First signs of summer

May 6th, 16 degrees: Summer appears to be starting! Kids are out on their bikes, people are walking in short sleeves and, in some cases, shorts, the smell of barbeque's in the air and my cat wants to go outside.

I love my cats, I really do. But they're odd. We're pretty sure that Bob things he's human and Belle understands English. Belle is an odd one. Any noise scares her and she doesn't like to be picked up. She also has a love/hate relationship with the world outside the house. She knows that people leave the house and she has actually gotten upset over it. We know this because we've heard her crying after us from the window and we've heard her crying if she discovers someone else has left. She also gets upset when Bob leaves the house. Bob goes outside for a few minutes every morning to make sure that everything near the house is ok. Belle will watch him from the window and lets us know when he's ready to come inside. She will also alert us if he's gone from sight. She hates that, since she can't see him anymore.

To most people, it seems like Belle is jealous that everyone, including her best friend Bob, is outside and she's inside. This is not the case. She is a fixed female and wears a flea collar so she can go outside when she wants. The thing is that she doesn't WANT to go out! We can leave the door open and she'll stand by the door. However, when the weather gets warm and the sun is high in the sky, Belle does want to go outside. Today was one of those days.

Of course, she's never out for long. 5 minutes tops. I think today was about 45 seconds. She pretty much just goes out long enough to chew on a bit of grass and inside again. And you have to go outside with her. I'm not quite sure why.

She's such an odd little kitty. But she's my kitty.