What The Flap?

We allow Angel and Chuck to venture outside from time to time.  For the first seven or eight years of their lives, they were indoors-only.  Then I got the bright idea to buy a harness and leash, to give them a chance to visit the outdoors.  At that time, there were no 'O' Cats in the yard.

One day, while The Hubby was on the front porch enjoying a good cup of joe (hot-as-lava, bitter-as-sin coffee) and a gorgeous morning, he opened the screen door a crack for Chucky to venture out.  And some other day, Angel went out too.  No harness, and a free as birds.

We decided that we cannot put the genie back in the bottle, and now they can go in and out through the cat flap installed in the front door. We monitor them constantly, and I cannot tell you how fun it is to drive up into the driveway, while a cat sits on the front steps meowing a Welcome Home!

"Lemme IN!"

"I see you in there...what are you doing?"

Funny thing is: if they know one of us are nearby, they'll sit at the flap and wait for us to open the big door for them, instead of pushing through the small one themselves!  That's where I captured these photos.

Neither cat travels very far, and they spend most time investigating our gardens or the neighbor's front gardens on either side of us. Angel is obsessed with our driveway, and around the cars (where Patty and Sweetie tend to nap).  Chuck wanders to tall things: tall grass, plants like iris and daylilies. We do not use pesticides or any chemicals in the yard, (neither do our neighbors), and The Hubby is careful to not have any automobile that leaks anything.  The cats are not allowed out when it's dusk, dawn or dark, and they will NOT stay out if there is: a noisy truck anywhere within a block, people walking on the sidewalk, any kind of rain or wind (or blowing leaves), lawn mowing within a block. They can hit that cat flap in a running sprint...POW!...and race right inside.  Usually the first thing they do is visit the food bowls, just to make sure.