Just to give a little background, I have two outdoor cats, Paul Nelson and Thecla. They're named for the gnostic gospel of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, just because I think it's cool stories despite the falsehood of it. The Nelson came because they are twins and Paul just can't live without my love and affection. Anyway, they live on our porch. And no, I have no idea what we'll do with them this winter.
Paul and Thecla have an affinity for licking slugs. It's very annoying because then they're going around trying to rub the sticky junk off their tongues for an hour afterward. Additionally, I've always been a sort of slug activist, so the reasons for which I'm bothered by that are two-fold. I am constantly having to rescue slugs from excessive cat-licking. Rescuing slugs is not a particularly pleasant business, but they are just too slow on their own for me to feel anything but compassion for them.
Apparently word got around. Two nights ago, we were sitting on the front porch when one of the cats (probably Thecla, as Paul is the type who generally occupies his time by chasing his tail... shall we say, not the brightest bulb in the box...) walked by with a praying mantis in it's mouth. Ack! So I jumped up, grabbed the cat by the back of it's neck and got it to drop the mantis. After scuffling around with the cats (they were both interested in having a mantis play date by this point) I got it. It took a little rest on my hand, probably thanking God that it's enough like a bird that it can fly far - far, far away from here, and then it flew. It couldn't have been too grateful though, because it didn't hang out long enough for us to get a decent picture.
Last night, I stepped outside, sat down, and saw the cats playing with something. My first inclination was mouse, and I wasn't about to step in. But then, after further observation, it occurred to me that it was a baby mole. Double ack! So I ran at the cats and they scattered. The baby mole kind of shuffled around in circles like a blind little rodent. I started to pick it up, but the bloody thing bit me like it was an ROUS or something. Luckily it didn't draw blood... I guess they aren't terribly vicious until they reach unusual size. So I got a piece of junk mail, slid it underneath the mole, and dumped it into a flower pot. I debated whether or not to keep it to show to Logan, but figured the cats would pretty easily find it despite my best efforts to hide it, so I took it next door (no one lives there) and put it in the flower bed (weed bed). If the cats found it after that, they left no evidence of it, which was really my goal. I understand the circle of life and the food chain and all of that, but I don't need mangled remains of the circle of life on my front porch.
It's been pretty rainy today, so hopefully the cats will stay put enough that they won't find any wildlife for me to rescue today.
In other news, Maggie seems to have totally recovered from her injuries from last week and is back to running around and tearing apart our house. Logan has been occupying himself with tangram blocks for the past two days. He doesn't even have any patterns, but he's been able to make some pretty intricate things with them. Unfortunately Maggie destroys them before I'm able to get pictures.
Eric left last night for a leadership conference in South Carolina. It has been so weird not having him home; oddly, even during the hours he'd normally be at work, it still felt weird knowing he was gone. I feel so much for women who's husbands are frequently gone for work reasons and the like. It is so hard! But I just talked to him a little while ago and he's on his way home. I can't wait to see him and hear all about it. Apparently he had a real Mastercard commercial experience there, so I'm glad he went! Now I just need to get the house ready for him to see it... amazing what can happen in two days of not having a man around to clean for.
"Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist." ~Westley
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