What? No peacock?

Haven't seen the peacock in over a week now... haven't even heard him lately.  Even when that bird isn't on our porch munching on the Meow Mix for the cats, we can hear him down the hill calling out for his imaginary mate. Love springs eternal for that beautiful bird. Maybe he wandered off to other parts of the hills here looking for the feathered love of his colorful life.

Orange Cat, however, is still here. Eternally still here. That once-stray cat has gotten so used to the goings-on around our porch that he no longer runs away when neighbors come by for a visit. The orange cat has also made friends with our latest handyman, watching him pulling up weeds and working in the yard, and not even running to hide when handyman R walks within inches of that cat's whiskers.

This afternoon as the handyman came up onto the porch to let me know he was leaving for the day, Orange Cat turned towards him and stretched and yawned and just turned over and resumed his nap. As I opened up the kitchen door, I heard R telling that cat "You sure do have it made in the shade here."  And indeed the orange cat does.  Fresh water, an endless supply of Meow Mix, porch furniture to nap on, a plush back-door mat for naps, and even Mickey and Gatsby seem to have gotten accustomed to the orange cat being here now on a 24/7 schedule.  Come to think of it, Orange Cat hasn't disappeared lately.  He used to go off for a day or two, looking for female cats, I would guess, and then come back meowing loudly on the porch because he was hungry.  Not only has the orange cat become less vocal, he's also becoming more well-mannered. He hasn't tried to scratch me in over a week now.

My husband has taken to calling him Pumpkin Kitty.  I keep calling him Orange Cat, and sometimes just "That Cat."  My husband insists that he needs a real name........... I continue to insist that he needs another porch, another home, preferably in another county. I would not miss that orange cat if he went off and just stayed away.

I do miss the peacock, though.  It was nice to have Mr. Carson strutting his feathered self back and forth on our porch every other day or so.   We saw a bob-cat walking around our property a couple of weeks ago, and now I'm hoping that the wild cat didn't make his way down the hill to discover not only Mr. Carson but a coop filled with chickens at the neighbor's property on the other side of the road down there.