Deanna, love your sense of humor. Great post!

"...I do let my kids out of the basement..."

Heh, heh...

I risk swift, harsh & immediate censure for saying this on a garden forum, but I'm not a cat person, at all. But that being said, I enjoyed this post and think it's very cool to see the behavior this cat exhibits. They certainly are interesting creatures.

I finally let MY kids out of the basement, one, to let them go to college, and two, because now that they are of college age, I wanted to renovate it for a space for myself!

;)
Dee

Don't overlook the value of playing in a safe place. One of my cats, a neutered male, also likes bringing his toys inside. Last year, he brought in a small garter snake, three or four chipmunks, and some mice. The garter snake was the easiest to deal with. That was simply a matter of disentangling it from the heating pipes, picking it up and taking it outside. The mice went the way of all mouse corpses. The chipmunks are the hardest. They have *no* house sense, cannot find their own way out, and won't go outside voluntarily after dusk.

We now keep the screen doors closed, and conduct 'mouth check' before letting cats in.

deanna,
I love, love, love, your story and you have one cool mama cat. So I think her actions of hyper helicopter parenting has earned her the nic name chopper. Please keep us updated if you see unusual kitten behaviors develop.

dee, dee, dee,
I risk swift, harsh & immediate censure for saying this on a garden forum, but I'm not a cat person, at all.
I have presented your totally wrong opinion of cats to the censure board that FYI is headed by a woman who calls herself Kitty! Good Luck. If you find yourself on the street without a forum to post on you might try and earn some extra cash to bribe your way back into our good graces you might consider sculpting. While at Brimfield last spring I did notice someone selling a cat sculpture made with actual cat fur.

ps how cool is the new image upload option!!!YIPPPEEE

Boy, oh, boy. I like cats, but that lint trap 'sculpture' looks way worse than anything my cat has ever dragged in. If that 'art' doesn't validate Dee's point, nothing will, hahaha.

Great little story, Deanna. Thanks for posting it. I agree with mad_gallica, chipmunks are definitely the hardest to get out of the house, so watch the cat's mouth when you let her in. Chipmunks are tough to teach.

Jane

LOL, Katy! You made me laugh out loud. I do think, however, that Jane had a point about that, ahem, lovely sculpture(?) and that you helped me make mine, lol.

I (unfortunately) work in an office with two outdoor cats, and it's amazing what they drag in. Who knew cats hunted squirrels? Our office is in a wooded setting and I always watch where I step on the way in and out because you never know what kind of little organ or tail or body part lying in the pathway you may step on/in. Sometimes the cats have come in with still-living creatures, and yes, the chipmunks do seem to be the most difficult to deal with. Not that I do it - I let my co-workers (cat people all of them) handle those situations.

Dee
the dog person

The funniest part of that sculpture is that the living counterpart is lying next to the computer right now. It is shockingly similar to the chipmunk hunter.

Wow, diggerdee, I thought I liked you.

JUST KIDDING!! I laugh at your awareness at what anti-cat sentiment can do in the garden world. Pretty funny. It never occurred to me until you wrote it, but that cat-love thing does seem to know no boundaries in the garden world between race, gender, socio-economic status, etc. Keep you head high as the standard bearer for the minority! My two dogs are pleased to have your support. They are beginning to feel a bit ignored. I told them that if they would just jump maniacally at bugs and strings then they would get attention, too.

Right now my kittens like to sleep in the empty bamboo-lined planters. I like to think I'm growing kittens in my basement as my indoor gardening project. My 12 yo daughter has decided she wants to be a cat breeder because kittens can be so darn cute.

Then they grow up.

I will be on watch for the chipmunk lesson. I might have to INSIST that one be taught outside. Thanks for the heads up! I'd prefer they all be outside. We didn't know we'd missed a vole until the smell was noticeable. Ewwww.

LOL, Deanna, don't worry, I'm used to it. I've actually gotten dumbfounded looks with jaws hanging open as the person fumbles for words to try to comprehend the concept that I just don't like cats! It just seems to go hand-in-hand in most circles that if you garden, you must love cats.

Of course, cats, being the creatures that they are, can sense when someone does not like them, which only leads them to constantly, purposely, and insistently rub up against the legs of the person who does not like them. Which does nothing to change my feelings towards them...

;)
Dee