Each year we have a cat or two or ten that seem to enjoy hanging around our yard through the summer. There’s a few that I see year after year, but there always seems to be a new one or two each year as well.

This year we’ve been seeing a cat, that I’ll simply call “ginger” due to it’s light orange color, hanging around our front and back yard. Well, not just our yard. It likes to crouch down under our “karaoke neighbors” front shrubs, or I see it skulking across other neighbors lawns on most days.

Earlier today when I was looking out an upstairs window I saw Ginger cat lying in my elderly neighbors garden. It was hiding underneath her many pepper plants. If the cat had been slightly darker in color I wouldn’t have even noticed it as it was well hidden, but due to it’s color and the fact that I was looking at from 20 or more feet above I could see it fairly well. I scratched the window screen to see if it would react and ginger cat looked right up at me.

Ever since we’ve moved here we’ve had a number of creatures in our and our neighbors backyard. Raccoons, cats, squirrels, mice and yes I’ve even seen rats! I don’t think we have any rats living in our garden or on our property, but I’m sure some live in our neighbors shed and under the back porch of another neighbor. Mice too of course.

I think Ginger cat was patiently lying in wait for a mouse or rat to cross it’s path.

Prior to realizing what the cat was probably doing I was going to scare the cat out of my neighbors garden, but when it occurred to me that it was likely doing me and my neighbors a service I left it undisturbed. I don’t really like to think about animals hunting one another, but neither do I like the idea of rats and mice running around my yard, so I guess I’m hoping that Ginger cat was successful and had a good meal this afternoon.

I suppose that’s the main reason why I’ve seen so many cats in our yard and our neighbors yards over the years. They really shouldn’t be out – I’m sure they have homes and their owners just let them out. However, if they are going to hang around I hope they are catching animals like the mice and rats that I know would soon overrun the area without some form of pest control.

I should look out my upstairs window more often. I saw a squirrel doing some strange stuff too. I wrote about it on my gardening blog and I’ll link to the post as soon as I publish it.