Tag Archives: escape

Frankie’s Self-Tour

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My wife runs several apartment communities. During covid, they started unlocking available units so people could look at them without the staff present. The called them “self-tours” and they still sometimes do that on the weekends when the office is closed.

Now, whenever Frankie escapes, we say he is on a self-tour of the neighborhood. He took one of those self-tours this morning at around 5:15. My wife was going to one of her properties fifty miles away and realized she forgot to plug her car in last night so she asked if I would plug it in for her. Even though she had 200 miles left on her battery, she still felt like she needed more. That’s because she drives 357 miles per hour, which drains the battery faster.

I had just fed the cats and Frankie was busy eating so I thought it would be easy getting out the door. I thought wrong. As soon as the door opened six inches I noticed a tan flash zip out the door. I tried to get him before he got too far but he quickly ran under a car where he knows I can’t reach him. I went back inside, put my shoes on, and returned to where Frankie was last but he was gone. I looked for a while, but it was dark except for the nearby streetlight.

Rose and I opened the door every five minutes or so to see if he had returned. After forty-five minutes, I opened the door and saw him on the street. He ran to the house and climbed the steps. He was met by Floki at the door. I certainly didn’t want Floki to get out because he is a big freaker-outer so I pushed him back to give Frankie room to come in. Frankie just stood there sniffing. Then Floki walked around me and showed up at the door on the other side. Again, I held him back, but Frankie had made up his mind. He wasn’t ready to come in. He turned around and headed away from the house.

Fifteen minutes later I opened the door and called Frankie’s name. I waited several seconds but didn’t see him so I started to close the door. When I did I felt resistance and looked down to see Frankie coming inside.

After his return, Rose said, “You are NOT taking Frankie for a walk today. You shouldn’t reward his bad behavior.” I happen to have today off, and Frankie is relentless about asking to go outside. The weather is bad. It is very windy, and rain is expected soon, but Frankie cares about none of that.

I didn’t get a picture of Frankie today but here he is on another self-tour.

An Unexpected Walk

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Sunday afternoon I was bringing a handful of laundry outside to the washing machine in our shed. I had just fed the cats and saw Frankie in the kitchen with his head in the food bowl. I figured it was safe to open the door, which I did quickly, and turned around to walk out backward so I could catch Frankie if he tried to get out. I obviously did it wrong because there was a second between when I cracked the door open and when I was turned around enough to see Frankie’s tail wiz past me.

He immediately went under a vehicle so I couldn’t catch him.

I talked to him nicely and managed to coax him out a bit.

I should have tried to grab him then but I worried if I missed I would never catch him. Instead, I had an idea. I went back into the house and grabbed his harness. When I got close, I pulled it apart. He knows that the sound of the velcro means he is going for a walk so he came out and let me put it on. Unfortunately, I was rushed and put it on upside down. In the process of trying to reverse it, I nearly freaked him out a little. Before he got too nervous I turned it around and soon we were walking.

We did some sitting too.

We made our way to the clubhouse where I think a bingo game just ended. There was an old lady in a car with the window down marveling at a cat on a leash. I talked to her for a minute but Frankie was interested in the door that was propped open. He stuck his head inside to the delight of another two older ladies.

Eventually, we made it back relatively close to home, perhaps half a block. Frankie decided to take a rest in someone’s yard.

I let him stay for a short time but since he was literally against someone’s house I decided to pick him up and bring him home before we got yelled at.

Wrong House, Frankie

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My wife is looking for a housekeeper so our next door neighbor, April, recommended somebody that she knows. April is at our house quite often and she watches our cats when we go away sometimes, so our cats are very familiar with her. Of course, when April came over to introduce her friend to Rose, Frankie ran out the door and escaped.

I don’t have a picture from yesterday but here is Frankie during another escape.

It seems that everything interesting that happens with our cats lately happens while I’m at work. Rose sent me the following text yesterday morning.

A few minutes later I get this one.

When I got home I found out the whole story. Apparently April went back to her house with the lady and must have had her door open because Frankie ran inside her house. I don’t know what happened while he was inside but April then carried Frankie home.

