Signs of Winter 9: House Cat Day III

Photo by D. Sillman

Two years ago in my January 21, 2013 blog (very optimistically entitled “Signs of Spring 3”) and again in last years’ January 28, 2014 blog “The Winter: Housecat Day II” I wrote about Groundhog Day and suggested that we change this early February day-of-prediction to focus not on an animal that is sound asleep in his grass-lined burrow, but rather on an animal with whom we could more naturally base an ecologically or culturally significant day of hope for the coming spring.

I went through the cases for using robins, or bumblebees, or scarlet tanagers as our symbolic animal to celebrate the anticipation of the coming spring, but settled on what was, to me anyway, the most logical species among us. That species, of course, is the housecat (Felis catus).

Cats are the most popular house pet in the United States (the Humane Society estimates that there 74 to 86 million house cats in the U.S. (as compared to “only” 70 to 78 million dogs). Housecats, usually, share the warm, dry living spaces of a house with humans (of course, they usually keep the really nice spots all to themselves!), and cats especially share with humans a hardwired, probably DNA-based fondness for sunshine, warm temperatures, and fun, fluttery organisms like birds (their “bird-agenda,” though, is often quite different from ours!).

Photo by D. Sillman

So, two years ago on February 2, I took one of my housecats, Mazie (pictured above), out into the snow-covered front yard (I tried to take both of my cats, but Taz (pictured to the side) sensed that something was up and disappeared into one of her magical hiding places somewhere in the house). I put Mazie down in the yard (on a nice dry towel!), and left the front porch door open. If Mazie ran for the porch, then we would have six more weeks of winter. If Mazie stayed on her towel or starting walking around in the yard thus avoiding a dash back into the house, then spring was just around the corner.

I was amazed how fast she ran back into the house! But, that year the weather suddenly turned warm by late February. March temperatures set record breaking highs (I even remember a day when it nearly got up to ninety degrees!). Maybe our predictive model was not articulated correctly.

Last year I did the same, and Mazie responded with equal speed and agility and got back into the house even before Deborah could take the lens cap off of her camera. Last year, though, winter hung on grimly well into March. Mazie’s prediction, then, fit the observed phenomenon. The model has re-set itself?

Photo by M. Hamilton

We’ll find out on Monday, February 2 what this year will bring! Mazie returns to the front yard for her third experimental trial. If I can find Taz I will take her outside, too! Deborah will have her camera all ready before the test begins! I am sure that Mazie will do her best for us all! Our daughter Marian has her two cats (Binx and Mora (pictured to the side)) primed and ready for a New Mexican House Cat Day celebration! The Tradition is spreading! Blog followers in Washington, in Illinois, in Iowa, in California, in New York, and in Oklahoma, if you don’t have a cat of your own, borrow one! Dare to participate!! Results will be published soon!