Cats etc in Wagin

While in Wagin, David got up close and personal with Puss, Nanna Jan's cat. Puss took it very well. At first he just kept moving away, when David invaded his personal space, and when it got too much, went next door to Charlie's house, or Av and Cyril Jenz's house. Not that David saw that as much of a problem - the day we arrived, he happily followed Puss into the Jenz front yard, up on the verandah and round towards the back, with Mum in pursuit. He tried to follow Puss into Charlie's house, but was somewhat hampered by the thick hedge along the fence, and the fence itself. Bare feet were best, because the gravel on the verge was a bit too hard on his feet to make the going easy. With shoes, there was very little to stop him.

After a week or so Puss got used to David and would hang around more, generally taking the patting in good part. Puss also got used to not being able to use his cat door. I understand that after we left, he went happily back to using the door, and to sleeping in David's bed.

It took David until day 2 to get the hang of the cat door. On lots of days, if the doors were open, he would do circuits - in the cat door, then out the back screen door, and round again. We kept it locked up at night, because I had visions of David taking off up the street after Puss in the middle of the night. It didn't happen, mostly because David was having too much fun running around the house until all hours of the night. He is big enough to climb out of the bed in Wagin, and boy was that fun! Some nights I was putting him back every couple of minutes. Growling didn't have any effect. When I told him it was naughty to keep getting out of bed, David took off for the naughty mat like it was an excuse to rampage out in the living area! I am still not sure how to deal with that reaction.

He also said that he was frightened of the dark, so we were leaving a light on for him. It didn't keep him in bed though.

Uncle Steve also has a cat, Ted. Ted had no doubts at all about David. As Steve said, he was convinced that David was a bogeyman, and behaved accordingly. I saw Ted a couple of times, but David only saw him disappearing into the distance.

David was very comfortable in Wagin, including the morning, after we had been staying for some week, when with Paul and I both in the house, and getting ready to go for a walk, we lost David between us. He had decided that it was all taking too long, and took off for uncle Steve's house. He was there, in the back yard, having closed the gate behind him. We had about three minutes of fear, becasue David wasn't anywhere, until I thought to check Steve's place. Then he was walked back, with a big talking to, and he said sorry. I almost thought that I was wrong on the way down, because Ted was sitting calmly in the front yard, but he did have a disgusted look on his face, so he had seen David shoot past.