The "Panther" of the Bayou

   My dear readers, I apologize (or not) for the endless tales about the throwaway kitten that came to the Little Bayou House as a "temporary" resident while my son-in-law found a suitable home for him.  I guess he did as the (not quite) cat is home.  Here is home.  He is family.  The cat is a little over six months old now and has grown into quite the handsome fellow.  Umm...grown...yep, he has definitely grown.  This cat is already nigh on eleven pounds and is gaining rapidly.  Son is concerned that he may be getting too fat but Bat, the Bayou Prince Cat,  is still long-legged and lanky.  Perhaps he is just going to be a big cat and not actually overweight.  

  Earlier, I was down near the marsh edge gathering mulch to put around the hundred or so broccoli plants in the garden when I heard a noise overhead.  Bat had climbed the old oak tree and was looming directly over head.  When I looked up, I was amazed at how huge this (almost) cat really is.  Even though he was on a rather large limb that had some thirty years ago supported a swing for the (then) kiddos, he looked quite gigantic.  I had to giggle as I figure, that with a slight bit of altering, a photo could probably be passed off as a picture of a panther.  (If I was only adept at altering photographs!)  You know, like those photos of Big Foot?  Bat could be the Panther of the Bayou!

  Anyway, I took pictures of Bat as he climbed about from tree to tree.  The photographs will help me in comparing his size come a year from now.  I am curious of how big he will get, what type cat he is and if whoever abandoned him knew Bat would be such an amazing animal?

Bat, The Cat, In A Box!

   Bat, the Bayou Prince Cat, is growing by leaps and bounds.  With this growth spurt, he is becoming far more active.  When he first came here, he was so malnourished and full of parasites that playing was not an option.  So, he is making up for lost time.  Even though he is "officially" a cat now, his lost time has kept him in the kitten stage for a while longer than usual.  This is fine except when that play starts destroying the Little Bayou House.  Then, Bat is sternly reprimanded with a loud "No!" and perhaps a shot of water from a spritz bottle.  Both seem to be working well.

  This morning, I was busying myself with packing up some of the leftover canning jars.  These will be stored for future use.  The clean bottles were being packed in the original boxes complete with the plastic still on top.  A single slit in the middle allowed me to remove the bottles and now allows me to repack them.  Several of the boxes were sitting on the kitchen floor when Bat spied them.  Cats really DO love boxes!  He weaseled his way through the slit in the plastic and was completely inside the box.  There he stayed batting at anything, real or imaginary, the came close to his hideout.  Crazy cat!

  To keep him even more occupied while I worked, I tossed a small plastic jar of seeds in the box with the cat.  Bat went bonkers and chased that bottle around and around inside the box.  It was comical seeing him trying so hard to catch those seeds!  Bat would spin around in the box, burst out of the top plastic, race around the dining room table, then, dive back into the box!  Son came inside to see what was making all of the racket and had to laugh when he saw Bat in the box!  Silly cat!