Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

I still have mice. But I'm about to have one fewer.

Kitty got game. (Pun intended.)

When she cartoon-squished herself under the stove last night I figured that probably meant I still had mice. This afternoon while I was eating breakfast (stirring chopped fresh spinach into the egg/cheese mixture before dumping it in the skillet was a win; trying to fold the result over other stuff omellette-style was not), she got really worked up over the pile of grocery bags in front of the radiator. When she started burying the front half of her body in the pile, I decided I was right about my interpretation of her interest in mouse-scent and her body language the first day she came into the house: she hunts. I just still didn't know whether she was any good at it. I also figured maybe it was time for some teamwork, since the mouse had way too much room to hide beyond paw-reach. I started moving bags-of-bags aside, the mouse ran under something else, I started pulling other stuff out of the way, and as soon as there was a cat-sized opening, she was in. A moment later she emerged with mouse in mouth and trotted down to the basement to play with it.

Okay, one question answered: she doesn't suck as a mouser. :-)

So I grabbed a camera and flash and followed. In the open areas of the basement I got to watch her in action. But she wasn't big on posing. I may have caught her with her prey clearly visible at least once... She is fast (not super-feline speed, but hey, cats are fast and she's not a slow cat). And she looked like she was having Intense Fun. Unfortunately she got cocky at one point and the mouse vanished behind something. She's down there now, pacing around the different exits from the spot where the mouse went, and sticking her head into openings. Once the mouse comes out of hiding, it's toast.

I didn't get much time to tell her what a good cat she is, or to reward her, 'cause she was in a hurry to take her catch downstairs to play with. I'll have to do that later and hope she knows what I'm fussing about.

Yaaay cat! As long as she doesn't try to kiss me with mouse breath. (I'm not worried -- she's likes hands more than faces.)

Update, about ten minutes later: Drat, she came back upstairs with that "Can you please find my toy?" look on her face and meowed at me, then started retracing the steps of the chase in the kitchen. So that mouse gets another day or two or three to poop on my counters (unless it stays in the basement). But it's just a matter of time.

Man, that is one cobwebby cat. (I had to grab her and remove a dust bunny from her whiskers 'cause I couldn't stand watching her walk around with it hanging off the side of her face.) Her fur isn't going to be so nice to touch for the next twenty minutes or so.

I need to look up how to specify an em-dash or minus sign in HTML instead of an en-dash. Looking at this entry on the Mac, the subject doesn't look right with those teeny tiny hyphens.