the mourners

This weekend, the hubs and I got a puppy. It's true. We did. And I love him dearly. It's pretty much impossible to not love him. I even loved him after he peed on my carpet... even though we had stood outside with him for 45 minutes.

Like I said, it's pretty impossible to not love him. See? Told ya. Anyway...

We do not have a cat, but a cat claims us. He comes around all the time, scratching at our back door for us to let him in, or to feed him. (At this point you are probably thinking, "Why would she say that she got a puppy if she is talking about a cat? Crazy!" Well, let me finish....) I really think that if he was a little bit taller (longer) he would be able to open the back door (even though he only has paws and it would be really really difficult, he would figure out a way to get it open). After a few days of his constant coming around we dubbed him, Horatio. Every morning he comes around tapping on the back door. You would think by now I would not jump out of my socks when I hear a sound at the back door in the morning. But that's not the case. Every morning comes and begs for food and every morning I jump out of my slippers when I hear him. Thank goodness I know his eyes are yellow and people are not that short. Well, he begs and begs for food. Not that he needs any. Horatio is the fattest cat I've ever seen in the world. Well, maybe not the absolute fattest, I've seen a few cats that were maybe 110 pounds as opposed to his 108 pounds. But still, you get the idea. he is a fat cat.

One of my favorite things to do is watch him sprint across the yard to our door. After I open the curtains in the morning, I see him in the far off corner of the yard. I'm convinced he has super hearing powers or something because every single time I open the curtain he points his head up and dashes as quick as he can to our door. As he runs for the door his belly drags across the ground, I've never seen a cats belly drag on the ground before. That's how fat he is. Horatio comes to the door as though he is absolutely famished. He is not. When he gets to the door I promptly do not feed him. Yet for some reason he lounges on our back porch all day long. Waiting to be fed. Ridiculous. Then one morning I actually did give him some food, he nibbled at it. Then when the nice neighbor lady that always feeds him came outside he deserted me and ran to her. Was my food not good enough for him? Apparently not. He is one picky cat. I figured, if he was hungry he would eat whatever. He's apparently not that hungry. Unless of course nice neighbor lady is gone for a week, then Horatio will eat anything and everything we give him. gracious.

Well. One afternoon, a day or two after bringing Boady home the hubs was outside with him. For some reason the hubs had to leave and asked me to step outside. For a split second we were both inside at the same time. When I went out to watch Boady, I couldn't see him. I looked and looked, but he wasn't there. That's when I saw Horatio. With a little brown critter hanging limp from him mouth. My heart stopped. I started running towards Horatio, calling and scolding and scared from little Boady's life. Then I saw it had a big bushy tail. And Boady barked up at me, he was right by my foot. O thank goodness. For the next twenty minutes Horatio batted and swung that squirrel around. Today the hubs found a head and a tail. nice. While Horatio batted the poor little critter around, the squirrels in the trees all around me were screaming, "EEEE" and "ekkekkkekkk" and "eeek eeek" more and more squirrels kept joining in. Personally, I was getting a little scared for my life. I was pretty certain the squirrels would come and attack me for something the cat did. o brother. ... I've never heard squirrels mourn before, but they do. It's true. And now there is a tail in my yard. Thanks, Horatio.