It's Spring!

We took the cats out on leashes two days ago ... I wrestled Merlin and Miri into their harnesses, handed them off to Husband and Brother-in-law, respectively, then set to work on Molly, who was being A Challenge (suffice it to say that when the time comes to put a screaming toddler into a snowsuit, it will Not Be A Problem. Toddlers don't have 16 claws.). As soon as Molly and I stepped outside, Miri saw the open door and dragged poor Jonathan back inside (all, what, 8? pounds of her), saying She Will Not Go. She spent the rest of the time watching from the kitchen window. All of our windows are floor-to-ceiling and it didn't take Merlin too long to find out that if he stood on the air-conditioning unit, he could be nose-to-nose with Miri. All 3 of them hung out by the window for a while until Interesting Smells called the outdoor cats away.

Merlin did especially well outside and it didn't take him long at all before his tail was up and he was swaggering around like he owned the neighborhood. Odd thing: he loved rolling in the grass, dirt, sidewalk, whatever, and got his leash good and thoroughly wound around himself until he couldn't move anymore. It reminded me of Scratchy, who used to head straight for the biggest patch of dirt in our backyard in Santa Fe and roll around until his normally pristine white fur was the shade of a well-groomed Irish Setter. Fortunately for Merlin, he has sisters to help him out in getting clean so he wasn't subjected to the post-walk bath that became a regular with Scratchy.

Molly started to like the outdoors as well, following everywhere Merlin went (after allowing for a suitable time lapse to make sure the bushes Didn't Kill Him) and doing pretty much everything he did -- except for the rolling part. That's entirely too dirty for the little MollyDolly (but would've been right up Miri's alley, were she to have been there).