Chapter Eight... Sam and Sebastian..

There are a lot of cats in this neighborhood, in fact we are surrounded by them.. Two next door but they are old and do not get out much, two behind, one is a friend of mine, and there are three just two doors up and there in lies a problem.

Samantha. known as Sam, is a pure white cat, she wanders about and is picked on by every other cat, she is definitely at the bottom in the pecking order, I have never seen the second cat up there so do not know anything about it, the third cat, Sebastian is big, a lone wolf and a bully.
In actual fact, to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was probably a nice cat but his owner, in a fit of something or other, went out and bought a dog.. Sebastian obviously did not care for this at all and took to staying outside more and more and consequently has become a little wild, He considers that all of the surrounding area, is HIS, he patrols this territory and picks on any other cat he finds.

I make a point of staying out of his way.. I consider that it is undignified to fight, however Gemma ran into him a couple of weeks back.
She had popped over the fence to say hello to Tom and Barbara, they live next door and are nice humans, unfortunately the only occupant of Tom's garden at the time was Sebastian, Gemma had leapt before she had looked...
I was home at the time and the next thing we heard was a loud howl Dad leapt out of his chair and was out on the deck in a flash, just in time to see Gemma hurtle over the fence with Sebastian in hot pursuit -
Gemma flew up the back stairs and Sebastian headed out across the garden. Dad picked up Gemma and noticed that her leg was bleeding quite badly so he called Mom, who is a nurse.

They gathered up Gemma and took her into a room they call the bathroom and put a bandage round her leg, that lasted all of three seconds or three shakes of her paw, but at least they had stopped the bleeding..
Now, whenever we go out, both Gemma and I sit on the deck for a little while to survey the terrain below before we wander downstairs, just in case Sebastian is lurking about. I do not know what we can do about him except stay out of his way..

Normally, I am told, Winter here is wet however this winter it snowed and it stayed.
At first it was fun to jump about in but soon my paws became a little chilly and I was glad to get back inside.
Gemma had never seen snow, did not know what it was, assumed it was white soil and proceeded to dig, on the deck, much to Mom's dismay. I took her aside and explained the situation and was she embarrassed, I am pleased to say that she has not done it since.

Mom seemed to enjoy the snow, at least the first lot, when we received the second dumping and it stayed and stayed, I think she was inclined to agree with Dad.

I wrote a little verse about that first snowy experience as follows..