Remember when you were a kid in school and there was always one kid who had parents that seemed a lot older than most of the other parents? Or, when you were in your 40s and you heard about someone your age having a baby... and thinking, "They are going to be in their 60s by the time that kid is out of high school"?
Joan and I were young when we had Steph. I was 7, Joan was 6. There were times it felt like that. We were never "the old parents" at any school gatherings. And when Steph went off to college, we often heard, "I can't believe you two have a kid in college!"
And now, we are parents of a kid who is contemplating retirement in the next few years.
All that aside, we are now... the old parents. Cat parents of a feline who has a lot of energy... maybe a bit of ADD.
This morning, I took Murphy out before 7:00. A glorious morning, with our outside thermometer reading 67º. Today is forecast to be the first day in a long time where the high temperature won't reach triple digits; and the first time after 21 days in a row where we aren't expected to break a record high temperature. But, I digress... Murphy enjoys his outdoor time. For some reason, he has decided that Steph and Dan's yard is more interesting than ours. Our yards combine in an "L-shape" and we both have decent size yards.
Shortly after going out, Murphy trotted over to Steph and Dan's yard. I dutifully followed him and steered him back to our yard; where he decided it was time to poop. Yes, he will poop outside. In fact, he prefers to poop outside. TMI? We have a container of poop bags for immediate clean-up. We share a poop container with Steph and Dan at the far side of the house. I walked the poop bag around, fully expecting Murphy to walk along with me. But, no - he waited until I got back to our yard, then took off running for the "neighbor's" yard. I followed him over there, corralled him, and steered him back to our yard.
This went on two more times (for a total of 4, for those keeping score). Murph finds this quite amusing, as he is much faster than his older cat Dad. Did I mention the yards are a decent size? It's a bit of a walk every time I have to go after him and bring him back to his own yard. Murph obviously has more stamina than his old Dad, because he could keep this up all day.
After the 4 time, I scooped him up and brought him inside. Shortly thereafter, Joan went outside with him... and, of course, he took off running for the other yard. After a couple times of that, Joan opened our patio door and said, "Jim, call your cat." I can tell Murphy is in trouble when she calls him my cat.
One of us thinks it might be worthwhile to use a tazer on him. I won't mention which of us, but I am a pretty good shot. I don't want to hurt him, just slow him down a bit. And I figure after getting tazed a couple dozen times, he might learn to stay in his own yard. And it is a lot less effort to chase a tazed cat than one who is capable of running faster and jumping higher (is he wearing Keds???) than his aged human parents.
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