It reminds me a lot of what happened when Chris was young. This might be my favorite story about Chris. You can read it here.

The Unknown Escape

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Thursday, when the mailman came, Rose went outside to get the mail and noticed Frankie was on top of my truck. She did not even know Frankie escaped. The mailman recognized Frankie. He knows Frankie by name because of all the times Frankie has escaped while going out to get the mail. A package arrived earlier that day and she thinks he might have slipped past her when she went to get the package, but he did so without her even noticing.

I rode my electric scooter to work that day and did not get in my truck until Friday when I went to the SPCA. That’s when I noticed the paw prints.

You can see on the left where he climbed up to the roof and on the right where he slid down.

Frankie has a passion for going outside that just can’t be quenched.

Frankie Escapes Again

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My wife called me at work yesterday to tell me that Frankie escaped. She said she had a hair appointment at 4:00 and if he wasn’t back by then she would have to leave him outside. I looked at my watch. It was just after 1:30. If I hurried I might be able to get all of my important work done and get home before she left.

Fortunately, she called me back at 3:00 to tell me that he was back. She said she opened the window on the door a few inches and the put a chair in front of it. Of course, Chris and Floki jumped at the chance to get a good smell out the window.

Rose was hoping to use them as Frankie detectors and it worked. When Frankie showed up Chris started growling and hissing which prompted Rose to get up and let him in

Not long after I got home, I noticed how comfortable Frankie was and wondered why he is always trying to get out.

He should know by now that there’s no place like home.

Frankie Escapes

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I was at the supermaket yesterday morning when Rose called me. “Frankie got out!” she said. “And I’m locked out of the house with no shoes on.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m coming home right now.”

I quickly checked out with what I was able to get and went home. When I arived I saw nobody at first but then saw Rose and the pest control guy crossing the street. The guy was here to do an annual termite inspection and Frankie got out when Rose answered the door.

The man was carrying a fishing net and Rose pointed and said “Frankie is under that truck. As soon as we approached, Frankie ran out.

He ended up under a van a couple of houses down so I asked the guy to push at Frankie with his net. I hoped he would come out on my end but he shot out the front and ended up back under the pest control guy’s truck.

From there he went into the neighbors back yard and was about to jump the fence into our yard but changed his mind and skirted past me. After a little more chasing he ended up in front of our house too pooped to care anymore. I held my hand out and he gave it a good sniff while I move in close enough to grab him.

My biggest worry is that he is unfamiliar with the area. I have been lazy and have not taken him for a walk since he seems very content to just hang out on the catio. With one week more here I don’t think I will worry about walkling him here but once we get back to Florida I will have to do that.

We Almost Lost Frankie . . . Again

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My wife had an appointment to get her nails done yesterday but I was parked behind her so I had to leave with her to move my car. I went out the door first and then Rose followed right behind me. As she was walking out the door Frankie slipped past her and ran outside. I tried to catch him but he ran under a nearby van where he knows I can’t reach him.

Knowing Rose was waiting for me I walked back to my car so I could get it out of her way. As I go close Rose said to me, “You need to be more careful when you walk out the door.” I guess that officially made it my fault.

After I moved my car I went to check on Frankie.

He was rolling around under that van as if to say, “Na na na na na, you can’t catch me!”

I walked back to the house and sat on the steps in the hot sun waiting for him to make his next move. After about ten minutes he walked toward our neighbor’s house and I quietly followed him. I saw him poke his head into a small opening leading under the house and I didn’t want him to go there so I backed off. But then I thought the hole was too small to fit through so I advanced again. I was wrong and under the house he went.

There was nothing I could do so I went home and set a ten-minute timer. I have ADD and its hard for me to stay focused on a task if I have distractions so I worried that I would forget about him. It happened a week ago when Chris ran out the door as I was bringing laundry out. I decided to let him eat grass while I put the clothes in the washing machine. Unfortunately, my thoughts went from Chris to the laundry and never returned to Chris like they would for a person with a normal brain. I think it was a half-hour later, or more, when I went out to check the laundry and saw Chris lying there. That was scarry thinking about what might have happened because of my irresponsibility.

