Here Kitty, Kitty

This is one of those times that I sit down to post an entry and have absolutely no idea what I am going to write about. Here goes. . . .

We'll continue with Cal the dog. She killed two mice outside while I was watching her. Now, I've known for a couple years that a small rodent slithers under a railroad tie next to my back steps. I thought they were little moles, and I really didn't care. They never messed with me, and there wasn't anything in the house, so I didn't mess with them. Then along came Cal.

She's a good hunter. She pounces like a cat after things, just like Bernie. I don't recall Bernie ever killing a mouse, though I do recall me and her laying on the bed one day in Tahoe, and SNAP! The mouse trap I'd set under the bed went off, mouse now attached. Anyway, Cal was doing some pouncing in the plants I have outside my back door, and eventually she came out with a mouse dead in her mouth. That was cool. I coaxed her to drop it, then I gave it a proper funeral--I put it in a plastic bag, knotted the bag, then tossed it in the trash can. The next day, Cal went straight back to the weeds, and within 15 seconds emerged with another mouse. Good girl, Cal! By now, I figured that those were little mice I'd seen skirmishing all those times. I'm smart like that. This second mouse, though, Cal didn't quite kill. It was in Cal's mouth squealing. Cal would drop it, the mouse would squirm. Cal would pick it up again but never quite killed it. So I went and got the shovel, managed to get Cal to drop the mouse, pushed Cal out of the way, and WHACK! Whack on the mouse, with the trick being to kill it without blowing up it's blood and guts everywhere, because I had to dispose of the dead mouse. But it wasn't yet dead. Dammit! WHACK. Now it was dead. And it wasn't exploded.

So I have mice nesting pretty damned close to my house, though they've never come in--yet. I saw another today out on the common sidewalk, outside my house. Two things about this: I should probably stop hurling bird seed in my yard when I fill bird my bird feeders. I did this for the squirrels. They're around anyway, so what the heck. I assume mice eat bird food, I mean, why not? So that practice will cease. Second, I need to borrow a cat, or do I? When Cal was here, there was a black cat on my back steps. (I don't care about black cat superstitions, I like them--at least as far as cats go--so don't start with the bad luck, evil spirts, or whatever.) A couple days ago, while planting flowers, the same black cat was on my front steps. Tonight when I came home from a walk around the 'hood, the same black cat was goofing off in the bushes along the side of my house. So I have a cat, and a hunter cat at that.

Kitty may get some milk next time I see it around. Then I'll sort of have a cat, a hunter cat to kill the mice, or at least scare them off. A cat is no Cal nor any dog, but a cat that kills my mice is a friend of mine.

So here's to me having a cat, a killer black cat at that.