Little Miss Priss has got to be the silliest thing alive. I am referring to the Bayou Princess Cat, Ms. Nycto. Before she came to the Bayou in search of a new home (after being thrown from a car), she obviously was a pampered pet. This was most likely not by those who did the tossing but by her previous owner. Through observation of the cat, we have deciphered that she must have belonged to an elderly person who gave her unending treats and let her sleep wherever she wanted. Son believes that perhaps the person was put in a nursing home or (worse) passed away. Whoever was responsible for the estate took it upon themselves to "dispose" of the cat and decided to just dump her on the side of the road. It happens far too often here. It angers me to find more and more pets being discarded this way. Throwaway pets...so saddening.
Anyway, Ms. Nycto was in a frenzy this morning to exit the Little Bayou House. After spending a peaceful night on the foot of my bed, she awoke with the nagging urge to go outside. Before even eating breakfast, she sat at the door meowing at her loudest. I relented and out she went. No problems. She goes out every day to sleep on the garden bench. I thought that was where she was headed this morning. To bad it was not.
Her idea was not to go to the garden but seek out a stray cat that visited last night. She HAD to protect her territory. This is all fine and dandy except for the fact that Ms. Nycto has no inkling of how to protect anything. Her good intentions failed dramatically, once again. Five minutes after her exiting the house, I heard a lot of hissing and howling. Oh, my goodness...THAT CAT! I stepped out the front door to see a blob of dirty yellow barreling down the lane. This was a feral tomcat that terrorizes the entire neighborhood. He is a royal pain!
Ok, so if the tomcat was here, that means one thing. Ms. Nycto is in a tree somewhere. Last time, she chose a thin sapling to climb and became hopelessly stranded. The tree was far too thin for Son to climb so Ms. Nycto spent the night in the top of the tree. The next morning, she came tumbling down and made haste to the house. She did not venture out for an entire week. With that memory, I started searching. I immediately found her perched on a high branch of a live oak tree. Well, Cat! I am glad you chose that tree, at least! If need be, Son can prop the ladder against the tree to retrieve the silly cat.
Thankfully, this tree was also easy enough for her to exit. After about an hour of surveying the yard from her vantage point, she sort of tumbled to the ground. Ms. Nycto is not the most graceful cat, that is for sure. It seems to me that she needs to learn a lesson about getting into trouble. Feral cats are a lot stronger and feistier than she is. At least, she chose the perfect tree this time so maybe she is starting to get the idea. Maybe....probably not.
Yesterday's post was all about things lurking in the shadows on my morning hikes. One can never be too careful when out before the sun rises. That time of day sees most critters out and about. While I am not overly worried about my wild critters, those of the two legged sort would give me the jitters if I ever came across one. Nowadays, people are scary! I am thankful that I live down on the Bayou and not up near the main road. Sometimes, swampy areas are a blessing.
This morning, it was not a critter lurking in the palmettos or marsh that gave me cause for concern. Just before the sun came up over the pines on the opposite side of the Bayou, I heard something on the rooftop! What was creepy-crawling around up there? Easing my way out the back door, I soon found my answer. Two large, green eyes peered through the darkness at me. Silly cat! How did you get up there? Ms. Nycto was stranded atop the house! Earlier, I had heard a ruckus near the front door and figured there was some cat fight about to happen. It never did and, obviously, it was because Ms. Nycto did a fancy escape. She had climbed the oak tree next to the house, made the leap to the roof but then had no idea how to get down. She is notorious for that. More than once, we have had to come to her rescue. This cat is not a fighter...nor very agile about climbing (at least, climbing down!). Son had to let her in the upstairs window because she was not about to find her own way off the roof.
The catfight began because there is a feral cat in the area. This scraggly yellow cat is grubby, skinny and mean. It will howl and hiss at anyone nearby and threatens other cats (and small dogs). This morning's episode is the third time that Ms. Nycto has been "treed" by the feral cat. Enough is enough! It sure makes me wish that Ms. Put (the Bayou Queen) was still alive. She never tolerated such misconduct and would have put the rogue in his place. Many times, this tiny, six pound cat would reprimand (by literally mangling) wrongdoers that came to the Bayou to stir up trouble. I sure miss that little spitfire! Ms. Nycto has no protection now other than the rooftop. She needs to learn to stay inside where it is safe!
While out on the back porch breaking up yet another cat fight, I thought that I might sweep the leaves off the deck. The Black Gum Tree has dropped every leaf in a matter of two days so the place is a mess! As I swept, those exasperating cats started their howling once again. Geez! There is no peace around here anymore! I would not fret so much if Ms. Put was not twenty years old, weak, deaf and generally not up to par and her attacker, Ms. Nycto, was not twice the size and a quarter of the age of the old cat. It is Ms. Nycto who is the antagonist here. So, I try to intervene to protect the old Bayou Queen. I decided that the best thing to do was rattle the tarp that Mark has covering some plywood. The noise, alone, would get the attention of Nycto and send her running.
As I shook the tarp, I felt something run up on my fingers. Thinking immediately that it was a spider, I let go and flicked the hand. Nope. Not a spider but something I dislike. A centipede had been hiding under the tarp. Goodness, I do not like these biting things! Or pinching things...whatever. I have been nibbled on far too many times for my feelings to be any other than distaste for the critters. Yes, they do a fine job of capturing other bugs but those pincers do, indeed, hurt like crazy! Sorry, critter, you are not my friend!
Just out of curiosity, I lifted the tarp to find dozens of the centipedes skittering about the plywood. They were not to happy about having their roof lifted. Well, I can see now that before I help Mark with this plywood, I will have to banish the centipedes from the area. They can just find another place to call home. My hand is not going to suffer a painful nip from one if I can help it! And I was off to break up another cat fight. This ongoing battle has got to stop!!!
