Danger

Today I met Danger. He's a cheerful young black cat who wears a skull and crossbones themed collar.


I've seen him loitering around the neighborhood compost bins, rolling in the dirt and taking in the pungent ass odor of the mix in the bins.

I suspect that in addition to his rolling smelling loitering routine, he also makes it a practice to solicit pets from passerbys. He responded quite well to the attention that I gave him.


He's Alder street's handsomest compost connoisseur, that's for certain.

Green Eyes

There are a few stray cats who like to relax in my back yard, amongst them is this beautiful, green-eyed specimen.


He seems like he may be a bit young, but he carries himself like a wise animal sage of the earth, too smart to submit to domestication by humans.


He has begun to take a shine to me, however.


Steady servings of cat food and the occasional pinch of catnip has begun to soften his tough feral cat exterior. He knows he can't go on this way forever. Eventually he will relax a bit and become my cat friend in residence.

Catnip Connoisseur

Last month I purchased a fresh, living catnip plant. It resided on my porch area for a short bit of time. During that time, we had many cats came by who wanted to pay the young leafy plant a visit.

This lil' tuxedoed youngster came all the way from the next block over to sample our fine fresh leaves of living catnip.

Housecats, especially the youngins, tend to have a sense of entitlement. Or so I have observed thus far.

Young or old, all cats gladly succumb to the effects of the plant at some point during their catnip encounter. It's as if they become possessed by the great spirit of cuddle that only cats are privy to.

The sacred cat leaf can make felines considerably more open to human interaction.

Shortly after these pictures were taken, I planted the catnip in a permanent spot in our planter box. It only lasted a few days . . . I found it completely stripped and uprooted one morning. The little beasts tore the things to shreds in no time . . .