Another Outdoor Kitty! Plus Strider's Story

We're just playin', Mom. Really!

Before Strider tells his story, we haves to report that there is another kitty hangin' around on our deck! The beans are callin' him/her (?) Stripe. He and Gizmo were on the deck together and they weren't fightin', so we guess he am a nice enough kitty. Maybe Gizmo's brother or sister? Mom am kind of worried that there are more, though. We'll have to let her know if we sees more of them.

Smeagol: One warm April night in 2004, I was sittin' on my favorite chair by the window when this little tan and white cat flung itself at my face! My tail grew 10 times its normal size. The beans were scared until they saw it was a kitty hangin' on the screen. Oh, wait, I was gonna let Strider tell this himself, wasn't I?

Strider: Yeah, I was out wanderin' in the woods when I saw a house with a big black kitty sittin' in a window. I thought that I would like to sit in the window myself, so I leapt at it, but there was somethin' between me and the black kitty. I dug my claws in and was hangin' there until a bean opened the front door. I ran off, but the bean had treats and I was very hungry, so I went up to her and ate some treatses. I rubbed my stink all over the bean and let her pet me, but then I ranned off again. She brought me some food 'cause I was pretty skinny and I came runnin' back. I ate some then ranned off. I teased her like that for a long time that night.

After a few days of feedin' me outside, the beans caught me and put me in a room all by myself. I was wonderin' where that other kitty was. Then they took me to this place where I got stabbed and insulted. First they said I was a girl (not that girls are bad, but I am a BOY), then they said I was prob'ly older than the beans thought I was! Why did it matter how old I was? Despite bein' treated so rudely, I was purrin' so loud that the stabby bean had to run water near me to make me stop so she could hear my heart. Everything checked out okay, I guess, 'cause when we left, I got to meet the black kitty from behind a door. When we finally met face to face (again), I hissed at him lots, even though he was much bigger than me. We called a truce after a week or two of hissin' and growlin' and then just kind of avoided each other for a while. Then we started playin' and found out how much fun it was to go tearin' through the house and up and down the steps chasin' each other.

Mom and Dad named me Strider 'cause I came wanderin' out of the woods, kinda like the ranger guy in Lord of the Rings. They did try to find out if some other bean was missin' me, but nobody ever said so, and I'm glad.