Henry the Cat
I know I've written about my cats before, but after the day we just had, I had to tell the stories.
We have a walkout in our lower level. We try to have the door open on cooler days and leave the screen door shut so the cats don't get out. They are, after all, indoor cats. But they are indoor cats who desperately want to be indoor/outdoor cats.
So yesterday while RobbieMax was at work, we had the door open because it was so beautiful out. Henry was sitting at the screen door looking outside, just like he always does.
Suddenly his whole body went taught and started vibrating with excitement. I could tell he saw something outside. He just sat there, still as can be (well, except for the vibrating with excitement part) watching whatever it was that he saw.
Pretty soon a bunny hopped right in front of the screen door. He wasn't quite full-grown, but he was very cute. The bunny looked right at Henry, decided that he wasn't a threat, and started to eat some grass right in front of him.
Oh how wrong that bunny was.
The next thing I knew, Henry leaped at that bunny, hitting the screen and dislodging the screen door from its track. This created an opening that Henry squeezed right through. It all happened in a second, but before I could even react, that darn cat was outside chasing that rabbit.
I yelled something really loud, like, "OH MY GOD! HENRY JUST GOT OUT!" and Will came running down the stairs. I tried to open that screen door but it would barely budge because of how it ended up after Henry struck.
Imagine my surprise after I got it open just a little bit when I saw Henry just around the corner, waiting to come in. He squeezed right back through and into the house.
Huh.
It was like nothing ever happened. Why on earth did Henry not keep chasing that bunny? I like to think it was because of my very un-Julia-like yell. I sounded very dangerous.
So later on in the evening (after the door was closed, of course), I was done working and sitting on the futon, watching some tennis (that's a topic for another post). Both Henry and Sully were downstairs with me.
And then I heard Henry growl. I've heard that growl once before, I thought. I looked, and sure enough Henry had caught a mouse. This has happened once before - Henry is turning out to be a good mouser, which is not so good for the mice.
I yelled for Will to get a glass, so we could put into effect our brilliant plan from the previous mouse incident. And like the humans we are, we proceeded to stalk Henry.
What ensued was the most exhausting evening I've had in quite some time. I'm sure anyone looking in on us last night could have taped us and sent the video in to America's Funniest Home Videos or some program like that.
Here we were, chasing this cat all around the house - upstairs, downstairs, all the while Henry had the mouse in his mouth, the little thing's tail, butt, and hind legs sticking out of his mouth. And Henry was growling at us every time we get close to him.
My question for you is this: If the front part of that little mouse was in Henry's mouth all that time, why did he not bite Henry's tongue or something?
We finally cornered Henry in the upstairs bathroom. Will started spraying him with water (which Henry hates) in order to get him to drop the mouse. He dropped it once and then grabbed it up again before I could get to it.
The next time he dropped it, I was ready and put the glass over it. Henry hissed as I slowly moved the glass away from him. I thought the mouse was dead. Will came in with a paper plate for me to slide under the glass so I could bring the mouse outside. But pretty soon that little field mouse (no bigger than my thumb with a long tail) was hopping around in that glass. So when we let him go outside, he scampered away.
Why didn't we let Henry kill and eat that mouse? Well, first of all, I don't know what kind of diseases it carried and I don't want Henry to get sick. Secondly, I don't want mouse blood and guts all over my house. And third, I like mice.
Anyway, I was exhausted after that.
I slept well last night.
We have a walkout in our lower level. We try to have the door open on cooler days and leave the screen door shut so the cats don't get out. They are, after all, indoor cats. But they are indoor cats who desperately want to be indoor/outdoor cats.
So yesterday while RobbieMax was at work, we had the door open because it was so beautiful out. Henry was sitting at the screen door looking outside, just like he always does.
Suddenly his whole body went taught and started vibrating with excitement. I could tell he saw something outside. He just sat there, still as can be (well, except for the vibrating with excitement part) watching whatever it was that he saw.
Pretty soon a bunny hopped right in front of the screen door. He wasn't quite full-grown, but he was very cute. The bunny looked right at Henry, decided that he wasn't a threat, and started to eat some grass right in front of him.
Oh how wrong that bunny was.
The next thing I knew, Henry leaped at that bunny, hitting the screen and dislodging the screen door from its track. This created an opening that Henry squeezed right through. It all happened in a second, but before I could even react, that darn cat was outside chasing that rabbit.
I yelled something really loud, like, "OH MY GOD! HENRY JUST GOT OUT!" and Will came running down the stairs. I tried to open that screen door but it would barely budge because of how it ended up after Henry struck.
Imagine my surprise after I got it open just a little bit when I saw Henry just around the corner, waiting to come in. He squeezed right back through and into the house.
Huh.
It was like nothing ever happened. Why on earth did Henry not keep chasing that bunny? I like to think it was because of my very un-Julia-like yell. I sounded very dangerous.
So later on in the evening (after the door was closed, of course), I was done working and sitting on the futon, watching some tennis (that's a topic for another post). Both Henry and Sully were downstairs with me.
And then I heard Henry growl. I've heard that growl once before, I thought. I looked, and sure enough Henry had caught a mouse. This has happened once before - Henry is turning out to be a good mouser, which is not so good for the mice.
I yelled for Will to get a glass, so we could put into effect our brilliant plan from the previous mouse incident. And like the humans we are, we proceeded to stalk Henry.
What ensued was the most exhausting evening I've had in quite some time. I'm sure anyone looking in on us last night could have taped us and sent the video in to America's Funniest Home Videos or some program like that.
Here we were, chasing this cat all around the house - upstairs, downstairs, all the while Henry had the mouse in his mouth, the little thing's tail, butt, and hind legs sticking out of his mouth. And Henry was growling at us every time we get close to him.
My question for you is this: If the front part of that little mouse was in Henry's mouth all that time, why did he not bite Henry's tongue or something?
We finally cornered Henry in the upstairs bathroom. Will started spraying him with water (which Henry hates) in order to get him to drop the mouse. He dropped it once and then grabbed it up again before I could get to it.
The next time he dropped it, I was ready and put the glass over it. Henry hissed as I slowly moved the glass away from him. I thought the mouse was dead. Will came in with a paper plate for me to slide under the glass so I could bring the mouse outside. But pretty soon that little field mouse (no bigger than my thumb with a long tail) was hopping around in that glass. So when we let him go outside, he scampered away.
Why didn't we let Henry kill and eat that mouse? Well, first of all, I don't know what kind of diseases it carried and I don't want Henry to get sick. Secondly, I don't want mouse blood and guts all over my house. And third, I like mice.
Anyway, I was exhausted after that.
I slept well last night.
posted by Julia Hart at
8:12 AM
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