Ahh, how wonderful it is when you live in Canada to have the summer finally come. No more 9-foot high snowbanks in front of your Condo, no more leaving work to encounter a big white lump with an aerial sticking out where you left your car in the morning. No more freezing to death. Bring on Summer I say, bring it on!

Now it's 95 degrees Fahrenheit, muggy and humid as all get out. Smog and air pollution warnings in effect. This doesn't phase the supergirls, Cleo & Velvet! They just love the heat, they can't get enough of it. Cleo does her sweet high pitched *merrooow?* at the balcony door until my heart melts, and out she goes.

The can-opener, meanwhile, is trying to keep the air-conditioning inside, and does not feel like cooling the planet at large. But, the balcony door must remain open as here comes Velvet. I sigh, turn off the television, and head outside to sit for awhile. It's getting dark, and Mother Nature seems to have turned off the blow-torch for the day. All is quiet and peaceful. Except for all the June bugs in the air!

At this time of year in Canada, these beetle-type flying bugs are extant for several weeks around the month of June as they gestate, feed, breed, and die in that order. So now, even 150 feet up in the sky, my balcony is loaded with them. Cleo swings into action. She has, as I have previously written, the uncanny ability to leap and snatch unsuspecting bugs from the sky. Her clutch is engaged! It's truly wondrous to watch her pirouette upwards with grace and speed, grabbing the flying critters. A true feline ballet, and not bad for a 7 year old! I'm so proud of her. Velvet watches the show, and her job is to mangle the ones that Cleo fields from the sky with her paw.

There is, however, one problem here. These flying beetles apparently don't taste very good. Oh, the first three were good to crunch and eat, but after that, they seemed to lose their taste appeal. (I'll take her word for it!) Cats have expressive faces at times and Cleo's certainly was, for each time after she would "rise to the occasion" the expression of disgust as she spat out the remains of her latest victim was palpable. However, this didn't stop my huntress, not by a long shot. So, this morning, I have a concrete balcony strewn with the corpses of at least 40 dead June bugs. It looked like a battlefield.

Guess who has to clean up the mess? Still, it was a sight I would not have missed for the world.

Copyright © Bill Mason
June 28, 2001