Stupid groundhog.

Today's weather was so beautifully Spring-like that it's hard to believe that we may get another overnight hard freeze next week. (Is there any other type of freeze?) Up until my cousins tell me that they're celebrating in Chicago because the weather is finally in the double digits, and other cousins tell me that a major snowstorm just missed them out in Suffolk County, it's easy to forget that our day today wasn't enjoyed by the rest of the country.

With all the rain that we had last week, the fields and pastures are a deep green and the horses and cows (belonging to our neighbors) were just grazing and munching and enjoying the sun as much as we wer today. My husband and I have been taking a walk every day (except in the freezing cold and rain) and when we get to one particular piece of property, there are three cows in a pasture there that just wait for my husband by their fence so they can get a handful of long thin grass. There are two brown cows and one black cow-- the larger black one pushes in front of the other two, trying to get all the grass it can. My husband picks handfuls of the longer grass on the other side of the fence, where the cows can't reach. I have walked the same path without my husband at times, and the cows just ignore me as I'm walking. They know who's picking the grass for them, that's for sure.

Our own "livestock"-- the cats. One minute they are playing together, the next minute they're hissing at one another. I don't know who starts it all, but I've caught Mickey Kitty being the culprit on more than one occasion. Truly, he isn't happy at all with the two "found cats" who have joined us. I didn't realize Mickey Kitty was so sensitive-- he was always the happy little baby-cat of the house. Now he's the baby-cat with a mission.... to either make me crazy or torment the new cats, whichever comes first.

When the weather is nice, Gatsby goes outside and loves it, so that's one less cat in the house to bother Mickey. But Sweet Pea just cannot go outside because of his heart murmur, so Mickey Kitty is just going to have to get used to him.

After letting all the cats have run of the house, I've changed that rule here as of today. Mickey Kitty and ShadowBaby and Gatsby all stay downstairs now.... and I'm sure that Mickey isn't happy about that either. Sweet Pea stays downstairs practically all day long, but we'll let him come up here at night so the others can have a rest. Sweet Pea wants to run and play with everyone, now that he has quit having his own little hissy-fits.... but not everyone wants to run and play all the time.

I keep telling my husband No more cats. No more cats. No more cats. NO MORE CATS! And I keep telling myself the same thing.

I had to take Sweet Pea to the vet the other day, for the rest of his shots. When I told the girl behind the counter that we had found two cats since living out here, her answer was "Just two?"
She told me that customers have brought in cardboard boxes filled with half a dozen tiny kittens that had been abandoned. She told me to consider myself lucky that we haven't had to deal with that.

For the life of me, I don't understand why everyone doesn't spay or neuter all of their pets. It's healthier for the animal, it's easier on the owner, and it's just a sensible thing to do.