Here There Be Dragon(flie)s

I have finally seen a flying bug too formidable even for Wabble.  Weekday mornings when Diane goes off to work at 5:45, Wabble and Toogs go out into the hall to chase down any moths or other flying critters that get in through the outer doors.  This morning, we heard a tremendous buzzing as soon as we stepped into the hall.  It was an enormous dragonfly that had got in and was unable to find its way out.  It kept flying into the wall at the end of the hall.  Toogie went right back inside, but Wabble sat down to watch, trying to figure out what it was (still keeping his distance).  Diane and I decided we didn't want Wabble to take it on, as he has a tendency to eat his kills and we'd rather the dragonfly remain alive to eat the mosquitos we get every summer, so we chased it back out through the door.  By the time we were done, none of them had any taste for hunting this morning, so Diane went off to work and the rest of us went back inside.  It was a pity, though, since there were a number of nice big moths in the hall this morning, and Wabble is partial to moths.  Maybe they'll still be there tomorrow...

Heat Wave

It has been Code Orange and too hot to breathe here in Northern Virginia for the past week or so.  I think it's been rougher on my boys, though, than me.  They like to go outside, but when it's this hot and the air quality is this poor, I don't like to take them out -- especially Finn with his respiratory problems.  It was relatively cool on Saturday morning, so I took Finn out in the front yard when Diane went to work, but he didn't stay out long; it was simply too hot for him.  Unfortunately, with the wonders of air conditioning, they don't believe me when I tell them how hot it is until I do something like open the balcony door to fill the bird feeder or water the plants.  They head for the balcony, but stop at the doorway and give me dirty looks as if to say, "what kind of trickery is this?"  But when one of us comes home from work, they all come to the door and try to get out into the hall.  In between, I can frequently find one or another of them sitting by the front door, looking up at me with big eyes and crying to get out.  Or I'll hear a funny noise at the door and see Wabble hanging off the door handle trying to get it open (see "Wabble Opens Doors").

Sibling Rivalry

On top of the tall dresser in the bedroom, we have a large basket with a pillow in it.  It started out life as a gift basket to the office from a vendor, and once all the goodies had been divvied up, I took the basket because it is the perfect size for a cat bed.  The cats think so, too.  There is an intense rivalry for the basket and the top level of the climber between Mittens, Puff, and Romana.  The other night, Puff was being greedy.  Having given Romana the shove from the top level of the climber, she settled in there quite nicely -- until Romana decided she wanted to go in the Basket.  Then Puff jumped up and ran over to get into the basket before Romana could.  I put Romana in the top level of the climber, and Puff ran over there to try and chase her out of that.  I intercepted Puff and explained that she could have either the climber or the basket, but that she couldn't keep both at the same time.  I don't think she understood or accepted that concept, so she decided instead to go settle in on Di's pillow and sulk.  Cats!  Gotta love' em!