These cats need warm weather and sunshine!

Our two youngest cats, Nala and Little Man, are siblings and partners in crime. We took them in (or rather they came to us) when the neighbors brought the two kittens home for their kids and then promptly turned them outside to fend for themselves. Little Man made his appearance to us first. He just sauntered into our yard and said "hello." Pretty soon, he was in the house, hanging with the indoor cats, who, by now are used to new faces. He just made himself at home.

Little Man even taught us how to let him outside. Yes, he taught us. We've always had a string of jingle bells hanging from our door...guess it goes back to my years of living alone and having those bells there in case anyone would try to break in. Well, the first day Little Man (also affectionately known as Duder) strolled through the house, he walked up to the door and sat down. I watched him look up at the door knob, think for a minute, then stand on his hind legs and hit those bells with a front paw. It was all very deliberate. I thought it was a fluke, but I said, "Do you want to go out?" in this silly voice we often use to talk to animals and I opened the door. He stepped right out.

The next time he came in, my husband was witness to the same thing...I said to him, "Did you see that?" He did that yesterday too! We were still skeptical. In the meantime, I was working outside one day and I saw a dark body crouched in the neighbor's yard, watching my every move. I was pretty sure this was the sister I had heard about from the neighbor-kid, who had come by a couple times to talk to us and he told us his parents got cats for him and his sister...a boy for her and a girl for him. They called them Mouser and Emily.

I continued to work, but I kept my eye on "Emily." After a couple more days of Little Man coming around, she finally approached the house and pretty soon, she was taking up residence here as well. Immediately, I knew we had to take care of some important business before something got out of control. First, we had Duder neutered...always a good start. Soon after, Nala was spayed and officially they became out cats.

Now back to this jingling of the bells. Not only did Little Man teach us about the bells, he taught his sister as well. Both of them ring the bells...A LOT! It's been cold, snowy, nasty, and yucky, and all these youngins want to do is hunt mice.

It begins around 5 a.m...just after my husband leaves for work. My alarm is set for 6 a.m., but I'm always up before that, thanks to our cats. It can be pretty annoying, but I can't help but think about how Duder trained us well.