Our cats wanted to go outside for a bit after I got home from work. I get home around 7:30 pm. The temp was fine, and the deck and part of the back sidewalk needed to be shoveled from the 3" of snow we received while I was at work.  It was dark; but I had the deck lights on, so it was all good for keeping an eye on the cats. Hammer (our big, male, orange tabby) went under the deck, and Aimee (my gray and white female) sat on the top step. I heard Hammer start making his "this is MY territory!" mewing. Great. Gray and White cat is under the deck, and Hammer found him. He's a neighborhood cat who comes around at night. I said, "Be nice. No fighting."

There was no fighting. In fact I never saw Gray and White cat leave. 
After a bit, both our cats decided to go back in the house. Weather was good, so I kept shoveling.

As I was coming back in the house, I heard the plow go by the front. I figured I'd check out the damage, see how much snow they threw into the driveway. It wasn't bad, but there was a spot on the sidewalk where they had flipped up a bunch of snow from the plow. I decided to clean that up since it was on the sidewalk. And i was hoping the cats would come out for more fresh air.


I saw Hammer coming out the garage door when I was done with the sidewalk, so I decided to clean up the driveway to give him time outside. (Our cats are not allowed to roam the neighborhood on their own) I kept an eye on him cuz he started moving toward the neighbor's house. I thought, "Oh great. Gray and White cat is over there now."

I kept going back and forth scraping snow and keeping an eye on Hammer. 
After a bit, I saw a cat walking away from us a ways down the sidewalk. Gray and White cat!

I decided to be nice and talk to him. He stopped. He was swishin' his tail like he liked me talking to him. I thought, "I'm a cat whisperer! He likes how I'm talking to him!" I noticed he looked small. I was sad thinking he really had spent all these cold days outside and had lost a lot of weight. I kept being casual and kept shoveling. Finally, I stuck the shovel into the snow so I could get closer. I was talking to him and was about to start walking toward him. Then, he started walking toward me!

I looked again at how small he was. Then I noticed he seemed to have way more white than Gray and White cat has. WTFront door?? Aimee!!!! "You get back over here!" By then she was sassily jogging past me and toward the garage door, sassy tail swishin'!


Totally punk'd by my own cat. sigh...