Cat in a tub territory............

Right from the word go Jonesy was boss cat of the local area......except for the big bruiser of an old black and white cat who lived around the next road. My he was huge....and neither was he 'done'!!! Hence the reason both Peanut and Ripley got pregnant before we even realised they were in season. Then again, without that black and white cat we would never have had the joy of Jonesy, Cepha or Tank, and what a wonderful experience that has been. I must say that many a time we would all go running into the garden to shout for Jonesy because of the howling and caterwauling we could hear......Jonesy and that bruiser fought often and hard and there were many a cut to prove it. Actually I am surprised he never got hurt more than he did considering the size of his foe, but Jonesy obviously had guts...or the stupidity... enough to stand his ground. One day we realised the old black and white cat hadn't been seen for a while, so he must have passed away? Jonesy was finally boss cat of the area.
Being boss cat meant checking out his territory every day and Jonesy had a good routine. Wake at the crack of dawn, eat, wash and saunter off to check around. Generally he had been out for a good half an hour before my husband and I would leave for work and by that time we would usually see him sat in someone's garden in the next road, or sauntering off down to the caravan park (see a previous blog post). But his favourite place to be was next door in the neighbour's garden. Oh yes, next door marking his territory in their pot plants! I will always remember a conversation I had, over the fence, with the elderly neighbour. Ripley and Peanut never wandered far but Jonesy definitely did, and Cepha and Tank would at least sun themselves next door. The garden was their pride and joy, with beautifully kept lawn and hedges, and wonderful flowering tubs. As boss cat Jonesy would carefully make his mark all around the garden.....and sit smack bang in the middle of one of the prize tubs! It was like he knew he shouldn't but couldn't and pretty much every day we could hear the shoo shoo of the neighbour to get him off the tubs. This action prompted me to peer over the fence one day and apologise profusely about the cats and their damage. "How many cats have you got"? asked the neighbour. "Five" I replied. She almost fell over and the repeated gasp of "Five" did cause me to giggle. I suppose five cats was a little excessive?
It took years for Jonesy to stop planting himself on the beautiful flowering tubs to sleep, and years for our neighbour to become accustomed to him being around. Interestingly their relationship really developed a few years ago when our neighbour's husband died. She came round one day to tell us how much of a comfort Jonesy was to her. What a surprise, considering we had thought the cats a nuisance to her? Apparently, one day she had been alone, sunning herself in the garden. She had been feeling very lonely, and sad, and then suddenly Jonesy appeared. He lay down beside her and stayed all afternoon. Her had never done it before, and yet she told me it was as if he knew she needed company. All summer, and every summer after, he would spend his time in the afternoons with her in the garden, weather permitting.
I know my neighbour will miss Jonesy this summer.......