Binx brought us a mouse Sunday morning. This is something that rarely happens anymore, since Binx and Pete are indoor cats now. It was 6am and Binx woke me up with his intense playing noises. I then heard a tiny squeak. Oh no. I was hoping it was just my imagination but I heard the squeak again. I got up and tip toed into the kitchen to start the coffee. I would need a cup before the daunting task of catching a mouse. I turned around and Binx was sitting there looking at me, with no mouse in sight. Oh no. I was thinking it may have climbed up into the cupboards and that would be just terrible. But Binx didn't seem interested in anything near the cupboards. He was just ready to start the morning routine.
I went to shut the bedroom door so Mike could sleep longer and when I moved the door, I heard the squeak right there below me. It was still dark so I ran into the kitchen wondering what to do. I got up my nerves and turned on the hall light and there it was, laying there lifeless in the bedroom doorway. I yelled for Mike to get up, which he did, and he sleepily picked it up and threw it outside. I thanked him and told him to go back to bed.
Later that morning while sitting at the kitchen table, Mike and I talked about Binx and his mouse and then started talking about the cat door we had in Athens, Georgia and all the animals the cats would bring in the house.
There were numerous times we had birds flying around our house. Pete didn't bring us too many things but when he had something in his mouth, usually birds, he would come through the cat door with a special closed mouth meow. We would instantly know.
We had baby rabbits show up in the house. A screaming baby bunny rabbit is one of the worst noises you will ever hear. We would try our best to save the babies but one notorious one didn't make it. Mike was sitting in his chair in the bedroom watching T.V. (us girls always took over the living room T.V.) which was the case this early evening. Suddenly, we heard Mike yelling something about maggots. I ignored him because it didn't sound like anything I wanted to hear. He kept yelling so Molly ran back to find out what the heck was going on. Maggie had the same idea I had, ignore the chaos. Without our knowledge, a bunny was under our bed and when the maggots were done eating, they quickly wiggled out from under the bed across the floor in front of Mike's chair. Maggie and I decided two people freaking out was enough so we didn't need to join them. They were able to clean everything up very quickly. Maggie and I were in a little bit of trouble for not helping.
One time while hosting book club, I started telling my friends the story of a bird flying around the house that morning. Just as I pointed toward the purple poop on the wall that I didn't have time to clean, I heard the cat door and Max proudly walked in with a bunny in his mouth. My friends made an ahhhh cute noise because Max was so happy to have brought our book club a present. I quickly took the non-moving bunny outside and apologized to the bunny and to the book club members.
Chipmunks were the favorite. At least every other day we had one in the house. The cats liked to keep them alive because they are so fun to play with! They are fast and can hide in the silliest places. One day Mike, opened a dresser drawer and out popped a chipmunk. We had a routine when a chipmunk was in the house. We would open the kitchen door, throw a towel under the door leading to the rest of the house, chase them with a broom towards the open door and away from the appliances. They were really hard to get if they went under the fridge or stove. If they were able to get into the rest of the house, we would open the windows. Our windows were from the ceiling to the floor, so the chipmunks could run along the floor and jump right out into the yard. Sometimes a cat would follow them out. If that happened, we knew to lock the cat door because the cat would usually bring it right back in.
Speaking of chipmunks and appliances. One ran up between the dishwasher and cabinet and then was able to bury himself into the insulation on top of the dishwasher. That is where he ended up going to chipmunk heaven. We didn't know anything about him until we did dishes. For over a year we could smell him every time we used the dishwasher. Was I ever happy to find him when we remodeled the kitchen.
Squirrels make the same noise as baby bunnies when they are frightened. Molly and I were home alone when a baby squirrel was brought in. It latched onto the bottom of an upholstered chair and we tried for what seemed like hours to get that squirrel to come out. We finally opened the front door and pushed the chair to it. We would have put the chair outside but it didn't fit through the door. We were able to pry the squirrel off the chair and onto the front porch. It wasn't moving but we were now experts with critters. They play dead and then run when it is safe. In the morning, the squirrel was gone.
One time after we had all just gone to bed. I heard Maggie come down the stairs and into the kitchen. She then yelled for me and asked me to hurry, get up and come in the kitchen! A racoon was heading for the cat door to come inside! I ran into the kitchen and saw a shadow through the cat door so I put my foot in front of it so the racoon couldn't get in. I then locked the cat door, which was kind of scary with a racoon banging on it. I got it locked and ran to the window where Maggie was watching. The racoon wasn't too happy and tried several more times to get through the door. It then stood on it's hind legs trying to get a peak into the window, wondering why he couldn't get in. This made us think he had been in before. Thank goodness for cat door locks.
Once in a while I would walk into the kitchen and a cat I had never seen before would be sitting there. We would look at each other thinking the same thing, 'Who Are You?". The cat would usually run back outside right away. There were several that invited themselves in but there was one cat that came by more than the others. The girls ended up naming this cat Bounce. Our cats didn't seem to mind sharing their food with their furry cat friends.
You are probably thinking, why in the heck did you have a cat door in the first place? Well, we put it in so we wouldn't have to let the cats in and out all the time and they would have a safe place to run to if a dog was chasing them. And the best part was not having any litter boxes! Just that made it worth having unexpected visitors.
So back to Sunday morning....I felt bad that I didn't thank Binx for bringing us a present. I am out of practice on how all this works since they are indoor cats. I grabbed Binx's favorite toy mouse out of a drawer (it was put away because when Molly's cat Poppy comes to visit, she wants to actually eat it) and threw it on the floor and thanked him.
Thanks Binx!!
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