right back.

We spent the rest of the day ignoring each other. She sitting in the window and pouting. Me fuming that  most of my morning had been wasted trying to catch an obstinate cat. I know cats can survive on their own outside, and some would say to let her be an outside cat. I have considered it. She loves to stalk,  hunt, and be on the prowl. Goodness knows how many twist ties she has attacked and brought down with her stealth-like manner. She will do a little ceremonial dance around the offending twist tie, pounce, and then do an odd somersault roll. She does this odd roll every single time. I am not sure if it is some kind of animal death roll for it's victim... if she has been secretly watching the WWF while I am not at home, or if it is all for my benefit and she is expecting me to hold up a piece of paper, giving her a 6.0 for her dismount. 

She thinks she can take on anything. Whether that is from lack of sense, or a huge ego, I don't know. She will do her little dance around me as well...hopping in circles, waiting to attack my ankle. All my finger shaking and mumbling to her,.."hey I am bigger than you"..., has no affect. I think if she were to be an outside cat, her nine lives would be gone within a week. I know that being an outside cat her life expectancy will decrease dramatically. I don't think it's quite fair to my neighbors either having a roaming pet. Somehow we will have to come up with some sort of compromise, Stink Pot and I.

She wants her freedom, and I want her to live... For now she will just have to make do with practicing her WWF moves while I hum the theme from "Born Free". If you listen really quietly you can hear a little thud....yep, another twist tie take down.

She is a natural.... a natural born predator...