The Cat in Question...

Time: 2:36 a.m. on the morning of July 25.
Place: Home, Benton (past the ends of the earth according to some).
Suspect: crazy kitty (but not this one in the photo)
Events: I was dragged from a sound sleep by Darcy Dog. Apparently I remembered to close the dog door on the evening of July 24 and she heard the call of nature...maybe literally. After opening the door, I staggered back to bed and did my best to return to my unconscious state. Then I heard barking. Not all that unusual. I believe my dog is a reporter for DNN (the dog news network). I sometimes find her sitting on the patio, sniffing the wind and listening. Then she barks a report out. When it's dark, I call her and she comes back in. Nice and easy.

Last night, barking turned to growling. My eyes snapped wide open and I went into attack mode. OK, not really, but serious defense mode maybe. As my dog means more to me than my personal safety, I flipped on all the lights and opened the back door. Luckily she was growling at a corner of the yard away from somewhat dangerous neighbor. As I investigated, I noticed a very pretty cat perched on one of the fence posts. Hissing. I wasn't sure whether to be more worred for the cat or for Darcy. I called her and she came in with me (I told you she's a good dog). I put the dog door back in and went out to chase off the cat. And it had vanished.

Now the cat people are going to have to help me with this. Cat with a death wish? Cat a few bricks shy of a load? Cat convinced of it's own supremacy even in the firmly established (fenced) territory of a 70 lb. dog? I don't have cats. I like cats. Someday I'll want a big one of my own maybe. I don't want a cat to turn up as a squeaky toy or my dog as a scratching post. And I don't really want to do any of this at 2:36 a.m. Then, of course, Darcy was stirred up and had to continuously patrol her territory to be sure that stupid cat didn't come back. And then the somewhat dangerous neighbor's house alarm started going off. So between the cat wrasslin' and peeking through the curtains, the early morning was a blur. If I look like I had a rough night, I did.