I mentioned a while back that Napoleon was growing his tail back. He is and he has a change this year in his eating habits that is actually beneficial. He has always come to the front walk for me to feed him but as he noticed the cats eating out by the garage he decided he’d dine with them.

I have watched him appear when the cats are happily munching away on their tuna and dry food. He bullies them away from their food and picks out his favorite parts, then walks to the back deck. Since he’s at the back anyway it’s easy to feed him his real meal there. That way the cats have a chance of getting some of their food before it’s gone. It didn’t happen after a time or two but we are definitely changed over and it is easier in some ways.

I used to watch for him around suppertime or twilight. Now I feed them all at the same time and I’m done outside. The three garage kitties always go to the garage for me to feed them and bunk down for the night. The two strays are both males and I don’t want them spraying all over the garage so it’s a matter of selection. They don’t have the garage to sleep in but I cleaned an extra litter box and made a bed out of it. With an old chenille housecoat fluffed up in it, the covered top and the easy to get in and out entrance it is greatly appreciated.

I am running amuck. To get back to Napoleon, he is beginning to strut around again, rattling his feathers. It is kind of a hollow bamboo sound to me. Those of you who have had experience with peacocks may have a better interpretation as to the sound. I know he will be at his proudest peak when Spring comes and he will again go back to his first home at Becky’s and cry out in the night for a mate. How he must strain to hear………how must he hope. Seven years has to be long for him without a mate, living in a world foreign to him and adapting to the things he has to, to survive.

The fact he has free range of the neighborhood and the fact we are in an area where hunting and shooting something is a sport to many; the road they cut through to the business loop and the increased traffic…….he roams free and safe. He is the mascot of the neighborhood.

There is one bad trait. I need to stop with this and go wash off the deck and back sidewalk. The neighbors have long since tried to shoo him off their cars etc; and it is wise to see where you walk in the yard. But with the beauty and his company it is worth the chore. He still loves people, is pretty nosey about what’s going on but he always spends most of his time in my yard and until mating time he will be sleeping in the penthouse of my large oak.

Essentially Esther