Mr. Hamilton Defends His Home

The Morning Growl - Sorry it's sideways!

Hammy has an arch nemesis. Her name is Diamond. She is a semi-feral cat who lives next door. She's their Outdoor Cat. She's quite wild and has, in fact, taken a swipe at me on occasion.

She has this fascination with our Indoor Cats and visits our back deck every morning. This sends both our cats into apoplexy on a regular basis. I used to try and chase her off--hence the Diamond "swipes" at me--but now we just let the whole daily escapade play itself out. We figure since cats count on routine, it would be cruel to take this "favorite" routine away from them.

Here you hear Hammy's famous cat growl, letting Diamond know she is not welcome. Notice the way Diamond cavalierly ignores the fierce warnings of my Hammer-Man and gracefully hops up on our deck chair in disdain of Hammy's loud Caterwauling.

Moments later, Diamond has left the deck. The Morning Growling is over, and Hammy has settled down on one of his favorite Morning Spots for a long nap.

Miss Ellie and Her Morning Spot

First off, you have to know that Princess that she is, Miss Ellie is very high-maintenance. Of course, we wouldn't expect anything less, would we? Miss Ellie is a long-haired cat, which means she sheds more than you can imagine a little thing like that could produce. When she starts shedding hair in the spring, in some curious biological clock thing that knows when spring is coming, I can have a spic-and-span house in the morning, and when I get home at night, there is HAIR EVERYWHERE! Great globs and clumps all over the place. Even in the fall when her shedding slows down, bits and pieces of black hair gather where ever Miss Ellie spends her time that day.

Example: Our living room couch. It regularly needs cleaning because for some reason, unbenownst to me until this week, she loves to hang out there for a part of every day.

Yes, I figured it out, finally. And the above photo has the clue that got me thinking. The dining room window faces east. Can you see how it hits the chair and then the couch at the other end of the room? And if you look really close, you can see a little dark long-haired kitty-cat all curled up for a nice morning nap. Ah-ha! This is why I'm always cleaning my couch! Of course, I have been a cat-person all my life, so I know you can't ban a cat from anything in your house unless you have closed the door. Cats have minds of their own, especially Princesses.

So Miss Ellie will continue to nap in the morning sunlight and I will continue to clean up after her. All is right in the Two Cat House today.