Cat Tails: Mischief on a rainy day

After months of dry weather it had now rained for days and days, or at least it seemed that way to Peep. To be completely honest, she had to admit that it didn’t rain all the time, but even if it wasn’t raining it was cloudy or misty and the grass never quite dried out. During the years that Peep had been too scared of Fuzzy to go outside much she had lost her tolerance for being outside in the wet. LT didn’t seem to mind it at all, as long as he could find a sheltered spot to sit, and Rudy liked to hang out in the house or garage. Peep didn’t like the sharp smells in garage from Daddy’s work stuff, so she had a choice of being in the wet or staying in the house.

The problem with staying in the house was it was boring. It was great for sleeping and eating, but other than that, it had limited entertainment potential. She wasn’t interested in television or the computer, like Rudy, and there were no little critters to chase unless some bugs got in, but with the rain even the bugs were laying low. So, nothing to do.

Peep was napped out. She figured she’d slept about three-quarters of yesterday, and had slept some during the night. She’d been up more last night than usual due to her excessive sleep yesterday. She’d tried to interest Daddy in playing with her or scratching her head, but he’d just groaned, rolled over and when that didn’t work pushed her off the bed. When he did that, Peep made a point of walking over him several times as soon as he’d drift off to sleep. Each time he’d reach out for her, but she’d scamper off him right quickly. Tee-hee. Show him for pushing her off the bed!

But now it was day and Daddy had gone somewhere to work. Poor man, having to probably work out in the rain. She had a lot of sympathy for him right now, as she didn’t want to be in the rain either. She looked out the window at the lily pond, and then moved to another window to look at the woods and then another window to look at the neighbor’s house. Boring. She batted the cat door a bit, to see if there was anyone on the other side. There wasn’t.

Peep roamed the house looking for things to play with. A towel hung down from the handle on the stove, and she batted at it until it fell down and then tried to play slide on it. On the linoleum floor she’d flatten it out and then making a running leap onto it, hoping that it would slide across the floor. At best she skidded less than her own length, so it wasn’t all that fun. She left the towel where it was and went looking for something else to do.

Hmmm. A pile of clothes on the coffee table. They were soft ones too. Shirts and sheets – none of those hard blue jeans. Peep made a nest in them and settled down, but realized she was not tired at all. She poked at the clothes. Perhaps she could help Daddy by folding them. She didn’t know how well she’d do, lacking thumbs, but it was worth a try. She dragged one t-shirt to the floor and flattened it out. When Mommy folded them she made them into a nice little rectangle with the sleeves on the inside. Peep wasn’t sure how she did that since they were at the sides, but maybe if she used her teeth and picked up the sleeves and walked to the middle of the shirt…

A few minutes later Peep realized that cats were never meant to fold clothes. She’d failed with the t-shirt, and decided that maybe she’d do better with a sheet, but that didn’t work well either. It just kept following her around the room, just like the t-shirt when she picked it up in her teeth.

A snack. She definitely needed a snack. Peep went into the kitchen and surveyed the available food. Squishy food, half a can. Crunchy food. Lots. Water, full. What did she want? Oh, there was a bug, landing on the squishy food. Had to take care of that. Peep swatted at the bug and missed. She tried again, but it just took off and landed elsewhere on the food. She decided she’d try to squash it, but all she got was a paw full of food. The bug flew off, and Peep realized she not only had food on her paw, which was now on the floor, but that in swatting the bug she’d managed to spread a good bit of squishy food around the plate. No matter, Daddy would clean it up. Peep ate a few mouthfuls and walked back into the living room, not realizing that she had put all four paws in the food on the floor and now tracked the food into the living room.

She groomed herself, enjoying the food on her paws and then wondered what else to do. It had stopped raining for the moment, so she figured she’d check out the lily pond. Rain made the frogs come out, usually. She might find a frog to play with before it rained again. As she stalked over to the pond, she heard the bullfrog’s deep croak. Goody! Peep hoped she could catch him. He was good for hours of play.

Peep’s first leap ended up with her in the pond. Bother. That almost never happened. The frog just moved over to the side and kept croaking. Dumb frog – he didn’t know that he was about to become a cat toy. Several tries later, Peep had caught her frog and happily headed for the cat door. She brought him in and set him down on the floor, pinning him for the moment. “Okay, frog. Just try to get away from me.”

The bullfrog did just that. He hopped all over the living room and kitchen, finally taking sanctuary between the refrigerator and the counter where Peep couldn’t reach. Peep was still trying to get at him when Daddy came home.

“Daddy, I’ve missed you so much. Can we sit down and you can rub my tummy? Please?” But when Peep saw his face, she realized he might not be too interested in giving her loves. He took in the cat food all over, and the towel on the floor covered with cat and frog footprints. He walked into the living room and saw a t-shirt and sheet carefully spread on the floor, also covered with dirty foot prints and wet cat fur. Even the clothes on the coffee table were wet and muddy, since Peep had jumped up there soon after coming inside, thinking it was a good place to observe the bullfrog’s movements.

Daddy sighed. “I know it’s been rainy for a few days, Peep, but can you please find something to do that doesn’t make more work for me? You kept me up so much last night that I’m exhausted. I’ll deal with all this later.” Daddy plodded towards the bedroom, Peep following remorsefully. She hadn’t meant to make a mess at all. It had just happened.

Daddy lay down on the bed, sighing with exhaustion and frustration. Peep checked her paws, and fur to make sure they were clean and dry and then jumped up to snuggle next to him. He absentmindedly reached out and stroked her head. They were both just drifting into sleep when the bullfrog croaked from the kitchen. Daddy jumped, but just got up and closed the door, deciding that he’d deal with it all later, after a bit of a nap.