Aurora Bell, Chapter 3

My cat told me that it is here. She is on red alert; her tail smacking the bookshelf perch that allows a bird's eye view of all the action on the quiet side street below our second story. The coyote is back. Every day once or twice a day, it passes to and from it's territory in the hidden creek nearby. I run downstairs and chase it off when I see it, "hazing" it's called and recommended by the nearby Wildcare Facility -so that coyotes don't get too comfortable in urban settings.

Aurora Bell has in fact been up close and personal with Mr. Coyote. A few weeks  back a neighbor called to tell me that she and this young male coyote were sitting was only 3 feet from each other. By the time I got outside he and she were circling round a car. Inter species friendship or stalking? Not going to find that one out. So now she is a mostly indoor cat.  A move neither of us ever expected down the the urban flat lands of Gerstle Park. I feel bad for her. She's young and loved to roam. Time for a different life.

Six weeks later finds me crouching down in the bushes across that little side street. My neighbor drives by and I poke my head up and nod. Hmmm... what is she doing, they might briefly ponder. Why I am on a cat walk with Aurora. She is now somewhat leash trained, which means she doesn't spring up vertically anymore at loud sounds and wiggle out of her harness. 

Cat time.... At first I was rather annoyed by the inconvenience of giving her a daily outside time, rather than just enforce an indoor life. But how could I do that? Outside time is supervised time, off leash in the yard and on leash out of it. I have to watch her so there is little time for weeding or doing tasks in the garden. I can take my phone out and answer some texts, but mainly I am following her. Her pattern is arrive, roll, lay and what? Asses her domain? Then move on. We repeat this here and there and there, which sometimes takes me into the bushes and other odd places that I didn't realize I would be squatting, sitting and waiting on a daily basis.

 
Now I mostly enjoy this little enforced meditation. Do nothing. Enjoy the garden without seeing it as one giant to-do list, see the neighborhood from a new perspective. Breath.

             And spend time with my girl.