Beyond the Back Door 4/10/2022

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

It was almost dark outside but even in the shadows I could see the glow of the dogwood blooms.  The brightness of the white wisps in the woods within my line of sight caught me off guard as the night fell.  I can’t say that I thought it was actual ghosts in the forest but I will say that when those unexpected bright bits hit my peripheral I most certainly did a quick double take.  I don’t even think the moon was that bright but somehow those dogwood blossoms seemed to produce their own light.  This may happen most springs but I cannot say that I have ever seen it before. Of course speckles of white are common in the springtime woods of these parts as these trees bloom.  I was however, unaware that in the dark they were iridescent to this extent.

While the view of ghost flowers through my patio door was notable it wasn’t the only point of intrigue outside that night. Earlier that day we had had a visitor. A handsome orange striped cat had meandered about our back yard for a while in the daylight hours and he, or she, I didn’t get a good enough look at the business end to be certain, had given our backyard a thorough examination. The weather was pleasant enough that we had the door to the patio open at one point and our visitor had made a note of this.  Marmalade, as I have just decided to call him/her, saw that the residents of the house were within earshot and decided to say a few words. He certainly wasn’t a shy fellow/gal when it came to conversing. I daresay he/she was making a petition known for whatever it was that caused some sort of dripping beneath our smoker that I had noticed he/she found highly intriguing.  I of course, responded to the request by reasoning that while he/she was a fine feline specimen, our home already had one of this kind and that met our cat quota.  Of course part of me wanted to provide refreshment but if you have ever fed, well, most anything, you know that once snacks are established as a possibility sometimes the familiarity can grow to levels that go outside of one’s comfort zone.

Though I did my best to be congenial to this vocal guest, my current resident of the species did not share my sentiment.  Jasper actually was the first to catch sight of Marmalade of course. Seeing my boy sit at the door and watch outside fervently isn’t new.  He could be watching squirrels or birds.  He could just be casually waiting for me to realize he would like to go out on the patio and have a wallow on the concrete which apparently feels glorious to him because he does it with amazing fervor.  You should really see him, especially these days, my svelte black beast coming in covered in yellow pollen in a coating clearly visible that started from his cheek all the way to his back toes.  But I, as per usual, digress. Jasper was looking intently outside and when the movement caught my eye I saw why.  He had competition and he was NOT happy.

The best way that I can describe the sound that was coming from my cat is that it would fall somewhere between a howl and a rumble.  It sounded like if you crossed a wolf (I hope he doesn’t mind the canine comparison) and an excavator.  It was somehow high and low pitched all at once and I must say it was rather disconcerting.  Meanwhile Marmalade is trying to avoid eye contact with him and looking at me hoping that I’d have a bit of pity, bless it.  Now, I can’t say what Jasper would have actually done had I been a twisted person and let him beyond the screen door to give this uninvited guest a greeting. He certainly was playing a menacing role with his strange sound effects and a stare that would melt concrete.  Perhaps he was all talk, but I give him credit for being very convincing.  I also must give the proper praise to our orange stranger since he/she did his/her very best to ignore the great angry beast separated by a mere screen yet still managed to give a convincing argument that something to nibble upon would solve all of our issues.  I can only imagine that if I had actually provided food and Jasper witnessed it, I would have to sleep with one eye open.

There have been other moments of intrigue that I have seen out this same back door.  I remember back during the winter, one evening my daughter insisted something just jumped in our swimming pool. I of course, insisted that it didn’t. I should have known though because if she says she saw something she did. She calls herself “Eagle Eye” very appropriately. When she refused to recant her statement, we proceeded to investigate.  Sure enough, something was splashing about in the pool. Before we could go out in the cold to examine the situation further, we see a very wet, and what I can only imagine was a terribly cold possum crawl from the pool. He did his very best to act casual as if he had meant to take a chilly dip and proceeded to climb the fence and scurry away. He almost seemed to be looking around to check and see if anyone had witnessed his faux pas.

As you can tell, just a casual glance into my back yard can produce some high-quality entertainment. You could stumble upon intrigue, drama or even comedy.  I don’t know, this may be the case in most people’s back yard.  But I like to think that my own little corner of the world is special with all its creatures and happenings. I am sure I am biased, but it is nice to know that just sitting at home and looking out gives me so many opportunities to raise an eyebrow, shake my head or simply smile.  Flora, fauna and a possum accident; what more could a person ask?