Noodle, the white polydactyl mother cat especially likes the dirt. I’ve started calling her Dusty rather than ChubChub due to her eating everything. Or Noodle, her given name because when picked up she flops like a cooked noodle.
Claire, Noodle’s daughter, another white polydactyl cat is too prissy to roll in the dirt.
Sox is too old to bother, but Honey the youngest and most adventurous, definitely loves getting dirty. She’s black and white but lately she’s black and gray.
There’s no stopping Honey being adventurous. I recently saw her climb up an old board that was leaning on the fence. I watched while she teetered on the top rail of my metal fence trying to figure out if she should climb up to the top of my neighbor’s wood fence that parallels mine. Unsure, she decided to get down carefully using the old board.
The board has since been moved and is on the ground, no longer Honey’s portal to the world next door. However…that’s not going to stop her from exploring.
I’ve put a lot of work into my veggie garden with the help from my neighbor. A lot! So while sitting outside I saw two of my cats (can you guess which ones?) eating my kale leaves and rolling on the basil plants. The kale can afford to lose a leaf or three but not the basil – they are still very skimpy.
Noodle/ChubChub will eat most everything. She does her waddle/run each time she hears her food can open but I didn’t think she’d eat kale. I’m just starting to eat it, only because a friend gave me kale starts. Maybe she’ll lose some weight. Maybe we both will!
Honey jumped into one garden box and bit into the kale, batting at the leaves like they were a toy. Then she jumped out of the box and rolled in the dirt, the same spot that Noodle rolls in, then she ran up a small tree, scoping out the very vocal finches in the tall oak tree. Honey never stops and has to be tricked to come inside. Too bad she’s not motivated like Noodle and me.
Sox won’t eat vegetables but I did see him pee on the little cucumber plants. Sometimes at 3a.m. he likes to wake me so he has an audience when he goes to the kitty litter box and pees. Weirdo old cat.
Perfect Claire walks the sides of the wood garden boxes like a tightrope walker. She’s the only cat with white fur that’s actually a clean-white, not a dirt-white. Her big thing is chasing flies that come into the house.
My large iris stand looked like something (cats?) jumped in it or slept in it. Several of the purple iris blooms were smashed to the ground. I didn’t have a vase large enough for them so I used my water jug that I put boiled water in for drinking. It’ll have to be washed thoroughly but they lived to be beautiful another day, even in the kitchen. Plus my house smells yummy, like grape bubblegum. Normally I don’t cut flowers from my garden as I love seeing them outside, but rather than lose all those beauties, I brought them inside.
I should get an outdoor camera for when I’m inside and the cats are outside. But then I might turn into a crazy cat woman who spies on her cats.
I’m already crazy enough to write about them! I found 35 books written about cats. There are scores more. Even Mark Twain wrote one. The Cheshire Cat was a significant character in Alice in Wonderland.
What’s a girl to do?…I could write a cat book! Hmmm, what should the title be?
Lucy Llewellyn Byard welcomes comments and shares via lucywgtd@gmail.com
