A Spring Day

Happy First Day of Spring! It doesn’t seem that spring-like today, and Tobias says to tell you that he hates it.  Spring-like or not. He really is having a rough time.  First off, while he is a totally indoor kitty, he does like to sit on my enclosed back porch.  Happily for some, but not Tobias, the little wren family has returned to their gourd nest for another year.  Hence my poor kitten is not allowed to go onto the porch except at night when the birdies are asleep.  So he sits on my kitchen table and stares out at them, drooling a little at those tasty treats flitting by.  Last year, (I hate to confess this,) he actually managed somehow to eat one.  So no outsidies for Mr. Tobias.

 Not only is he teased by his little avian tormentors, but he had another spring related unpleasant episode.  I am, as you know, an arch procrastinator, but when I finally decided to take the Christmas pillow and throw off my couch to honor spring’s awakening, it wasn’t just due to my usual laziness.  I like the Christmas one so much better than the others, and the “Merry Christmas” pillow was, in her dotage, one of my mother’s favorite things.  Generally, her house was exquisitely decorated, and I was surprised when she got this somewhat kitschy bit of holiday decor. But she loved it. So as I sit reading or knitting in my chair, across from the couch, I see it and the also kitschy “cardinal in the snow” blanket, and am happy. Well, it’s almost Easter, so they had better go.  The couch, as you can see is fairly venerable. Theoretically, it opens up into a bed, but the last time I opened it, it was a major struggle to get it closed again, so and I’m nervous every time I have to open it even part way – as I do to change the blanket.  On my most recent cleaning day, I finally put away the Christmas one and brought out the “rest-of-the-year” one.

 An hour at least later, I heard a pathetic “Mew” from somewhere.  Occasionally when I open a cupboard or closet darling Tobias slips in unnoticed.  I called him and he didn’t answer.  I looked in the linen and coat closets.  I looked in the cupboards.  I called some more.  Finally, I went upstairs and to sew for a while.  Then I stomped down the stairs so that he would hear me from his secret lair and Meow again, which he did.  But where was he?  Nowhere that I could find. Finally, when he meowed more poignantly and loudly,  I realized that it was coming from within the couch.  What a silly!  I was so glad he wasn’t suffocated.  As he stalked out, he glared at me as though it was all my fault.  But he quickly forgave and settled down on my lap for a snooze.  He is there now, in fact.