The burgeoning spring offers renewed temptations for Wyeth and Winslow. The Torbie cat sisters, now almost 2 ½ years old, have been getting lots of back deck time in recent weeks. And the extra-deck explorations have begun anew. At least for one of them.
“Ahhhhhh!” you can hear them meow, if not “say,” as they bask in the sun amidst the falling brilliant white petals of the blooming crabapple tree.
It was over a year ago when the newly rescued felines had just mastered the perfect fireside sleeping regimen. Then, on milder days, somebody started leaving open the sliding door to that deck.
“What’s this thing called ‘spring’?,” you could almost hear them ask after weeks of winter-watching from a toasty house. Their first steps onto the deck might as well have been Neil Armstrong’s first tentative steps on the moon.
“Will we sink?,” I’m sure I heard Winslow ask Wyeth. “No, but avoid the cracks!,” I think Wyeth shot back.
In short order, they became indoor-outdoor cats, inquisitively observing birds and squirrels foraging the remaining and shriveled crabapples, sometimes scurrying to avoid falling fruit “bombs.”
Hummingbirds became a particular fascination for them, especially when those ornithological wonders helicoptered down for a look-see at the new cats on the block.
Both Wyeth and Winslow took turns raising their paws to the colorful birds — not to strike out but as if to say “Hello.”
It didn’t take long for Wyeth to begin scale the tree, not to attack the foragers but to get a better look. Soon she began to sleep in a favorite fork of the crabapple. “You eat, I sleep,” she telegraphed to her scavenging friends.
Not long after, however, Wyeth used the tree trunk and sections of split-rail fence stacked against it to make her way into the backyard for more grounded excursions.
Sister Winslow, ever the tattler, raced into the house to tell on Wyeth. Even even a year later, she’ll do much the same. That said, Winslow thus far has no interest in ascending or descending the tree. She apparently knows she’ll receive a higher percentage of belly rubs from her human that way.
But the great thing about Wyeth is that she’ll return when called. Most cats would respond “You talkin’ to me?”
It won’t be long before the deck is power washed and restained. The winter cover will come off the retractable awning. The deck rug will be retrieved from the basement and unrolled. The thick-cushioned chairs and love seat will be cleaned and set in place for the summer.
Plants that overwintered inside will migrate to the deck’s periphery; a few vegetables planted in pots will be positioned, too. The cats once again will play hide ‘n’ seek among them.
But yet again Wyeth and Winslow will partake of the deck’s mysterious power to make one slumber. Not that they didn’t have a dedicated human teacher.
It was the same somebody who, a year ago, started leaving the deck door open, had a habit of putting on an old Mills Brothers album — snap, crackle and pop and all — and climbing aboard the chaise lounge to, you know, “rest his eyes.”
After all, somebody has to be a good role model, right?
