2-18-15 New Moon night, a black night sky and a chill 42 degrees overnight. Benny the Cat cried pitiously to be let out the back door last night about 9:00pm. He doesn’t like using the cat door, so he’ll stand and cry at the front or back doors until I open it. I didn’t like him being out in the cold all night, not knowing where he goes. I called outside for him several times but he didn’t come in until 3:45am. He was in eating for 5 minutes when I picked him up and his body temp was normal, so he’d been somewhere warm. He’s lucky he’s hungry!

2-19-15  Second coldest night, 40 degrees, and Benny was out again overnight and came in at 5:30am. Although it was 40 degrees outside, within five minutes his body temp was back to normal. Busted! I’ll bet he’s sleeping inside someone’s home! I’m thinking of making up a poster to hand to the neighbors so I can keep track of him.  

It was 41 degrees outside at 8:30am central Florida time, sunny but the wind cuts right thru. It will go down to 31 tonight. I drank full on caffeine coffee before going to work in the yard. I love the cold weather for that and have been doing it all week! I started by picking up oak deadfall and raking underbrush in the east garden. Then afterward a pass thru with the pruners to cut random or spent palmetto fronds. I’m opening the east garden up into a more clear space with a labyrinth type walking path. I took a break to run to the Waterman to refill my three 5 gallon bottles and buy three 40 lb bags of salt, then next door to the post office for stamps, then to the market for cat food, then home to unload. By the time I got back out in the yard, the sun was up and it was a warmer 49 degrees.

When I returned from the store, I saw the trash had come and the yard cuttings at the curb had been picked up. I was surprised they picked up everything: huge uncut fallen branches, a half dozen sheets of rotting plywood This week as I cleared the property, I’d made several stacks of dead branches and cut palmetto fronds. I figured two of stacks might be the right size to be picked up by the trash guys. Whatever they left, I’d know to cut into smaller pieces for next week’s pick up. So I was stoked when they took it all.

I spent another two hours raking underbrush. I’d cleared enough to uncover all the ferns so I began pulling up miles of ferns. Some were so deep I couldn’t grasp them securely enough to pull out. I cleared out areas of the property I haven’t set foot on in a couple of years, so it was cool to see it again. The last couple of years I’ve spent more time cutting the trail through the west woods and so the east garden got very overgrown. I love that.

Sure enough, as the sun begin sinking behind the west tree line, Benny the Cat whimpered to go out the back door. I didn’t want a repeat of him staying out all night in 35 degree weather, so I went outside with him. I hung out in the courtyard while he and YinYang played Hide N Jump Out At Each Other for an hour. Then we hung out on the driveway for awhile and they did their Roll N Stretch routines. Sure enough, Benny wanted out again at 11:00pm in 34 degree weather. I knew he’d be warm but wished I knew where he went. Sure enough, he wanted in the back door at 3:45am. His fur and body wasn’t even remotely cold.

I joke about putting a GPS on him to see where he goes and a friend asks why don’t I lock him in on cold nights? I don’t want to restrict his freedom or dullify his cattiness. I want him to decide when he wants to be inside and when outside. I know how much fun and excitement lies outside, especially if I’ve been inside for awhile like this month’s cold. I get inspired by being outside, and I get inspired by the cold, so I’m sure the cats do as well.