Day One Hundred Thirty

Life With an Aby

As I've written before, Dash, who is an Abyssinian kitten, is an outlier in this household. He is outnumbered by three Ragdolls and a feral-turned-housecat Tuxedo. While his hair is very short, the rest of them have long, bunny fur. He is fast, they are a tad slow. Dash can jump very high - the rest, not so much. He can squeeze into small spaces and slither back out again. The rest can maybe go in but have to be rescued. Oh, and one last thing, Dash has to examine every square inch of whatever space he is in - outside as well as in the house. The other cats figure, hey, if you've seen one toilet, hamster, shelf, piece of paper, feather, window, dog, chair, ball, countertop, etc., you've seen them all. Not our Dash. Everything is new to him, even if he's seen it a hundred times.

Yesterday morning, after chores, I wanted to settle down with a cup of coffee and watch CBS Sunday Morning. I love that show. Anyway, it doesn't matter, because I only caught the opening anthem. As I went to sit down, I noticed a rather large clump of Spanish Moss on the floor in front of the fireplace. When I went to pick it up, I noticed a few more pieces. Then a few more, until I had pretty much walked the entire living area.

The potted palm in which the moss had been was empty, and the palm was on its side. I got the vacuum out and could not believe anything but an industrial fan could spread something in such a wide area. There was moss everywhere. It took about thirty minutes to get it all up - and I am still finding pieces.

The whole time I was vacuuming, Dash was watching me with his arms crossed; looking like he had done something really cool. Unlike all of the other creatures in this house, including my "fearless" Bullmastiffs, who run from the vacuum cleaner, Dash would not budge. I had to vacuum around him. What a ballsy dude.

Are you talkin' ta me?

He took a long nap after the moss-capade. I knew when the nap was over because he went straight into Aby-mode. His latest maneuver is to chase somebody then get them to chase him. He will fly over top of Jack - kind of like Evel Knievel over the Grand Canyon. The problem is, he can easily scale Jack - but the brother chasing him usually can't. They skid to a halt, terrified, when the lion raises his head and dares them to come closer. You can almost hear Dash giggle as he hides behind something watching it play out.

That new kid wears me out!

All last evening, he was in rare form. The focus of his attention was the various stuff stuck to the fridge - pictures, phone numbers, magnets, etc. We would hear a sound, and say, "What the hell was that?" Well, of course we knew it was Dash wreaking havoc on something. Every time I would get up to inspect, he would be on top of the fridge, looking all cute and innocent. As soon as I turned my back, he would tear something else off the fridge and hurl it to the ground. I know, he knows that I know....whatever.

As much as I would like to let him be free at night, I just can't risk him hurting himself or doing damage like knocking the TV off the wall. I can imagine all sorts of possibilities because, opposable thumb or not, he has the dexterity of a banjo player. I have seen him reach way down into a vase and extract decorator beads from the bottom, through a tiny space. I have met my match. Now, the question is, should I get another Aby now, or wait a few months...