The Explorer

Or Cat back-Blip #2

Meet Harry, the new male cat in the Riley household and, in the fine tradition of male cats my parents seem to adopt, a total wimp and lovable little furball. Somehow the quietest, yet most vocal of the group - "are you eating, why am I not eating?", "why is this door not open?", "I'm here!", "I'm over here too!" - he's also, and this is unexpected given his docile nature, the bravest of the three as well.

Because Harry...has been outside!

While Jasmine and Poppy were quite content to lurk in the doorway (and hide under the dining room table when someone walked past in the garden) Harry has been staring longingly into the garden for aaaages and when the sliding doors opened on Saturday afternoon... well, actually he kept looking, probably thinking it was a trap. And then he became very distracted by mum and dad using the 'butter on the paws' trick to keep him only half aware that he was being lifted up and plonked in the garden.

So, for the first five minutes of his new found freedom, Harry was quite content to sit in the middle of the lawn, carefully removing all trace of the distracting butter* before starting to poke around the place. First of all there was a quick dart down the side of the house before he was escorted back (we didn't want him out near the road out front at first), then it was into the flower beds, a cautious investigation of the bird bath (now the snack bar), a wary gaze at the precariously balanced rose arch and an exploratory stretch up against the trellising on the garage.

All of this, of course, accompanied by a little 'meow' at everything.

Then, butter free and far too swiftly (because he's quite a lithe creature as you can see) Harry dived into the hedge at the back of the garden (with another happy 'meow') and vanished for the next couple of hours as he explored the gardens in all the houses along our row, all the way up to the windmill at the end. Places he was spotted included:
- Halfway up a tree in the hedgerow
- On the roof of a shed
- Balanced on the fence between two of our neighbours' gardens.
- On the roof of a playhouse
- Stalking doves in the long grass by the windmill
- On the neighbour's roof

Happily, and with the aid of cat treats (and without needing a ladder) he did come home in the end, tail all fluffed up and happy - and with his chipping on Monday he's now free to roam as he pleases - the exploration continues!


*it should be noted that Jasmine and Poppy did the same, but ran back inside to do so!