After ten minutes I looked for Frankie with no luck. I continued to look for him every ten or fifteen minutes for about an hour and then drove around the neighborhood looking for him but saw no sign of him. We got our other two boys microchipped recently and we were planning on having Frankie microchipped next but I cursed myself for not having him done first.

Rose returned about an hour and a half after she left and she drove around looking too before coming home. After a little while I decided to drive around again. It was around 6:45 and the sun was getting low. I didn’t want to be out looking for him at night.

Before getting in the car I stepped out onto the front sidewalk to scan the area. There was a woman to the left walking her dog and beyond the woman coming towards us on the sidewalk was a small gold figure. I focused my eyes and saw it was Frankie. What a relief.

I walked that way and stopped to pay attention to the small dog that was interested in me and told the lady about my bad cat. She turned to see him coming and I walked a few more paces and then scooped him up. She was happy, I was happy, and I think Frankie was happy to be home.

Once inside Chris and Floki had a smell fest and conducted a debriefing.

Who’s a Scaredy Cat?

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We are having our house painted and, of course, when the painter arrived this morning to pressure wash, Frankie ran out the door. I put my shoes on and went out to look for him as soon as I was done talking to the painter. I found him ten or fifteen minutes later in front of the neighbors house but he went under their car when I approached. Since the car was relatively tall and since he was not very far under it I decided to try to grab him. I reached under the car and got the scruff of his neck and dragged him out. He didn’t resist as I picked him up and carried him to our house.

He didn’t resist at first but by then the painter was pressure washing the house. The pressure washer was running to the left of the door and the guy was spraying to the right of the door. Frankie was not happy about going through the middle of that and made every effort to get away. I held tight, despite the pain, and quickly opened the door and let him jump to safety inside.

Ten minutes later Floki was hiding under our bed and Frankie was on the bed paying very close attention to the noises outside. Chris then joined Frankie on the bed and promptly fell asleep while Frankie kept his ears and eyes on where the noise was coming from.

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It seems Chris has almost no fear or anxiety except maybe when his food bowl is empty.

Frankie Gave Us a Scare

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I opened the door yesterday afternoon thinking Frankie was in another room but I was wrong and he slipped past me and out the door. It was about 3:15 p.m. I tried to catch him but he ran under the neighbor’s car so I left him there and returned home. I figured he would come back. I had recently bought butternut squash seeds and those little cardboard pots called seed starters so while I was waiting I busied myself filling those pots and planting the seeds.

Frankie didn’t come back and after a while, I started getting worried about him so I walked around looking for him but saw no sign of him. After about a half-hour he came back to taunt me and then disappeared again.

I stayed outside for a while waiting for him to come back but he did not. Normally he comes back and lets me catch him within the first hour so I was starting to become concerned. I walked around looking for him and then got in my car and drove around the neighborhood but saw no sign of him. I let some time pass and then I drove around the neighborhood again, still with no luck. By this time we had dinner in the oven and Rose and I were both very concerned. I had an upset stomach from worry.

At around 6 p.m. Rose shut the oven off and we drove around the neighborhood together. We drove for probably about a half an hour or so. Several times we drove past our home hoping we would see him there waiting but we didn’t.

 I had fed the cats earlier and there was still some wet food left when we got back. I scooped one of the plates into the trash but Rose suggested putting the other one outside, which I did. About ten minutes later I looked out the window and saw Frankie on top of Rose’s car. It was 6:45, three and a half hours after he got out. I was very relieved and went out to get him. When I did I noticed the food had been eaten. 

I have wanted to get Frankie microchipped for a long time but put it off until he was at the vet for another reason. Unfortunately, he had not been at the vet for another reason for a long time so it never happened. Now I think it’s time to get him micro-chipped but I’m not sure if vets are doing non-emergency procedures. I noticed the SPCA stopped fixing the animals in their care so the gloves and masks could be saved for emergencies.