...jail break !

a door...slightly ajar...
doesn't mean much to most of us...
but to my "feline friends"...
it wasn't opportunity merely "knocking"...
it was opportunity throwing off all restraint...
and hollering, "COME ON DOWN !"

[I'm quite sure ...
that if you look up "opportunist" in the dictionary...
you'll see a picture of most of my kitties....]

I'd been having problems with my bedroom door...
lately...it was not opening properly...
it would stick at the top...
and sometimes the handset would not latch...

a couple of days ago, I came into the bedroom...
after noticing that the door was ajar...
Mattie was almost out the open window...
being my "good boy"...he stopped and came to me...

since he gets very confused outside ...
and gets "lost"... across the very busy street...
crying in real distress...
unable to cross the street and come to me...
I wanted him in...

so I'd been trying to make sure that the door was shut tight...
but, this morning, as I zeroed-in on the hall closet clean-out...
as well as my usual Tuesday "cookfest"...
and writing a post for tomorrow...
before running errands...
I must have not been careful enough...

I went through the hall area..
and saw the problem door...
ajar again...

entering the bedroom...
I encountered Mattie, asleep on my bed...
Robbie had taken over Fluff's nest...
but the open window and total silence...
told me the story...
there had been a "jail break"...

I called... silence...
after closing the window...I put Robbie & Mattie
out of the bedroom so that I could "take roll"...
first making sure that the #$@%* door was now shut tight...

I looked for Charlie [he's the red one...]

he's VERY shy and freaks when he gets outside...
he becomes extremely fearful...
disoriented & won't come to me...
the last time...
it took me 2 weeks to catch him...

I didn't see him... but he loves to hide...
so I "called" and said a little prayer...
I eventually spotted him... whew !

then I looked for Creamer...she also goes outside bravely...
then freaks...wanting back in...NOW !

but Creamer was "dead to the world"...
far from the predations of Sneaky Pie & Gracie...
her sworn enemies...

Thomas, on the other hand was MIA...

he thinks he's "alpha"... and "Mr Outside"...
he doesn't get scared...which is both good...
and not so good... because he's NOT cautious...

Sneaky Pie was underfoot...as usual...


but Gracie...was mysteriously "absent"...

NOT good... she's ALWAYS been an inside cat...
and doesn't have a clue..."out there"...

I went out into the back yard...
and there was Gracie !
she started to run from me...
but when she saw it was me...
she ran to the "ramp"...went up...
and waited by the now closed window...
telling me how much she wanted to go back inside...
and to "make it snappy ! "

I picked up her plump self and took her inside...
where she promptly began to brag to Sneaky Pie...
exaggerating, I'm sure....
her adventurousness and courage...
in the "great" out of doors...

she must have laid it on thick...
because SPie got pissed...
bopped her on the nose...
and then went to chase Lacy...
just for spite...

by now...
I had figured out that only Thomas was still AWOL...
so I re-opened the bedroom window...
called him... NUMEROUS times...
shut the door, TIGHTLY...
and went on with my chores...

after about an hour or so...
I opened the door...there Thomas was...
sleeping on my bed...
he hopped down and came back out of the bedroom...
as if he always spent the morning outside....

I checked the window...
the breeze had blown the screen cat door shut...
trapping Thomas and ending his day of..." FREEDOM ! "
[you have to imagine Mel Gibson yelling that...]

as soon as Thomas [the interloper...] was out of my bedroom...
Fluff came out from under the bed...
where she'd been "in seclusion"...[aka hiding...]

and she was NOT amused...
turning her back on me for my shortsightedness...
in allowing the "invasion" of her domain...

after a while... Piglet "arrived"....
she had been "secluded" [aka hiding...]
somewhere in the yard...

and she let me know that she was MOST DISPLEASED...
with my complicity in allowing intruders
to disturb the sanctity...
of "her" sole and rightful kingdom...

how could I be so lax ?
I'd better shape up...
if I knew what's good for me...
or she would "take steps" to shape me up... !

later, after the "dust" had settled...
and everyone was back in their normal routine...
as I checked the door for the umpteeth time...
I noticed Mattie...snoozing in his favorite spot...

favorite spot other than my bed, that is...

and to think...
some people miss all this kind of frivolity...
because they don't live with cats...

so sad....