Freedom has mosquitoes.

The weather has been cool and damp. The mosquitoes have been cruel and vamp. It’s San Antonio, it’s Summertime, and it has rained 41 of the last 42 days. I have yet to break down and turn on the A/C. I saw in the news the ave temp has been 89 almost 3 degrees below normal. Much cooler than I remember. I hope the rain keeps cooling. I don’t want to be Phoenix.

The cat urinated on the wife’s side of the bed. The husband got a bottle of $12 stuff that did indeed eliminate the odor. The house cat that was born outside in the Olmos basin also was no longer a guest of the house. The wife was still not satisfied with the situation. To sleep in a cat-pissed bed even if the spouse offered to switch sides, was not going to happen. This was the last straw for the wife. Years of anguish strewn on the cart. The wife also moved out.

Months later rats invaded the house. First attacking food left on countertops at night. Later growing so bold as to run across the room in broad daylight. Rats as big as coffee mugs gnaw out new doors in the walls and cupboards. Rats climb atop the fridge and select food from pantry shelves. Living with rats would have been fine if they’d only kept quiet at night when I was trying to sleep and remained hidden away when I was awake. Ignorance is bliss as they say. But no.

Welcome back cat. On her first night back, Tula, the Olmos Basin wild cat, slaughtered the troublesome rat. It would be nice to think the rat died quickly and humanely on the first maul. Cats are not humane. Cats are feline. The evidence did not support a quick end. There was blood EVERYWHERE. A trail of blood through the rooms, on a bed, on the floor, drips and splatters of crimson droplets. A soaked sheet had to be thrown away. Nary a drop on Tula, she’d probably licked herself clean. The rat had not been eaten and was wholly intact yet drained and she is hungry.

Come Spring Tula decided she was going back to the great outdoors. The first couple of times she ran outside,I found her and brought her back in. One of the advantages of an indoor-only cat is no fleas. An indoor-outdoor cat, brings fleas inside. Fleas are a good reason to bathe a cat. But on the forth or so time, Tula became an outdoor-only cat and she bathes herself when she feels like it.

I think she prefers the wild unlimited outdoors of the city to the cramped boring indoors of the house. She likes to nap on top of cars at night and under them or on the porch during the day. She has a cat-boyfriend we named Me-new. She still likes to be fed and comes to cry for food in the morning and at night. If the rats come back I may need her to come back inside for a night.

It’s been 8 months since the wife executed the divorce. The cat knew something was up.

They chose freedom. Freedom has mosquitoes.

April 21, 2007. Inspiration, Perspection. Leave a comment.