Ranger's Excellent Adventure

Well folks, Ranger ruined my plans to go down town to visit the cherry blossoms. Instead, I chased him around the neighborhood for over an hour.  He always runs to the stream first and then comes back to the town houses.  He was NOT happy to see me when I arrived at the stream.

Here he is heading back around my neighbor's town house and I am going to try to cut him off before he heads back into the tree line behind everyone's homes.

 

I have just cut him off from heading into the tree line and I'm hoping he'll go into our yard. But NO! The little STINKER turns on me.

Now he is in my front bushes and I'm hoping he'll just walk into the house. I have learned from receiving serious wounds not to attempt to pick him up and bring him back inside. I just follow and hope that he'll go in complaining. Well, he wasn't too keen on Scout or Stryker waiting to 'greet' him. When he was growling at Stryker, his eyes were bugging out to the point you could see the whites. I really thought Stryker was going to buy the farm but I was afraid to physically push him back since he was scared and I didn't want to get scratched. I of course failed to cut Ranger off from making it off the front porch.

So, after an hour of this "Cat and Person" game, I decided to drive off and get a soda (I don't keep them in my house but man I really needed the caffeine. I prayed the whole time for God to take care of Ranger because there was clearly nothing I could do. Well, wouldn't you know it, when I returned half an hour later, Ranger was sitting in the flower pot on my front porch. When I got out of the car, he came running down the sidewalk to greet me. Here is how that exchange went.

After he walks away from me, he sat by one of the trees in front of my house for a little while and then he went down the storm drain. That is my biggest fear, the storm drain. Its like an underground roadway for animals and there is no telling what might be down there. Well, about three minutes after Ranger disappeared down the drain, Tribble (Scout and Stryker's mom) came dashing across the street, almost getting hit by the postal truck. Yes, she was that focused on getting down there, Ranger was in her territory and she didn't want him there. I went outside, expecting to hear some awful noises from the drain. Dead silence. I called for Ranger. Nothing. So I went back in the house. Almost as soon as I had gotten in, I looked out the front window and Ranger was coming out of the drain. I opened the door and called to him. He came but only after being bribed with tuna treats - - and he still growled and hissed at me as he walked on by and into the house!