Sweetie's Last Day Inside

 As we near the end of 2013 Sweetie is having her last day inside my house.  I invited her in to have one more day of exploring.  You can see from the picture to the right that she headed up to the balcony.  I was following her with the camera and she did something I had not seen her do before.  She took a walk on the railing. When she jumped down, I rolled one of her favorite toys to her and she began to play with it.  There is something about a plastic Easter egg that interests her. It may be the lopsided way it rolls when she bats it with her paws.  After a bit of this play she went back  downstairs and roamed around in all of the tiny spaces she could find.  To get her back out in the sun room I had to trick her with a little Kitten Chow.

 It wasn't long before  J.W. came over with his truck and her new little house, that he had been building.  He helped me to coax her out the side door and into the waiting world.    From the picture to the right you can see that she is taking a backward look to be sure it is okay for her to venture out. 

After she was out to the edge of the bricks she tentatively put down one paw onto the Mondo grass, then the  rest of her  body.  Then she shot straight for the big green holly bush at the corner of the house.  She was very familiar with that bush as she had been seeing it from the inside for a month.

I gradually coaxed her to come out and go for a walk with me all around the house.  She kept very close to the side of the house all the way around to the front.  At this point I left her to explore and I went inside.   I think she spent the next few hours staying close to the house or in the bushes as I could not see her from the windows.

Before dark I wanted to get her back into the sun room, since her new outside house was not yet ready for occupancy.  I walked around calling her and finally she showed up.  I called and coaxed her, then let her come inside by the back door.  That had not been my first choice but that is how it happened.

I soon had her in the sun room so she would be inside for the night.   Then this morning I opened the outside door  again so she could go out as before.  But she did  not want to go out.  She may have gone out if the yard man had not appeared with a noisy hedge trimmer.  She really does not like loud noises.  As soon as he finishes his work and leaves, she may give the outside another try.  But for now I am happy to know that she is learning where it is safe for her to be.  I have high expectations for her once she settles in and knows to stay close to my house and learns where to find those pesky squirrels and voles and unwanted critters.