When we moved into the New House, Hubby and I decided to put in a new fence and deck. The existing fence was being propped up with metal stakes and the deck had about a year of safe use left. Plus, they were both eyesores. We were also making up for the two years we’d just spent sharing a tiny apartment deck with our oversized grill and a fabulous view of the parking lot. We wanted a nice place to sit outside.
I feel a great need to justify the new fence, mostly because of the expense. Looking to get a new fence? Watch out! Jesus H. Christ they’re expensive!
In any event, we had this little fantasy about the New Fence. We would get a new privacy fence and our cat, Bethesda, would enjoy the wild, wild, west of the backyard in blissful ignorance of the rest of the outside world, never showing the slightest interest in climbing or jumping the fence, simply enjoying the ease of her dominion. And I’ll be damned if we didn’t get it. She even comes back in 90% of the time when we open the door and call her. It’s perfect.
Except. Except that she has shown no interest whatsoever in protecting her domain. I have always thought of her, rather proudly, as my Alpha Cat. Numero Uno. The Cool One. The Top Dog. And yet, she has been bested by a surly squirrel who has the nerve to come down into our yard for snacks while she’s out there! And she does nothing about it! He screeches and cries and makes all the fuss you can imagine and she just stares at him and he gets bolder and bolder until he’s finally IN THE YARD.
“Biscuits!” I yelled at him last night. “I’m going to cook you into a stew and eat you with Biscuits you surly squirrel!”
And Bethesda just sat there – in our beautiful backyard with the picture-perfect fence and deck, the rose bushes and the restrained hastas, the birdbath and the burning bush. There’s just something about our backyard. We gravitate there. “Wanna go sit on the deck?” Hubby will ask. “Sure,” I’ll say, and we’ll just sit and chat, feeling good in our lovely little corner of the world.
I think this is what home ownership is about.
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