Halloween and a not-too-bright kitten

After a week of wearing a collar (which kept him from licking his tail wound), and being grounded, Devin finally got to go outside again. He was crazy frisky as you might imagine - scampering across the yard. One wonders though, if he has learned his lesson. His tail still shows signs of serious cat bite wounds where the fur has not yet grown. However, yesterday, I looked out the window and saw him stalking one of the big orange neighborhood feral cats. He was just a few feet away before I grabbed him and put him in the house again. The feral cat was nonchalant about it all and just sat licking himself but I hate to think what would have happened to Devin had he attempted to pounce on that huge orange cat. Maybe Devin had forgotten his week indoors but I sure hadn't and I wasn't eager for any vet visits either.

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Our neighborhood has quite a few feral cats. Though they are hardy cats, they are not the vicious beasts you might think of when you read "feral cats". One of the women in the neighborhood has captured all of them and taken them to be spayed or neutered and has even set up a small, protected cat shelter for them to hide in when bad weather hits. And a number of neighbors put out food for them each night. So even though the cats don't have owners, they are not wild - though not really tame either. They walk through our yard and stay their distance and Zoe tolerates them as long as they don't get too close. I'm hoping Devin will learn from Zoe and avoid any other close encounters.

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I went down to the homeless shelter yesterday as I do each Tuesday. I helped one of the guys look up a bus schedule and then sign up for an email address. The other guys were all pretty computer-experienced and got right to work checking their email or searching housing & job sites. One of the guys was in a mean mood and expounded his views (all bad it seemed!) on government workers, immigrants, even the shelter itself. He then proceed to talk to me about arson and about how he burned down his house. No wonder this guy is having trouble finding housing! I was glad it was only my task to help with computer problems, not all his personal problems.

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Last night B. and I walked to the neighborhood theater to see the movie "Once". We had been wanting to see it after reading numerous reviews about how great it was. Though both of us thought it a nice little movie, we didn't understand why everyone has been raving about it. Maybe just because it was an enjoyable film without sex, violence, car crashes, etc. - just a story. That was okay with me. After the show, we walked over to the pub for supper and had our favorite burgers with hot sauce - meat for B. and a garden burger for me - and then walked home.