Monday, May 25, 2009

Scanning for Cats

I have often likened my husband to Dr. Doolittle. He talks to animals and they talk back. He likes animals with the exception of squirrels . He doesn't like squirrels. He has been known to take out a BB gun to the squirrel hanging from the bird feeder. That makes me cringe, but I don't like that behaviour either. He never hits them. The BB gun he uses he got for Christmas when he was a kid. It doesn't shoot straight. Last week while shopping at Fleet Farm, he found a BB gun with a scope. Funny. He didn't buy it. When he told son in-law Mike about it, Mike said he had heard of night vision on a BB gun. The great white hunters. Mike hates the rascal rabbits that eat their scrubs and ornamental grasses.

I laughed at the concept of an improved BB gun until my neighbors cats started using my mulched flower garden as a litter box. Ish! I scattered cigarette ashes where they were going. That made them move the area they used. Today when I spotted one of the cats doing his thing, Jon asked how I felt about a scoped BB gun now. I think a sling shot would be more my style. Hit the cat with a water balloon. Cats hate being wet. I don't want to put its' eye out.

Before I consider mayhem, I thought I would check the city code about cats. I Googled "Stillwater, Mn + Cats" and got information where I could get a CAT scan. On the second try, I found out it is against city code to have an animal "At Large". I don't believe we have a leash law like St. Paul. We have friends that put their cat in the backyard on a leash. Doesn't seem safe for the cat if someone lets their big dog prowl. I suppose you would hear a vocal alert from the cat if that happened and I am not sure the dog would automatically win.
In the meantime, I am left with cat poop in my garden. I don't want to have a disagreement with my neighbor. Maybe I will do what my Uncle Earl did. Scoop up the stuff with a shovel and leave it on their front door step.

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