THAT CRAZY CAT!

We're back in Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona, settled in for a week or (more likely) two while we visit family and enjoy the town. This is not the warm Arizona sunshine that snowbirds dream about! We arrived in cold rain showers and the possibility of snow is in the forecast in a day or two. A white Christmas??

My sister Sydney and brother-in-law Frank live in Bisbee and have a new member of their household: Frisco, a cat. While Sydney and Frank are vacationing, my parents (Bev and Bill) flew down from Sacramento to cat- and house-sit.

Last night, we went to visit my parents, meet Frisco, then head over to Sierra Vista (a nearby town) to see Baxter Black, master cowboy poet and humorist in a live benefit performance for the Annual Cochise Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering.

Here's wild Frisco, a long, slender, young male cat FULL of mischief. This photo shows him rather calm, laying on top of a kitchen cabinet (floor to counter to top of the refrigerator to his high perch - boom, boom, boom, boom). He is a lot of fun, curious about and into EVERYTHING.

Five of the group of six of us with tickets for the performance met at Sydney's house for a quick dinner before the performance. We were dressed a little less casually than usual - jeans and boots traded in for "dress up" clothes and shoes. We bundled up for the rain outside and headed out the door.

As "designated driver", I was in the lead, ready to unlock the car doors when screams, shrieks, and shouts stopped me in my tracks. "There he goes!" "Laurie, grab him!" I turned my head in time to see a dark shadow streak past me, full speed, and disappear into the total darkness that is rural Arizona on a moonless night. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no!

This is what the yard looks like at Sydney's and Frank's house. This photo shows some of the "manicured" part. How would you like to meet this cactus on a dark night? That big, scrubby looking bush in the background? That was where we last saw Frisco before the complete and total darkness swallowed him up.

Frisco is an indoor cat. Now he was outdoors, on a pitch dark night, in a light rain - and we had places to go and things to see that were WAY more appealing than what appeared to be our new mission: capture the cat!

Five aghast faces turned towards the spot we had last seen him while our brains slowly processed our change of plans. Flashlights! We need 'em! Where are they?? Remember, no one who actually lives in the house was with us. We found one flashlight inside, and Odel set off into THIS in the dark and rain while I fumbled to put new batteries in the flashlight we keep in the car.

My turn next and let me tell you - you do NOT want to be wandering through thickets of ocotillo, agave, and other well-defended desert plants in the pitch black night. Oh, how I wished I was wearing jeans and boots.

Then, a miracle: Odel spotted Frisco! He thrashed his way back towards the house, Frisco moving in front of him. Next, a sighting under the van... in the carport... near the door... and he ran inside. YAY!

Oh, man, thank god! We piled into the car, giddy with relief, and took off for the theater. That is one wily cat.

Oh, by the way, Baxter Black was GREAT.