Flood! Thunderstorm!

Poor Six Toes.  It's been a couple of days where new experiences have left him confused and bewildered.  At his home we've had inclement weather to put it mildly.  Lots and lots of rain.  And one evening, a thunderstorm.  A really LOUD thunderstorm.  And Six Toes was determined to figure out what it was outside that was making all the racket.

He poked his head through the curtains as the thunder crashed and rolled.  Then he sat up like a squirrel to see more.  He just couldn't figure it out.  What mystified me was that most of my other cats were either hiding or ignoring the noise.  But not Six Toes.  He was determined to find out what all the hubbub was and do something about it.

After the storm, it rained.  And because the ground is saturated and somewhat still frozen, the water leaked into my basement.  Not much, you understand, but enough to cover the floor with about a quarter to a half inch of water.  And that's where the litterboxes are.  So after moving the litterboxes to higher ground (on top of milk crates) I began to bail out using a Shopvac.  If you've never used one, they are very loud.  Most of my cats run for the hills when it's on. 

But not our Six Toes.  First, he came to the basement to find out what was going on.  He watched me put the litter boxes up and decided to check it out.  So the first thing he does it put his toe in the water. And pulled it back.  Clearly he was confused.  Why was there cold water in the house near his litterbox?  But after watching me working, curiosity got to him and he made the plunge.  Two or three bounds across the wet floor and into the litterboxes up on the crates!  Which led to another problem:  Six Toes feet.  You see, his big paws were WET.  Really wet.  So when he leaped into the box, he got litter on his paws that turned to a muddy, clay-like mess!  He wasn't happy.  He found another safe perch to sit and watch me vacuuming up the water.  Which was fascinating to him, as he tried to attack the vacuum attachment repeatedly.  When I finally took a break, I got Six Toes, took him upstairs and cleaned off those muddy paws.  The cad.  And even though we've made a dry path for the cats to get to the litterboxes, he still insists on exploring this new wet world.

So for the past couple of days now, he's had a lot of new experiences and entertainment.  He's watched his humans bailing water and for some reason, always washing his toes!  And it's been noisy. 

I'll be glad when Spring is over....