mud-covered mischief

Do you ever wonder what your cats do while you sleep at night?  I'm pretty sure this one does pretty much what she does during the daytime:  

But Rodolfo, on the other hand ~ Rodolfo has some mischief in him. Lots of times when I go to sleep at night (mainly on nights when Sealion works nights), and I'm in that dozing, but not-quite-asleep stage, I'll hear Rodolfo roaming around the house meow-meow-meowing. I think he has secret imaginative adventures. I have walked into rooms where he has been meow-meow-meowing all by himself, and asked him what was up. He looks around at me, like, "What?!" Oh, excuse me.

The other night we finally got some rain.  Around here (as far as I have been able to tell), instead of four seasons, we kind of have two.. and a half.  In the "winter and spring" months, it's supposed to be cool with rain, and in the " summer, and fall", it is warmer and dry with no rain at all (the "half" I'm calling is late summer-early fall when it is hot instead of mildly warm.  And nights are always cool no matter the season.)  So after we parental- and baby-folk turned in for our long winter's nap (the bedtime is quite early these days. .), it finally did some raining.  We didn't really notice.  But Dolfo did ~ as he apparently made trip after trip through the cat-door* out into it, and back again to roam his nighttime "beat."  Rain actually gets him worked up ("riled up", as my Kentucky self calls it) and energized.   

When we woke up the next morning, we discovered just how much our boy roams the night ~ in muddy trails that extended surprisingly far and thoroughly along every wall, and around every corner of the house.  Too, I was surprised at how far the mud would last ~ as if he had a little mud palate to dip his paws in when it would run out.    

dining room table.

path where the bedroom doors were closed, and he walked through the small opening

Well, we got a great laugh out of it, but the cat-door was closed immediately to be re-opened when the ground dried.
A day went by, and I could feel the restless cabin-fever of our feline family rise.  The next day, Sealion left for work.  As the day progressed, I could hear Rodolfo trying to open any random door ~ cabinets and closets ~ by scratching and pawing, and then meowing longingly. Kitty was working out some major frustration on her toy mice.  So I gave in, opened the cat-door, and created an entryway of many towels to wipe the feet as the cats came in.  Perfect, I thought!  And went upstairs with Anjali to get crafty. 

Any good internet addict must at least "check in" for a few minutes before getting started on a project.  *As soon as* I logged on ~ sociably, and very excitedly, Rodolfo jumped up on the desk, ran across the keyboard, leaving a sloppy-sandy-muddy trail with every step, and plopped down *totally* mud-covered from head to toe *smack-dab* on Papi Sealion's stack of Important Papers.  oops.    

So we're keeping the cat-door closed at the first drops of rain these days, and, after mopping up several paw trails since that first one, I am no longer the pushover.  Cats, do some hibernating.

You gotta agree, though ~ aren't the paw tracks cute?!  

Rodolfo, looking very satisfied after his mud romp.

* Papi Sealion very handily created steps that lead from the bedroom window "cat-door" down the side of the house to the path beside the house, which is fenced off for cat use.