I roll out of bed at 5:35AM as always, even my days off, get cleaned up, dressed and out to the store and am back at 6:40AM ready for football all day. I let Maya outside to greet the warm morning sun and check her territory. All seems quiet in the world and I am looking forward to a day of rest and relaxation with NFL on my big screen.

As I settle into my seat on my patio around 7:15AM I hear gravel flying and the sounds of cats locked in combat right by my patio. By the time I get out of my chair to my low patio wall Maya has driven my neighbor's 25-pound cat back to her stairway (Maya is under 10 pounds but fierce). Not a new occurrence, those two hate each other, they have been fighting over territory since Maya decided to move in, but they usually are content with hissing, posturing and dominance displays. She comes back and as I am calming her I say to her, "This is awfully early even for you two."

For the next few hours Maya does what she loves, roaming her territory, rolling on her back on the sidewalk, chasing the morning birds, checking back in home regularly to make sure I have not done something foolish or interesting without her supervision or knowledge. Around 10:00AM she is a tired cat and decides to take a refreshing nap on a chair out on the patio. Within ten minutes after curling up in the sun she suddenly perks her head up, cocks her ears, sniffs the air and leaps on the wall and over and suddenly a bunch of birds takes flight with Maya in hot pursuit stalking her way off after them. Around 11:30AM my neighbors scare her out of the dumpster and send her scurrying home for another rest.

Within 20 minutes there is another flock of birds out there and this time Maya makes her leap from some shelves I have out there the same one my Pepsi was sitting on just prior to her leap and was now on the ground requiring clean up. Finally around 12:30PM, 90 minutes after her normal nap time she jumps up on the refrigerator, then the kitchen cabinets and climbs into her bed up there and goes to sleep. I think she will be out for awhile, it was a pretty busy morning for a little cat.

Copyright © John Biltz
December 23, 2001