Wonderland neighborhood

When I started to live with my human parents in Wonderland street, I knew we had a big community of wild animals. I was one of them before I adopted this family.

Blackie was the mayor of the neighborhood.  He would patrol the neighborhood from one corner to another. He would check the front yard, the back yard. He would stop by at our back door and started calling me.  My mom would give him some food out. Blackie was not really big, but his walk, his stare were very impressive. He knew he owned this area. His face was full of scars from past fights, one of his ears was kind of tattered.

Then we have Rockie, a raccoon, he and his family live up above the oak tree in front of the house. He and his wife have three little ones. Since my mom puts out some food at the backyard patio, Rockie and his family are the regular visitors.  As long as he does not touch my food, I am fine or I have to chase him out of the property. 

Oppie only comes once in a while, most of the time at night. I guess he is such a loner. Oppie is an Opossum. 

My mom likes to put some food under the oak tree at the backyard. Dad puts a bird feeder stick to the tree for all the birds and the squirrels. 

Chippimunky are the regulars, one lives near our grill, another one lives near the oak tree at the backyard. Yes, I always chase them, not to eat, but to show my family that I am a good hunter, a very skilled one. Although Chippimunky would trick me all the time, by pretending to be dead, once I put him down, he would run like a bullet. That is it. He always manages to fool me. I scratch my nose, dang.

Then there is the deer family, one mother and two fawns. Sometimes some four or six bucks play at the backyard. I know they like our yard, because our grass are natural, no chemical treatment. I know they would eat our flowers and cucumbers and tomatoes,  but my dad said it is ok. We need to share our garden with everyone. 

My dad has a very soft and kind heart. He would yell at me when I killed a bird or a mouse. But I am a cat, I cannot drive or go to work like my human brother. Geez,  he never realizes that.

Oh I forgot to mention Fluffy. He is a black cat, always in a hurry, always running. I wonder what mischief he is up to. One time I caught him walking in a hurry along our property. 

"Fluffy", I called, "Wait up".

He looked at me and paused.

"Why are you always in a hurry?"

"Gotta go dude. Mom's waiting for me. " , he gruffed. Hmm, Fluffy the runner, and mama's boy.

One day there was a stranger,  a polkadot cat. My mom called him Polkadot. He is skinny, white with some black patches. I sensed something weird about him. I do not know. I yelled at him, my mom was so surprised. She never knew I can yell so loud. I was mad at him. This strange Polkadot cat. I never hiss or yell at anybody,  but this Polkadot cat, man, he must be an alien or something. He smells funny.

We have two Cooper's hawks on our oak tree. I guess they are a couple. Our yard, the front and the backyard have colony of field mice. I would catch plenty of them, play with them.  I mean they are my toys until they die of exhaustion. I put them outside the kitchen door as a present. My parents always yell at me when I do that. Coopie, those hawks like to catch them too.

We also have lots of rabbits in our property. Mother rabbit runs very fast, I cannot catch her. I caught two baby rabbits at a different occasions. My actions made my parents mad at me, both of them were yelling at me. They did not feed me and left me out for hours. Sic. It does not stop me from trying to catch them again if I can. 

Stinky is a skunk. He would quietly visit our back patio looking for food. Or he would go under the back oak tree in case there is some food left. Aunt Laura, my mom's sister in law almost petted him at night. She thought Stinky was me. I have grey and white hair,  kind of like Stinky. Thank God she realized that he was a skunk and not me. Phew.

Lola is our neighbor Chihuahua,  she lives across the street. No matter how many times she tried to catch me, I was always ahead of her. Yes she ran fast, but not fast enough to catch me. I heard Tom, her owner said, that Lola would catch a squirrel or a mouse. Yeah right, amateur. Although I myself can never catch a squirrel. Boy, they are so fast and very noisy. They would alarm the whole neighborhood from up the tree branch if I try to hunt mice or birds.

So far the Wonderland neighborhood runs its daily routines. The deer family runs up and down the street,  before someone shoo them away from eating somebody's flowers.  Coopie's couple fly here and there waiting for the field mice. Sometimes Fluffy runs across the backyard without stopping. And I still like to watch the rabbits patiently at Lou's driveway.

Life is normal here in Wonderland. Maybe one night we might see a coyote running on our street, or a skinny fox passed by.

I am content and happy here.

***skc***