Those who frequent this blog might remember the battle royale between yours truly and the neighborhood cat that had fouled our back patio sandbox to the point where I ended up having to install a deck over it and around our Tiki bar. While that solution eliminated a favorite spot for the cat to do its duty, it didn’t stop the cat from still making its pathetic, appointed rounds, and I would still see the cat walking on top of the walls between us and our neighbors looking agitated and annoyed in its usual pissed-off state. Every now and then I’d creep up on it on the side yard looking longingly up at the lemon and lime trees for birds to catch and a glass of water at it, forcing it to do panicked 6-foot vertical leap over and into our neighbor Keith’s yard.

A week ago I had been thinking I hadn’t seen the cat lately. And so you can imagine my thinking when I went to the community mailboxes last Thursday and saw a sign taped to the side. And there it was, underneath the large “MISSING CAT” letters, a picture of that cat in full domestic bliss, laying on a couch just like in the pic above, looking all innocent and cuddly on a blanket, a little cat toy next to one of its paws – the same paws that used to scratch its way through our sandbox sand to cover its urine and bury its poop.

I happened to see my neighbor John while walking back to the house:

Me: See the sign on the side of the mailbox? The missing cat flyer?

John: Yeah, how about that? I was just saying to Mary the other day that I hadn’t seen that damned cat in a while and wondered what happened to it.

Me: D’ya think a coyote got it?

John: Maybe. Or just as likely someone finally found a way to do the cat in – there are a lot of gun-owners around here.

Now I know that this unfortunate (and sad – we know what it’s like to lose a cat and go through the hopeless missing flyers bit) set of occurrences and am well aware it isn’t the cat’s fault – the family should never have allowed the cat to roam as freely as it (once) did. Still, you’ll excuse me if I find it kind of hard to gin up tears at the cat-astrophe that appears to have taken place.

And it’s just as well, otherwise I’d probably end up going the full Mark Steyn.

[UPDATED:] In case you’re interested in the genesis of the Mark Steyn video featuring his cat Marvin – a great cat name, BTW- which I have to admit I’m addicted to because it’s so outrageous, I’ve linked to it here. Because I’m a sucker for arrangements I beg of y’all to listen for the guitar work throughout the piece: not only do you get a funky “loony tunes” solo, but there’s some great grunge guitar work throughout. The Police would be proud, I think. And knowing Steyn as a New Hampshire resident, it wouldn’t surprise me if the video wasn’t filmed somewhere around the Manchester airport.