Perfect Day For Tom Tom

Today the temperature in the garden was a sunny 66°F (19°C)--just perfect for some spring gardening with my garden buddy, Tom Tom.

Tom Tom is a pretty observant kitty. He watches me with half-closed eyes pretending to nap while I go about my in-house routine in the morning. Then when he sees me slip on my garden-wear, he gets up rather nonchalantly, stretches, and mosies to the front door. He's so casual about it when I know he is just raring to go.

Once I'm ready, off we go out the front door. He hangs out on the front porch while I change in to my gardening shoes that sit outside next to the front door. Sometimes he sniffs around the surrounding plants. Again, he's very casual about the whole thing like he could take it or leave it.

Then, when I make my way toward the back garden it's like someone has flipped the "silly switch" inside Tom Tom's little kitty brain. The casual behavior stops, and he starts darting around from one side of the garden to the other. He shoots around with his tail high in the air in the shape of a pump-handle. Sometimes he runs headlong toward the plum tree and either scales it or stops abruptly to stretch and clean those claws of his. What a very silly boy!

We call this behavior "going to town" because he's "going to town" sharpening his claws on the tree. When I see him doing this in the garden I'll say to him, "Go to town, Tom Tom!" That makes him even sillier and he'll dart away to another location, sometimes leaping and bounding like a gazelle. You know for an old cat, he sure can move when he gets the "crazies".