The curiosity of catness got Sandi her first (and only) bath here at this home. Still a bit uncertain on her cat-feet being only about four months old she learned in one lesson how slippery the edge of a bathtub can be. She also learned that "cats cannot walk on bubble-bath". I have never seen a cat swim backwards while being headfirst in a tub, but she did. There was an instant when all that could be seen was tail sticking out of the bubbles. She extricated herself with our help in a huge hurry, sputtering and pitiful with her coat soaked and sticking flush to her skin. Fortunately, the tub wasn’t very hot at this point, as Maryann and I (!) had been enjoying each other’s company for a while. Pitiful puddy got herself dabbed at with towels and we did a lot of laughing on her account. Dickens joined in the fun, trying to lick her dry. In fact, he finished the job, and she reluctantly submitted. Over the next two + years he would put a brotherly paw over her hackles, and she would submit for a thorough bathing by him. Then they would wrestle, then go off to sleep together somewhere. Something I guess they learned in their childhood from their "Mom and Pop" by observing…

We have been guilty of lots of things, and we cannot claim ignorance in that we often let the cats out for a while. Especially Sandi, who loved the outdoors more than anything. There was so much to investigate and do out there, and the sun was wonderful. Nighttime was really intriguing, and she would squirt out the door any chance she got. She hated the word "NO", and my enforcing the command with my foot by blocking the way emphatically. She would hiss, bat my foot and stomp away, turning her back on me for a while when I came back in. She was in heaven whenever I would say "OKAY", and she would whine like a dog and bound against the door repeatedly till it was opened. As she became more relaxed with the possibility she might or might not "go out"; she would not run off to the woods immediately in order to escape capture. In fact, it came to be that if I called her, she would come running, no matter where she was. She often greeted me on the run with tail held high when I called from the back yard. At a gallop from the woods, you could hear her coming and she would chirp and purr loudly while on the way, then rub and rub and rub upon arrival.

One of the things we did early on was I played Mother Cat with her and took her on outings to the woods like a mom cat does. Though our cats are largely indoor cats, I think they ought to know their surroundings and where the boundaries are. There is a creek in the valley behind the house too, that represents a danger they all should know about. It became a great source of hunting for frogs and snakes, which she always retrieved for me alive and uninjured. She was a good student, and followed me everywhere when we were out together. As she got older, she developed a habit of steering (or "herding") me where she wanted me to go. She would lead and if I failed to follow properly, she would come back and grab my shoes and hiss at them, then start off where she wanted to go. If I failed again, the process would be repeated. Often, she would lead me to some hole in the ground or something she wanted me to see. If it was something requiring an action on my part, she would "talk" to me, sometime excitedly, sometimes matter-of-fact. This behavior got her in trouble with Maryann at the end, when she bit Maryann’s foot because of the frustration of needing something not understood by us mere mortals.

An oddity of mine is that I learned and used a territory-marking trick from a movie called "Cry Wolf". At night, (it is very dark in the country) I had methodically "marked" the entire perimeter of our useable property (a little over an acre, mostly heavy woods). All the animals know this is MY place, and we have very little trouble with intruders. Sandi knew it as well, and so does Dickens. They seldom strayed outside this invisible fence, and the original boundaries set by our outings together. They were reasonable boundaries too; not so "hemmed in" so I think that helps. I often marked in their presence, which reinforces the lines. Sound ridiculous? NOT! Cats are very observant. Other animals maybe not, but the invisible fence remains effective to this day for most of them.