All three of my furgirls love to go out into the fenced back yard. They can hunt, soak up sunshine, and play like wild kittens, and do so frequently.

The yard seems to be a favorite hangout for all of the neighborhood gophers. They don't seem to mind the cats - every week we get a new gopher hole showing up. Amelia likes to sit beside the holes, every once in a while sticking a paw in up the shoulder trying to get to whatever sort of evil creature is making holes in her yard.

Yesterday afternoon she was especially fascinated by one hole in particular. Every time I'd look out at the kitties, Amelia would be sitting by this one hole. I figured there must have been a gopher near the surface recently, so she was catching the scent.

Around 8:30PM I went to get the girls. Like usual, DD and Cleo trotted in on their own as soon as I started walking towards them. Amelia, however, stayed glued to her gopher hole until I picked her up. As soon as I put her down inside the kitchen she turned around and raced back out to the yard - she never does that! She returned to her gopher hole. She looked at me as if to say "I can't come in now, papa, there's a dangerous animal down there, and I have to catch it!". She looked so dedicated to her task that I allowed her to watch the gopher hole for another half hour before I brought her in.

I'll bet she'll return to the same spot when I let them out tonight. If she does I'll have to take the camera out and get a photo of her on post.

Copyright © Dan Mahoney
April 15, 2003