Glad to see me

Just got back from a quick trip to Cancun - I was gone about 3 hours. When I left, three animals were outside - Blacky and Cappuchina (they are always outside), and Luna (she is in and out). Blacky and Cappuchina were on the terrace, as usual, and I suspect Luna was on the second-level terrace, to get away from the world, as she tends to do. Inside were Loco and the three musketeers - Minina, Maya, and Smokey.

As I entered the front gate, Luna started wailing. She was sitting on the terrace with Cappuchina and Blacky, but she hates them both and is noisy about it. Why she sat there is a mystery, other than it had rained hard and maybe that was where she went to get dry, hated siblings or no hated siblings.

Cappuchina was parked at the side of the front door hoping for an opening to get inside when I opened up. Blacky just sat in the way in front of the door, thumping her tail on the terrace. I stepped around Blacky and unlocked the front door, knowing Loco would burst through, with one or more cats lurking behind him.

I thrust one foot in the direction of Cappuchina to keep her where she was, and then flung it over towards Maya, who was waiting to see who was at the front door. With Luna still wailing, I opened the screen door as far as I dared so she would have as much space as possible to bolt her way into the house without being attacked by Blacky or Cappuchina (all in her imagination, or mostly, I think) or letting the other cats out. From Luna's point of view, gaining entry to the house is like a maze - avoiding the two on the outside and also avoiding the cats on the inside waiting right by the door. I continued to swing one foot back and forth to keep the inside cats from getting out while Luna decided if it was safe enough to enter.

Luna growled at everyone as she ran through the door. I then entered the house, closed the screen door and stripped off my shoes, socks, and jeans - forgot to mention that the roads in town were flooded and so I stepped into a high puddle with my new shoes and my feet were soaked. Thinking that the flood water was probably not very clean, I grabbed a bottle of liquid soap, put on some shorts, and headed back outside to wash down my legs and feet.

I wanted to walk to the little store around the corner to pick up some tuna for the cats while it wasn't raining (the skies overhead are still dark), so I left Loco, Blacky, and Cappuchina on the front terrace, locked the front door, and closed the front gate. I instructed Loco to wait for me, I would be right back.

As I exited the store I spotted a familiar dog - Blacky. Yup, she was out running loose, which meant Loco was out running loose too. My neighbor happened to be standing on the corner (must have been waiting for tortillas) and she told me that Loco was out. I yelled at Blacky to get home (and amazingly she obeyed - usually she runs harder in the opposite direction), and as I rounded the corner I spotted Loco up by the tree across the street. Standing there watching me.

With Blacky obediently back in the front yard, I ordered Loco to return as well, but he wanted to run and jump and play, and so he did his road maneuvers while I tried to keep him from jumping up at me with his wet paws. Finally we both entered the yard and I closed the front gate, unlocked the front door, and everyone who should be in was in and everyone who should be out was out.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Smokey decided to run her claws on the corner of the sofa. Maya grabbed the bottom of the sofa and pulled herself along the floor. Minina was looking for a chance to beat up Cappuchina through the screen.They all vied for attention.

Coming home is such a joy, everyone is so happy to see me!

But...right now Cappuchina is whining and picking at the front screen door trying to open it, so I guess I'd better go and feed the cats their tuna. Gotta keep the kids happy.