Lena’s Outdoor Adventures

Lena has been enjoying the move to Arizona. Not only does she like the house, she likes the backyard as well. Back in Boston she loved spending time on the balcony we shared with our neighbor. She would spend long periods of time sitting among my neighbor’s plants and would look at another neighbor’s cat, who was a safe distance away. When we moved to Oklahoma I tried to let her out but she ran right back in. I think she smelled too many other cats out there, and that scared her. After that one experience, she never showed any interest in going out again. When we moved here, however, she looked like she wanted to go outside, so I let her out. The first time, she went out tentatively and came back in. After that she showed interest in going out again and this time she sniffed every plant and walked all the way along the wall separating our house from our neighbors’. Since then I’ve been letting her out with some regularity, and every time she seems to really enjoy herself. Sometimes I even see her rolling around on the ground. The other day I was transplanting my plants from the communal pots in which they traveled to Arizona, and Lena kept me company. Anytime I walked around with an empty pot in my hand, she ran up to me expectantly. Each time I had to disappoint her by showing her the inside of the pot, which did not contain cat food or fresh water as I’m guessing she hoped. A few times when I’ve let her out she has looked at the wall with some interest, but luckily she hasn’t tried to jump. I do keep an eye on her anytime I let her out and follow her around so she can’t get too far from me. It seems most of our surrounding neighbors have dogs, so I don’t think she really wants to go into their backyards. Since we moved to Arizona, Lena has been more vocal than ever before. She meows and squawks frequently and I’m taking that to be a good sign that she’s happy here.