Metal Meredith

I was greeted this morning with a teeny tiny flying squirrel in the house. I am guessing that it was involuntarily brought in by one of the cats. I thought it was a baby, it was so small. And I am just amazed that it wasn’t killed or badly hurt.

I was able to get it to a rescue center where it will be loved on until the weather breaks. Lucky me!

Its been 2 days of rain and wind and cold. Wind and cold aren’t the problem. Its the rain.

I was awoken today by Friedrich, large friendly cat extraordinaire. He jumped on the bed and proceeded to meow and paw and knead on my back. After waking Vivienne and up heading downstairs, I realized that he just wanted to be let outside. What you don’t know here is that we have a cat door, which allows the cats unlimited access to the outdoors.

Apparently, Friedrich had been sticking his head outside and noticing the rain. He doesn’t like rain so naturally, he wanted to wake me to let him out the back door. When I opened it and he saw the rain, he promptly turned and walked to the front door. Again I opened and again there was rain.

Since this morning, he has gone to each door about 2 times every hour asking to be let out. Where is the magic “summer portal door” that he is searching for?

We just had one of those cold spells that lasted a week. There were days when it barely got above freezing. Here in the Mid-Atlantic states, that is cold. During those days, I spent a lot of my time opening and closing the back and front doors on the whim of the cats. Both Liesl and Friedrich, who combined are maybe smarter than a can of nuts, would consistently forget how cold it was outside and ask to go out again and again. Then, four minutes later, one would come back in. She would eat and then walk right back to the door.

Liesl, she likes to meow until the door magically opens. Friedrich paws at the door like he is running on a exercise wheel. Both are equally as bothersome when I am trying to be on the computer, watch TV, do any number of household chores or cook meals. It happens again when they want to be let in. But instead of meowing at the door, Liesl has taken to jumping up to the 4th window pane on the back french doors and hanging there with a pained look on her little kitty face.

I found the Cat Windoor and immediately started to research it. It arrives 6 days later and only took Phil 2 hours to install.

Now, a week later, Friedrich is using the door like a champ. At 5am, I was greeted in bed by a cold and somewhat damp cat. Believe it or not, I was happy in my half awake state. It meant he had finally not only learned to go out the door, but he can get back in! Then, I went downstairs at 730 to be faced with Liesl at the front door, meowing to be let out. She will be a tough nut to crack.

Meanwhile, Henry thinks it is a really cool toy and likes to push it open and say “Bye!” out of it. At least we know he is smarter than the cat.