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- Willy the Garden Cat -- Adventures of a Horti-feline
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My cat Willy loves hanging out in the garden while I work. Wherever I am, he’s just a few feet away, sniffing the flowers or placidly curled up in the mulch.
Sometimes he’s a big help, like when he chases down runaway flower petals and wrestles them into submission.
Or when he stalks the dreaded Eastern lubber (that’s one to the left of Willy below.)
This can all be pretty grueling work, and Willy has gotten resourceful about keeping his strength up. Especially on warm days.
I always thought he was quite the helpful garden cat, and I had no reason to suspect otherwise. The seedlings that disappeared I blamed on bugs. The holes in the veggie bed? Armadillos. And the crushed patch in the otherwise lush bank of blue daze had to be the lawn service guys.
And then one day, I stepped outside when I was (apparently) not expected, and saw this. (That is a surprised cat face if ever I saw one.) He’s in the blue daze, doing more than just sitting, I might add!
But nothing screams “Guilty!” like this, just a second later:
I started watching Willy a little more carefully and discovered, when he thinks I’m not looking, he is not my big helper cat. He’s my garden pest.
He’s hard to catch with a camera—clearly seeking to avoid photographic evidence of misdeeds. But I’ve spied him eating flowers (and, to his credit, torpedo grass); scooping out latrines in seedbeds; and inviting nefarious kitties over for wild backyard squirrel hunts when he thinks no one’s home.
I even caught him trying to pull the blue sky vine off the shed!
Is there a moral to this story? I can’t think of one. Hey, we all enjoy the garden in our own ways. And that goes for cats, too.
Posted by Janna, on 10/29 at 07:25 PM
Willy is quite entertaining!
Posted by Susan Gillespie, on 10/28 at 06:01 PM
Ah!, that is much better. Nice clear pictures of Willie, doing what cats do. Thanks Penny.
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/28 at 11:14 AM
We have the neighborhood peacock and neighborhood ducks, so chickens should be next! I understand they’re very good for clearing bugs and bad stuff out of veggie gardens before you plant.
Posted by Iluvpumpkins, on 10/28 at 08:39 AM
Penny, The reason I asked what was behind the birdbath it looks like a chicken scratching in your garden. Sally has Chinese Silkies running around in her garden. Janice
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/28 at 07:46 AM
They’re showing up on both my computers, Susan. Try scrolling down and seeing if photos on other posts appear.
And yes, if anyone else is having a problem, please give a shout.
Posted by Susan Gillespie, on 10/28 at 04:53 AM
I’d love to see Willy’s misdeeds but for some reason my computer won’t let me see the pictures. Just question marks where the pics should be. Is anyone else having this problem? I got to see the one of him and the birdbath on Facebook. Weird, huh?
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/27 at 03:38 PM
Kind of to the left behind the birdbath is an old metal red crab. I used to have a crab trap there, picked up from a trash pile in Everglades City, but it rotted.
Willy is very good at catching lubbers, but he can’t get a good CRUNCH and kill ‘em. At least he slows ‘em down, so when he drops them, I can show them the business side of a shovel 
Posted by Iluvpumpkins, on 10/27 at 02:04 PM
Penny, What is that in the ground behind the birdbath? I need Willie to come to my house when those big grasshopper come out next year. Janice
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Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 10/29 at 09:54 PM
I wish Willy were more of a ham, because he really is funny. But every single picture is a one-click, good-luck effort—the darned cat runs as soon as he hears the shutter click. (Guilty conscience. The cat needs counseling.)