Fuzzy Jailbreak
It seems Gateway has been watching too much daytime TV. Specifically Squirrels Gone Wild, which airs on our deck pretty much all the time. (At night it's Racoon Rampage.) Tonight around 11:30 we let him out on the deck for a bit. After a while geekchick noticed that he was making a break for it and going over the wall, to our neighbor's deck, just like the squirrels do. (He may also have been imitating an Other Cat, who came to our deck to taunt him the other day.) Oops. geekchick goes outside and around, and I climb out over the railing and stand on the little ledge of deck outside the railing, and try to make my way over to the neighbor's deck. This would be easy if our decks were the same depth, so of course they're not; theirs sticks out several inches further than ours. Just as I'm about to get over there we see the cat walking on the bit of ledge outside the railing, trying to figure out if he can jump down somewhere, or perhaps into the nearby tree. He sees me coming and makes a clumsy-footed u-turn (insert *gasp!* here), then heads off the other way. I cross over and immediately notice that the bit of ledge I'm standing on on the neighbor's deck is not what I'd call stable under my weight. I try not to upset it too much as I watch the cat meander around outside the railing, finally crossing back in and onto the deck. I consider hopping the rail onto the deck but don't want to scare him back outside the railing. Eventually I coax him over and grab him, then have geekchick (who is on the ground below, in position to identify our bodies when if we fall) go back inside to our deck. The cat doesn't like being held down and makes the obligatory "mrrrroouuuwwww!" noises. Now here's the problem. How to hold an upset cat with 2 arms while still using at least one arm to hang onto the railing? (The 3rd arm is required, as there is no room to stand upright on the ledge - I've been leaning backwards at an angle this whole time.) Hmm. Somehow I get the cat back up onto the wall between our decks, hoping he will self.go_home(). No such luck, and the wall is too high for geekchick to reach him. (Also he gets real swatty if you try to reach up and take him down from someplace.) I'm not sure how but I grab him back down, then while he's still stunned hold him in my left arm and swing around to get one foot back on our deck. geekchick grabs the cat, as I determine that there was a nail where my foot landed. Did I mention I didn't have time to put shoes on? Luckily there was no real harm done, and I get back to our side and over the railing. Once back indoors Gateway plops down to self.lick() like nothing happened. I'd brought his harness onto the deck in case it was needed, and I put it away, which means I hung it on the coat closet doorknob. Gateway ran over and started rubbing it, which is cat for "Let's go out now!". My response was "Dame da yo!", which is Japanese for "Not bloody likely." Seeing that no trip outside was forthcoming he wandered over to his food dish and plopped down. When in doubt, beg for food!
In the Cats' defense he can at least back up on a narrow ledge, unlike certain other cats (*cough*Spike*cough*) who shall remain nameless. And clueless. Still, I don't think Gateway will be allowed out on the deck *quite* as much as before, for the near future.
In the Cats' defense he can at least back up on a narrow ledge, unlike certain other cats (*cough*Spike*cough*) who shall remain nameless. And clueless. Still, I don't think Gateway will be allowed out on the deck *quite* as much as before, for the near future.