Dora the Explora

So, a few entries back I mentioned my cat that my neighbor basically stole. This picture is of Dora. My cat that now lives with my neighbor. In fact, this picture was taken in my neighbors' front yard outside of their door (when they weren't home of course).

Here's the story. Last winter, on an unusually nice day, I was cleaning out my garage. As I was hiking a bag of trash to the curb, my neighbors came home. I looked over as they were walking up to the door to nod my "hello", and noticed that Dora was on their doorstep, pawing their screen, as they dug out their keys. The lady started to put the key in the lock and open the door. Then, there was an awkward pause as she realized she was about to let my cat in to her house (and this was obviously not the first time that Dora had been over to their house) and I was in the front yard where I could obviously see what was going on. She slowly turned and smiled at me (hand still on the door knob) and said "umm...is it okay if Dora comes in?".

First of all, weird conversation. It felt like those conversations you have when you're a kid and you ask your friend's parents if she can come over and play. "Hi Mrs. Gipson. Can Jill come over to my house after school today?" Secondly, how many times had Dora been hanging out in the neighbors house without me knowing about it where it was at the point where she was waiting for them on their doorstep and pawing at their door to get in!? Suddenly Dora's day or two absences start to make sense. Here, I thought she had been out hunting or exploring the neighborhood, but really, she's chillin' next door. An uncomfortable silence hung in the airwhile they waited for my answer (and realized that I was putting the pieces together) and after a second or two, I just answered "Uh..sure", and in they all go, a happy little family.

After that, I literally didn't see Dora for almost a month. She spent from Christmas until late Januray in the neighbors house. The only reason I saw her at the end of January was because I went over and asked them if they still had Dora because I hadn't seen her in so long. The neighbor just said "well, I opened the door to see if she wanted to go out, but she just keep laying on the couch." Well, duh. It's cold outside. She's not going to voluntarily go out when you're feeding her, putting her up in a warm house, and letting her use the bathroom in your litter box. So weird.

The only way I managed to take this picture is because it was a nice day this week and Dora was outside. Otherwise, I seriously only see her about once every month and a half or so. It's so weird. I have joint custody of my own cat with the neighbors. I guess I should be happy that it cuts down on the cat food bill. Austin's take on all this is "Well, Rachel, sometimes it's just time to let 'em go" like Dora is a kid going off to college. Ha. I guess I really shouldn't worry too much. They're obviously feeding her well....