Every once in a while I let the indoor kitties go out in the back yard as I did on this crisp fall morning. They amused me by their responses to the leaves dropping all around them. The temperature is just below freezing but there is nary a cloud in the sky. The trees are getting so serious about shedding their leaves that no sooner do I rake a pile together than the patch I had just raked is blanketed again. So now, the kitties are squatting down, heads darting to and fro watching as leaves fall all around them. Farcus, the more daring of the two, makes a mad dash towards the apple trees and just as he gets there two apples fall from the unharvested tops of the trees. The apples hitting the ground must sound like dud-bombs to him because he cowers down for a second, turns, and makes a mad dash to the safety of the patio. Kia, the shyer one is hot on his heels having given up on her taunting chatters at the squirrel beside the poplar tree.
These are kitties accustomed to the tranquility of the indoors where things don't just fall unless it's been pushed off a table by one of them. Bottle caps, pens, pencils, coins, watches, anything that should happen to be in a different spot or in some other way look intriguing to a cat is an easy target. They eyeball it for a moment and seemingly think, "Give it a swat, see what happens." But leaves dropping by the hundreds all around them? Nope, not for them; not today anyway. So, given the futility of trying to rake whilst leaves are falling fast and furiously, I scoop up the kitties and return inside. Thankful for the warmth and the hot pot of coffee waiting.
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