NEOPRENE AND THE CAT

Today, the escaping cat and my knee took center stage. What a rare cat's tale I experienced.

After my auction adventure last night, I must have twisted my knee and didn't realize it until this morning when I got up and found myself limping and my knee was swollen quite a bit. Since it was also aching, I put on my neoprene knee brace for the day.

My yard man came by around 12:30pm and hooked up my front yard water hose so I can water my flowers without carrying buckets of water from the kitchen sink. It is so much easier now.

I got the hose reel off the back porch and he also hooked that up to the back yard faucet. After a few other small items were finished, we headed across the street to my neighbor's house to do a few things for her (he also works in her yard). As we completed her to-do list, she was standing at the front door with the door slightly open (since there is no screen in her door) and her in-door-only cat Winkers escaped out the front door and began wandering around the front yard. At that moment, her sister and husband showed up at the house and the four of us were chasing the cat trying to aim Winkers toward the front door or the open garage door – without success.

Winkers decided her back yard was where he wanted to roam. They all went into the house and I came home to “use my head” and outsmart the cat. I know this cat. He loves tuna and chicken. I got my emergency can of tuna cat food from the shelf and put some in a plastic bowl and walked to her back yard. Cats are like dogs, food-driven.

Winkers let me walk within three feet of him with the tuna smell aimed in his direction. Bingo, he wanted it. He walked straight to the bowl I sat on the ground and whish – he was immediately scooped up into my arms in a firm grip and I headed for the house. My friend saw me coming and opened the back door and inside we went, safe and sound before Winkers wandered into one of the two cat-killer neighbor's yards. (See my previous blogs about the cat killers entitled Monster Among Us and One Can Only Hope.)

My yard work is completed for the day. And I am on the couch with my leg elevated to ease the pain caused by more walking and bending than I planned for today. My neoprene brace will ease the pain eventually and Winkers, the escape artist, is safe and sound inside. Mission accomplished!