Jean Claude and Roxie joined me again outside today. I think Roxie is still debating  whether she is more of a house cat or not. She beat a hasty retreat back into the house at the sound of the neighbor’s dog. Of course not Jean Claude who remained under one of my rose bushes, calmly chewing grass.

With all the warm weather I decided to bring out some outdoor furniture,  naturally Jean Claude followed me into the garage to inspect but he quickly became bored. I had a bright idea  to swap out my two front porch chairs, worn by the harsh winter for two chairs  I kept in the garage. Rather than  carry the new chairs up the stairs and through the house I decided to carry them through the alley to the front of the house.   I shut but DID NOT LOCK  the basement door and LOCKED  the screen door which has security bars.   As I started down the alley with the chairs in hand,  I heard the trash truck fast approaching behind me.    Jean Claude, still outside, began to howl.   I glanced over my shoulder to see him beckoning at the upstairs back door.    “Let him wait,” I thought.   I continued carrying the chairs through the alley to their new resting place.    Giving the four chair layout a try I decided ‘ just two for now.’   I proceeded back down the stairs with the old chairs  through the alley to my backyard.   Where…was Jean Claude??   No more howling but my basement door was now ajar. “Oh my goodness,” I thought, “Someone has broken into my house.   I must have forgotten to lock the screen door.”

I peered inside and to my amazement there standing inside the house behind the screen door was ….Jean Claude.  Evidently not inclined to wait for me to come and let him back in the house he had pushed the bottom screen in a bit,  climbed through the security bars, pushed open the door and let himself in.  

Hopefully I won’t soon see  cat toys strategically placed on my house steps.