Mouser

Eleanor happily cuddles with both of us pretty much all the time.  Zeppo does as well - when he's in the mood.  He must get his hind haunches and tail rubbed as I eat breakfast.  Cats are so individual,  tail tugs and belly-rubs are this skittish cat's favorite things ever. 

Our neighbor lost his cat Sebastian last month.  Sebastian adopted Mike when he moved in, with the condition that he would always have the option to go outside. He was a mouser of great skill. So when he died, the mice, or possibly rats, moved in. For a few weeks we both noticed them, I put out snap traps in places where cats and squirrels wouldn't accidentally get caught. But I needn't have bothered. Over the past week and a half, I have been gifted no less than four very large mice, or smallish rats. I do not know how to tell them apart. Two on the front porch near the door, two in the back on the walkway. 

I thanked our new Mouser, in abstentia.  I do wonder if it is Mr. Kenny, the black kitten my other neighbor and I fed several years ago during his first winter. None of the rodent gifts were eaten, except for one front leg, so the Mouser is, presumably,  being fed by someone in the neighborhood.