Rose and I spent a long weekend on Anna Maria Island for our 26th anniversary, which is in two days. We hired a cat sitter to come in three times a day. I know, two times is sufficient, but we have spoiled cats. Here is one of the photos she sent us.
The fact that both of our cats were hanging out together was surprising. Perhaps they behave differently when nobody is home.
As we always learn too late but never remember, going away is not as good as staying home. We woke up early Sunday morning and decided to pack up and go home. When I say early, I mean around 4:00 a.m.
Rose didn’t want to get home while the cat sitter was there, so we stopped at Publix to do our shopping. We still arrived too early, so we parked at the library, which is at the end of our street, and waited ten minutes. We left as we saw her car drive by. It felt like we were spies, waiting for our mark to leave so we could bug his house.
As I was bringing our luggage in, Frankie escaped. He first crawled under our car so I couldn’t get him but then came out and raced across the street.
The road that runs along the side of our house is fairly busy, perhaps because many of the amenities, like the library, are located near the end of the street. I try to keep Frankie on our side of the road when we walk so that crossing it doesn’t become a habit. Maybe that’s a bad strategy because that’s the first thing he wants to do when he’s free.
I followed Frankie across the street. I don’t like trespassing on people’s property, but since Frankie isn’t very familiar with the area, I wanted to make sure he didn’t get lost. He went behind the homes and came out on the next street. I managed to herd him back toward our house. It’s amazing how fast an almost fifteen-year-old cat can run.
From the photo above, our house is the first house on the right across the street. When I caught up to Frankie, he took off running. When he reached the street, I saw two cars coming. I waved my arms and yelled, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
Fortunately, the woman in the lead car had her window open and heard me. She stopped her car as Frankie raced in front of her. I waved and said thank you to the woman. It was quite embarrassing.
Frankie then hid under our car again. Fortunately, he was close enough to the edge that I could grab him and pull him out. Returning home was more of an adventure than going away.
Bad Cat Chris 