My desk sits next to my front door, allowing me to bask in the sights and smells of warm spring and summer days while I write.
When I don’t have the door open however, my cat Kelly insists to be let out this way instead of his cat door less then 20 feet away! Of course he gets ‘heckled’ for it, “Dude, you’re such a little weirdo,” we’ve even tried picking him up and putting him through his own door, but when he wants to be let out the front door, he WANTS OUT THE FRONT DOOR. (We’ve finally for the most part stopped the in and out game, both my cats know it’s in or out, and you’ll get stuck on whichever side your on if you can’t make up you’re mind!) You can’t help but be amused at how comical he is, but it set me to wondering why, so I started observing him more closely when opening the door.
After running out the door, he pauses for a moment and looks back. This he always did, but I figured it was a bi-product of training him to decide in or out. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if the in and out game is just a ‘Hey, come out and play.’ So the next time I let him out, I followed him. He excitedly danced around and tried to duck out the front gate then paused, looked at me in the eye, mewed with excitement then pranced out the gate to show me ‘his spots’. I used to take him outside all the time when he was a kitten in my larger yard in Vernon, but since living in a condo had gotten out of practice of going out with him, and when he mewed. I had figured it out, he was soo happy to have me outside ‘hanging’ with him.
Mid may I woke up in the middle of the night feeling super ill, I had forgotten there was a water advisory on, so with toilet my best friend, I thought it prudent to call into work. But Capricorn slept by my head, Kelly by my feet, guarding me, waiting patiently for me to get up. When I finally did get up, Kelly longingly looked at me when I let him out the first time – sorry bud I need a shower I smell like death. After my shower, he was waiting outside the bathroom door, and as I go to make coffee, he’s excitedly stretching his body out on the front door. I looked at my coffee, thought about the sun, and decided coffee could wait. The smell of warm earth and heated spruce hit my senses, providing an instant calm. And there was Kelly, looking up with his big eyes, blinking cause it’s almost too bright for him, waiting to see if I was going to step outside…and as I did, he hit the ground with a prance, and danced his way out the gate, keeping an eye to make sure I was still coming, then when confident, he once again started showing me around his favorite grass stalks, his plants he likes to hide in, his dandelion it looks like he’s keeping a regular spray regiment on in the alley, (but don’t watch him while he’s doing the unmentionable, he’s no dog!). We played our pine cone toss game, I let the sun soak up the vitamin D blazing down around us. After 10 minutes or so I headed in, the fresh air and warm sunshine invigorating my being. Yesterday was no exception, after having to sleep off a migraine, he was once again there for me.
Cats are highly intelligent beings, who like any animal reflect characteristics and personality traits of that of their owner. 
Kelly is curious, has a hard time sitting still, and though fairly independent, likes knowing there’s someone around, and if you’re home will check up on you constantly. Most of all, he just wants someone to play with him…All I can say is thank you buddy for having patience with me, and pulling me away from my cares just long enough to relax 😉
Things & Stuff 