May 21, 2017 – Mystery unsolved as of yet.

        We are several years into our central air not functioning.  We’ve had half a dozen service calls that all tell us the outrageous cost of replacement.  We’ve muddled through the steamy hot summers for several years, we will continue to do so a few more.

        We are doing it the “old fashioned” way.  We have ceiling fans and window fans and I close off the sun on the front of the house the first half of the day and then I close off the sun from the back side of the house in the afternoon.  When the temperature drops in the evening, I set the window fans in the windows and suck in the cool air for the night through to the early morning.  When the sun comes up again, I pull out the fans, close the windows and pull the drapes to keep in the cool.  It works pretty well, most of the time.

        Well, yesterday the cat seemed to find a cool place and my husband mentioned,

        “Where is the cat?  Has she gotten out?”  He asked worried.

        “She's hiding somewhere that is cool, but I am making tuna fish sandwiches for lunch and she will come out, always does when she smells it.” I answer not as concerned.  She has many hiding places and every so often she finds a new one.

        “Is she locked in a closet by mistake?”  He asks.

        I am making a mental check list of her hiding places.  Sometimes they are for warmth and then sometimes they are for cool.   Once it was for warmth and she was curled up in the mudroom in the corner where I’d just cleaned out old garden sneakers and the warm air was coming out from the underneath of the refrigerator and she had a nice warm corner.    That was a new hiding place and didn’t last long as I easily re-cluttered up the area with snow boots and such.

        I drained a teaspoon of tuna fish juice and placed a little chunk of tuna in the center in a low bowl and put it on the counter.  I am certain she will come out soon as the ceiling fans send the tuna fish fragrance from one room to the next.

        We had lunch.  After lunch I checked that she wasn’t locked in any bedroom closet by mistake and I then I made my tour of checking in all her favorite places:

Is she behind the curtain on the kitchen sliding glass door?

No.

Is she on my computer chair?

in the box under the computer desk. 

Behind the computer desk credenza where the books are piled, under the beds in all bedrooms that stay cool because the fans blow the air to the hardwood floors and up under the beds. 

I also checked behind the drapes puddled on the drawn windows, in various rooms,

behind the chair in one bedroom,

between the pillows on the guest bedroom,

on the dining room chairs that are shoved under the dining room table

 . . . she obviously has someplace new.

I went out to work in the garden and upon return my presence awakes my husband from his after lunch nap in front of the ball ball game on TV.

I also notice the tuna fish chunk and tuna fish juice are gone.  I hold up the little bowl to the light and see cat tongue lick marks . . . no my husband didn’t feed her and then wash it and leave it on the counter for me to put away.  Jasmine ambled out from hiding and found her treat.

        The licked bowl confirms she didn’t “get out” as my husband had feared.  

        I make another search for her in all her usual places and still don’t find her.

        “Well, Jasmine, you’ve found yourself someplace special this time.”  I announce and my husband and I go out grocery shopping.

        Returning a bit later, I am unlocking the back door and I notice pointed ears, and celery green eyes looking at me from a yawning cat sprawled between the sliding glass door and the puddled drape pulled to keep the sun out of the kitchen. She wasn’t there when we left.  But Jasmine is there now waiting and watching for our return to make certain we’d gotten her much needed cat cheerios from the grocery store.

        Unlocking the door she greets us at the door with her “chirping meow” and rubs around our ankles for her late afternoon snack.

Cat mystery is still unsolved.