Mad Pooper Puts Supper on the Table

Our youngest cat Gidget, now known as the Mad Pooper for her serial soiling of the neighborhood sandbox, has been quite an ambassador for us.  She's proven to be quite the huntress, and led to me being yelled at be a neighbor for the first time ever in my life.  I won't detail the negative interaction, except to say that I think it was entirely warranted, which led me to profuse apologies, the scooping of said sandbox, and a determination to keep Gidget inside. Even while I was scooping, the neighbors and I ended up chatting in a reasonably friendly way and we all chuckled uncomfortably about "what a way to meet your neighbors, huh?"  But, you know, it was fine.

Then, last night, the Mrs. knocks on my door with a bag of beautiful, cleaned fresh veggies from the community garden where she volunteers, and even more apologies for the weekend debacle, saying that they found more poop in the box, but knew that I had been keeping Gidget inside and shouldn't have assumed it was all her doing.  I assured her it was fine, that I was the bad neighbor for having possibly started the, uh, trend and insisted that apologies were not needed.  Somehow, we ended up talking about cherries, and the cherry tree at the end of the block.  I told her about my slick new cherry pitter and my prowess as a pie-baker and she said perhaps she'd bring some cherries down some time.  Swell! 

Sometime this afternoon while I was still at work, the neighbor-Mr. dropped by with his peace offering--a gallon of unprocessed cherries.  I thought that was right nice.  Then I realized that I had a gallon of juicy cherries that needed processing in the next few hours.  These cherries would not wait.  So, I made a lovely stir fry with the previous evening's gift veggies, setting off the fire alarm for the first time, having forgotten that I can't use the wok directly on the coils of electric stove. Then I decided I'd process the cherries and whip up a couple of pies after supper, one of which I'd deliver to the pooped-upon cherry-gifters.

I'd pitted about half the cherries when Juniorina decided she'd like to help out, so I did some kitchen clean-up while she pitted the remainder of the fruit.  At that point, I figured I could freeze the fruit, or make the pie. Of course, I opted for the path of most complication. I mixed the cherries with quick cook tapioca and sugar, and left them to sit for 15 minutes while I ran to the store for pie crust (I make my own crusts 95% of the time, but I figure for all the work that cherries take, it's no big crime to buy a decent lard-filled crust).  As I left for the store, guess who ran out between my legs, making her bid for freedom?  It was raining, getting late, and there was no chance of catching her.  It's all a big game of dodging and zipping and seeking refuge in the neighbor's hedge (the neighbors who like her).  So, I got in the car and hoped that the rain would force Gidge back inside.

I'm still learning my grocery stores here, and chose the wrong one for crust. I went to the closest non-convenience store to my house, but found, pretty much, a deluxe convenience store. They had crust, but not the best quality.  Nonetheless, I settled.   When I got home, Gidget was around in the yard, but I had to get the pies in the oven.  By then, I was getting tired and cranky with myself for having spent the whole night in the kitchen.  So, I filled the pies, and decided to make a crumb crust because I had too much filling for one big pie, and everyone knows that cherry pies have to have some sort of top.  Finally, they were filled and topped and popped into the oven, and I went out to try and lure Gidget back in. Unsuccessful, I went to check on the pies, only to discover a burning smell and smoke roiling from the oven.  Crap! I'd set it to broil.  So, I turned the oven off, got the fan to blow out the smoke and moved the broiled pie to the lower rack and started up again on bake.

The pies came out, not pretty, but pretty tasty and Gidget came in shortly after I started writing this. So, tomorrow morning, I'll head down the alley, a pie in one hand, and a pooper scooper in the other. Hello neighbor!

Comments

[Bridgituerf]

How is new HARRY POTTER? Did any one saw it already? I am going tonight!

[The pitz]

You should write a book..... Geez kid, I'm sorry, but I'm STILL laughing about the sandbox debacle.

My cat (appropriately named Dammit Kitty) has her very own leash.... so the neighbors sandbox is pure as the diapers their kids wear.

My hat goes off to your effort to make it right with the neighbors.... it's a rare trait to be neighborly anymore.... what with the internet and television... most people don't even know their neighbors names.

Prosit!

BTW.... I'm in China at the moment.... I saw two cats cross the road last night and the guy I was with (Chinese) mentioned (in broken english): "those is cat, they rary ever seen here".... hmmmm I wonder what's for dinner?

dd

[rochelle]

Hi Karnak--Neighors admitted that they did have a cover, but that it was "too much of a hassle" to use it. When my kids were tiny, we had one of those plastic turtle sandboxes, complete with cover. Which I often forgot to put on. Maybe I'm not a very good mom, because I'd just scoop out the poop and let them go to it. I mean, think about all the crud kids get into any way--just crawling across the floor in the house.

Home sandpits and boxes are way overrated. Ask any parent who has had to sweep and vacuum daily. That stuff hides in diapers, armpits, jacket sleeves, shoes....

[karnak]

Why don't your neighbours have a cover on their kid's sandpit? Here in Australia most of th childcare places and families have some sort of cover to stop cats pooing in the sandpit. The cover comes off when kids want ot use it and goes on when it is not in use