Stop, Thief

We had a big ol' thunderstorm here in Jersey City this afternoon, which was good because I got to test out the gutter cleaning I had earlier in the day. The clean gutters work!

Anyway, the feral cats (Jay and Lil) had their breakfast around 7:30, but the rain made it impossible to feed them dinner in the evening. They were hiding somewhere plus I don't want to put food in their bowl only to have it soaked a few minutes later.

Finally, the rain stopped at dusk, so I went out back to see if they were around. I saw Lil, and I called Jay. He came running across the convent lawn.

I put half a cup of dry food in their fancy bowl I'd bought from the local potter back in December. Jay and Lil both headed for the food. They had a complex negotiation involving meowing and staring, and then Jay tucked in while Lil waited for a chance to take over the eating chores.

Satisfied all was well, I went back in to my work meeting, already in progress on my monitor.

I went back to check on the cats ten minutes later, and to my surprise, this jerk was chowing down on their food!

I went back outside and told him to scram. He just kept eating.

"That's not for you! Take a hike, you jerk." He continued to wolf down the cat's food.

I got my cat toy on a stick and slapped him with the stick part. He picked up the bowl with his little hands and backed away, bowl and all. He then put the bowl down on the convent lawn, and continued to eat, ignoring me.

Jay just stared the whole time.

Poor kitties. No dinner for them.