Squeaker Einstein
Our cat Squeaker used to be an indoor-only cat, but now she goes out in the back yard. Like a dog, she stays in the back yard and just kind of sniffs around, and rolls around on the concrete patio. In nice weather, we leave the patio door open so she and the dogs can come in and out as they please. I don't worry about her too much, because she doesn't try to escape, and she almost always comes when I call her (or if she hears the patio door closing, she comes running, so she won't get shut out.
Well, something must have gone wrong last night, because at around 5 or 6 this morning, we heard this god-awful caterwauling from out front. Squeaker had somehow figure out that she should come around to the front and meow outside our open bedroom window. It woke us up right away, and when I went to open the front door, she came right in.
I think the reason she got locked out is that I forgot to call her (plus it was dark, so I couldn't see that she was out there). Willy had been out there raising hell at all hours, so I was aggravated and shut the door in a hurry.
Maybe we should start closing that door before dark. Leaving it open that late also allowed for the entrance of a giant mosquito, who gravitated to the only room in the house where we leave the light on all night (the bathroom, where I encountered the bug right after letting Squeaker in), and whose presence caused Adam to ask me, this morning, if he could please pee in the back yard so he wouldn't have to go in there with it.
Adam: Mom, there's a giant bug in the bathroom.
Me: [asleep] Don't worry, honey, it's just a mosquito.
Adam: [alarmed] A MOSQUITO?!?!?!?!
Mom: Yes, sweetheart, but it won't bother you. Just ignore it.
A little later he came back in and asked me about peeing out in the yard. I, displaying an aptitude for problem solving rivaled only by Squeaker's, assured him that he had nothing to worry about, because only girl mosquitoes bite, and our bathroom guest was a boy mosquito. How did I know it was a boy mosquito, he wanted to know. "Because it's so big," I mumbled into the pillow, then fell back to sleep.
He was satisfied and used the bathroom inside, presumably in the commode. Later on while we were getting ready for work, I confessed to Dan that I have no idea whether what I said about the mosquito was true. I mean, I know only girl mosquitoes bite, but I really don't know how to tell the chicos from the chicas.
So as a public service to you, in case you're ever faced with the same situation, I offer this: Mosquitoes: Male vs. Female.
Don't show it to your kids, though, or they might threaten to urinate in front of the neighbors unless you stumble out of bed at an inhumane hour and peer through bleary eyes at the antenna of a giant bug flying around above the bathtub.
Come to think of it, if Squeaker's so great, why didn't she just eat that thing? Oh wait, probably afraid of West Nile Disease. Dang, that cat is smart!
Well, something must have gone wrong last night, because at around 5 or 6 this morning, we heard this god-awful caterwauling from out front. Squeaker had somehow figure out that she should come around to the front and meow outside our open bedroom window. It woke us up right away, and when I went to open the front door, she came right in.
I think the reason she got locked out is that I forgot to call her (plus it was dark, so I couldn't see that she was out there). Willy had been out there raising hell at all hours, so I was aggravated and shut the door in a hurry.
Maybe we should start closing that door before dark. Leaving it open that late also allowed for the entrance of a giant mosquito, who gravitated to the only room in the house where we leave the light on all night (the bathroom, where I encountered the bug right after letting Squeaker in), and whose presence caused Adam to ask me, this morning, if he could please pee in the back yard so he wouldn't have to go in there with it.
Adam: Mom, there's a giant bug in the bathroom.
Me: [asleep] Don't worry, honey, it's just a mosquito.
Adam: [alarmed] A MOSQUITO?!?!?!?!
Mom: Yes, sweetheart, but it won't bother you. Just ignore it.
A little later he came back in and asked me about peeing out in the yard. I, displaying an aptitude for problem solving rivaled only by Squeaker's, assured him that he had nothing to worry about, because only girl mosquitoes bite, and our bathroom guest was a boy mosquito. How did I know it was a boy mosquito, he wanted to know. "Because it's so big," I mumbled into the pillow, then fell back to sleep.
He was satisfied and used the bathroom inside, presumably in the commode. Later on while we were getting ready for work, I confessed to Dan that I have no idea whether what I said about the mosquito was true. I mean, I know only girl mosquitoes bite, but I really don't know how to tell the chicos from the chicas.
So as a public service to you, in case you're ever faced with the same situation, I offer this: Mosquitoes: Male vs. Female.
Don't show it to your kids, though, or they might threaten to urinate in front of the neighbors unless you stumble out of bed at an inhumane hour and peer through bleary eyes at the antenna of a giant bug flying around above the bathtub.
Come to think of it, if Squeaker's so great, why didn't she just eat that thing? Oh wait, probably afraid of West Nile Disease. Dang, that cat is smart!