Backyard Season
I have an indoor cat. She’s always been an indoor cat. When I moved to California (I’d been living in New York City before that, where, naturally, none of the apartments I lived in had a yard of any kind) I rented a house with a TINY yard, and I did start bringing her out there at some point. But she’s a cat. She can find a way to escape from a surprisingly high percentage of scenarios, and despite being enclosed, she busted out of my tiny backyard on multiple occasions.
When I bought a house, still in California, we graduated to a slightly less tiny backyard, although I’ve still only been comfortable letting her out there with a leash. (She would for sure Houdini her way out.) When the HOA replaced our fences last year, while they looked better than the old fences, they left a pretty large gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground. At some points, the gap was so large that the cat could have for sure fit through it, so again, the leash felt mandatory.
WELLLLLL…I decided I’d had it with the gap so I filled it completely so that there’s no longer any space for any creature to crawl in or out, and with this change, I’m finally able to let the cat out there off-leash. I can’t express how much she loves it. Exploring every corner and lounging in the sun (more often the shade), she loves being outside. A little too much. To the point that it’s all she wants to do. A rather perfect illustration of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, it’s like she can’t go back to the inside (or that she’s at least somewhat less happy there) now that she knows there’s another world outside that is better than what she’d previously known.
And so we’re adjusting to a much more backyard-filled life. One where the patio door is almost always open. One where we sit together in the sun (under an umbrella) instead of on the couch. And honestly, I think it’s been good for both of us. I’ve planted more things, and so the backyard smells like jasmine and roses, plus the orange and lemon blossoms that were always there thanks to my fruit trees. The herbs are thriving too, and really, it’s just a lovely, tranquil space. One I can work in, read in, eat meals in, and look at the next round of book cover options in. Not quite sure how it will go when winter hits again, but I’m not thinking about that now. We’re in summer mode!