Are You Barking at Me…

See the dog at the bottom...

Yesterday…the dogs from the house behind me went nuts barking…just when I was making breakfast…looking out the kitchen window…I quickly say the cause…a lovely calico cat…walking across the top of my back fence…

Interestingly…the cat walked across the back of the fence…then started down the side…but…just stopped…sat down…turned towards the dogs…three of them I believe…giving them a look…that only a cat can manage…

Honestly…I had meant to eat outside…but…decided to stay in the house instead…not that it was quiet in there…not that mere brick and mortar…could…muffle the sound…of three hounds…bellowing at a cat on a fence…no…mostly…I didn’t want to interrupt their little stalemate…

Bertha…pointed out…that there was merely a difference of opinions…going on…

First…the dogs…thought they had a cat treed…they thought they were in charge…they’d done a good job…they were calling their master to come with his gun…hunting at its finest…

Secondly…the cat…knew she was in charge…she knew the dogs were behind a fence…and couldn’t get to her…and…so…she tortured them…here I am boys…you can’t get me…bark all you want…I’ll just sit here…

Anyway…for the rest of the story…after about ten minutes…of continued howling…I’d had enough…I went outside…armed…with a camera…and…took some pictures…

The cat…sat and posed…the dogs…one by one…moseyed on down their fence…and the barking stopped…it was then…that the cat hopped down…and made her way across the empty lot…going wherever she was going in the first place…looking back occasionally…still knowing…she was in charge…

I told…Bertha… the dogs reminded me of her…always mouthing off about something…

She hit me with the skillet…I guess…she had a different opinion…

Jane

Cats and Dogs…

I just found this piece in some old files…and…although it happened a few years ago…for some reason…I wanted to share it today…could be that I didn't have anything else written...but...I'm not saying...

Cats and Dogs

I’ve always heard the expression…It’s Raining Cats and Dogs…I never dreamed I’d experience it firsthand…but…as Mama always says…never say never…which…I always thought was a bit off…wasn’t she saying never when she said it…hmmm…but…once again…I digress…

Here’s what happened…the cat…went out on Saturday…now this is not an unusual occurrence…she does it several times a day…and basically…she just sits there…glaring…and daring…the neighborhood peasant cats to come near her kingdom…hence…her unofficial title…Porch Princess…

Anyway…she had no more than taken the throne when the bottom fell out…which in the South means…it started to pour down rain…again…no biggie…the porch is covered…she was high and dry…

And in the house there was casual chatter…when out on the porch…there arose such a clatter…Bertha and I jumped to the door…to see what was the matter…

And…the matter was…a Labrador retriever…obviously no respecter of royalty…making a mad dash for her highness…who wasted no time…diving into the pouring rain…

Bertha and I barely had time to gasp and look at each other…before the racing duo made their second lap around the house…long story short…well…maybe not short…but…anyway…

Bertha…stood guard on the porch…I ran through the house…let the cat in the back door…and never saw the Lab again…

The cat was soaking wet…but fine…nothing injured other than…her snootiness…she hid under the bed for most of the day…and…now…she won’t go back outside…for love nor money…not that I offered her any…money…that is…

Anyway…Bertha has had a good laugh about it…pointing out to the cat…that even the kittens across the street are out playing…she has reminded her of the 2000 other times she has been outside without incident…but…the cat hasn’t budged…

I mean…really…have you ever tried to humiliate a cat…let’s just say…it didn’t work…and she has no interest in putting herself back out there…

Bertha says…that it reminds her of…me…big surprise…everything reminds her of me…that I tend to focus on the few things that have happened in my life…those things…I call failures…and that I let them keep me…from putting myself back out there…

Hmmm…she may just be on to something…I do recall…a few…very few…okay…a bunch…of times in my life…that I let failure…hold me back…

But…wait…

The cat’s at the door…asking to go out…there may be hope for me after all…

Jane

PS…this actually transpired…truth is stranger than fiction…but…the rest of the story is…we moved shortly after that…the cat…believed that it was just for her…she promptly resumed her Porch Princess status…at our new home…where she reigned…until she crossed the rainbow bridge…may she rest in peace…