On High Alert For The Marsh Monster!

  As a rule, the cat and I are the first to awake in the morning and it is our habit to spend a good ten minutes snuggling before either of us rises.  She loves to get her ears scratched before starting her day.  Then, Ms. Nycto decides that it is breakfast time so we venture into the kitchen for her to eat and me to brew the first pot of coffee of the day.  Our morning ritual rarely varies.  After her meal, she goes outside to wander the hillside.  She has to make sure that nothing has changed over the course of the night.  I usually head to the pier at the same time.  After a bit, the cat joins me and we head back to the Little Bayou House.

  This morning, things went as usual but when she trotted herself out the front door, she turned in her tracks and trotted right back up the steps, raced inside and hid under the big rocking chair in the corner of the room.  She was not budging from her hiding spot! Well, now!  I pondered what could have scared my sweet cat to the point that she refused to go outside.  I peered out in the near darkness of the early dawn and could see nothing intimidating.  Well, if the cat was not going out in the dark....I was not either!  This was a case of being led by a cat's intuition.

  About an hour later, she and I both headed out the door.  She was still leery but made her rounds as usual.  I did not go to the pier as I had chores to do in the garden and it was already getting late. She did but was not the happiest of cats.  Once there, she stared down into the marsh as if there was some monster hiding beneath the marsh mats.  Ms. Nycto was on high alert!  It did not take her long to scurry back up the hillside to be near me and, as soon as my chores were complete, she was ready to retreat to her hiding spot beneath the chair.  She made no noise about going out again all day.  

  I am still not sure just what frightened the cat so much that she refused to bask in the sunshine but something strange must have wandered about the yard last night and, perhaps, was still there this morning.  I may just have to set up the night camera to catch our "monster" in the act of traipsing around the hillside.  It would be interesting to find out what is out there!  My poor Ms. Nycto!