Sunday morning my senses were assaulted by an exciting smell that caused me to sniff almost every square inch of house that we own and shoot the occasional glare at the cats.
After much debate, we decided that one of the local tomcats had decided to mark our property as his. (If I’d known owning property was that easy, I could have been a home owner much sooner.) He was a clever fellow who marked it in such a way that the eau de chat wafted its way through our ventilation system. (Side note: I’m ok with the direct translation from French – don’t give me guff.) Or as one friend called him “a lazy cat” for cheating by spraying one spot that hit every single room in our house; he’d hardly put any real effort into his work – just one pssssst and the whole house became his – no worries about that whole opposable thumb thing – overrated!

We marched around throwing open windows. I was working my way into the kitchen when I discovered sitting on our porch a handsome, smug, cross-eyed fellow peering up at me.

I went outside to have a chat since he seemed pretty pleased. He purred and preened and did the kitty bump up against my hand. I’m sure he was letting me know it was ok by him if we continued to live in his new house as long as the love flowed freely and we scratched his chin just so. He got excited when he saw he had a potential harem glaring at him from the kitchen windows so he hopped up on the bench and sang his introduction to the girls. Hodi wandered off (probably wondering where she was again), but Sage gave him a good hissing to. He visibly pouted, hanging his head down low and came back to me with that look that said in an exasperated way, “kitties!” *sigh*.

So, if you come to visit. Please say hello to the new owner – Indie Orto (hey, it’s what the tag said – I didn’t name him!), but you can call him “kitty kitty” and he’ll be glad to make you feel welcome.