Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Walking with Cats

The Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico is my home now. My place is about a mile from the Rio Grande and just across the road is a tract of government-owned land.

Most evenings I take a walk out there and the cats follow me. Taking a walk in desert arroyos with three cats is a hoot.

They usually run full speed around me, for each yard I walk they run several. They will pounce each other, chase each other and occasionally scare each other.

Few holes, which might be home to a mouse or other small critter, go unsniffed.

Much of this land is covered by mesquite "trees" (for a desert area like this they're trees, in a well-watered suburb they'd be bushes) that are 3 - 8 feet high and too thick for me to walk through. Like most desert plants it is quite thorny.

The cats love the mesquite because it is home to many chase-able things. I've never seen a cat catch anything on a walk; they sure have fun hunting and chasing.

I'm not sure why the cats need to accompany me on my evening strolls. They can get tto the arroyos without me. They can travel faster and quieter than I can. But if they are outside when I cross the road they will gallop after me. Perhaps they do not want the Filler of the Food Bowl to get lost.

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