In the doghouse

As a rule, cats don't have much use for dogs.  And there's a reason for this.  Dogs are smelly, disagreeable creatures that bark, bite, and chase cats.  But bad as dogs are, their owners are worse.  Dog owners are loud, smelly, disagreeable creatures that let their vicious pets wreak havoc on neighbors and the neighborhood.  Still, to every dark cloud there is a silver lining.  Because there are dogs, there are dog houses. 

Mama and her kittens began hanging around my house in July.  In late August, I began to worry about what would happen to the cats when the weather got cold.  If I'd had a barn, they could have sheltered in the barn.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a barn.  And even to me, it seemed bit excessive to get a barn for five stray cats. After much thought, I hit upon what I thought was a good solution.  I dragged my husband down to a place that made furniture and showed him the doghouses.  After rolling his eyes, he pointed out a couple small, fairly inexpensive models.  I wasn't having any of that.  Since there were five cats, four of them still growing, I needed a big dog house.  And after much whining on my part, Hubby gave in and helped me load a monstrosity into the truck. 

We got the thing home and disagreed on its placement.  My husband wanted to put it out of sight in the back yard.  I wanted to put the dog house on the little porch so I could keep an eye things.  After a vigorous discussion, we wrestled the eyesore of a doghouse up the steep stairs and onto the porch.  Once we had it situated, I realized the interior decor of the dog house was unacceptable.  So I went shopping and found rugs, big dog mattresses and blankets. 

After the third or fourth time I saw Mama entering the doghouse with a dead rodent, it occurred to me that  hay would have been a better bedding choice.  And although the big doghouse was not a particularly attractive addition to the porch, it came in handy.  When the kittens were on the doghouse roof, they were closer to the porch light.  This was good because moths like to hang out around the porch light.  And the kittens loved catching moths.  The roof was also a good place for the kittens to sit and watch the opossums that had started coming around to steal their food.