Grounded

Miss diva has had her wings clipped.

She and Mija went out onto the deck about 3. They wandered around and sat down next to the house. Neither one seemed interested in leaving the deck. Mija actually came back in the house. Pilchard stayed outside and jumped up onto the deck railing again.

About 20 minutes after she was outside, I heard a noise. It seemed to be that of a cat getting off the deck. I went outside. No sign of Pilchard. Mindful of last week's "I'm right here", I searched the house. No luck. After a 7 minutes search and no sign of the cat, I started to get worried. Then I heard it.

Chickadees on the north side of the house seemed unusually animated. There must have been 3 or 4 birds, all chirping, "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee". I went to the location and there she was, on the north side of the house.

"What do you think you're doing, young lady? You get back in the house right now," I yelled. She knew she was in trouble. She took off with me in hot pursuit behind her. "Now! Get in the house!"

Once she was inside, I slammed the back door, scaring Mija. I pointed at Pilchard and said, "You are so grounded."

Now, let's remove the obvious that she completely understands what I was saying. She did avoid me for about and hour but wanted wear scratches after that. I relented after making her wait until I was finished typing an email. Fortunately, we are at the end of the time of year when life on the deck is the usual. Her not going outside isn't really going to put a crimp in her style. She stood by the back door a couple of times and meowed and, when that didn't work, came into the office and looked up at the screened window and meowed. I just said, "Nope. You're grounded. You blew it."

I guess the moral of the story is big black cats will lull you into a false sense of security and, both of them do run when I raise my voice.

Beverage: water

Deb