Summer Porches

by Phelicity

Do you have a summer porch? I hope so, they are so nice to have. I'll tell you about the kinds I know. You might know about more, or have some different kind. I think kitties really do need a summer porch!

The first kind I saw when I was little wasn't a proper porch, just a covered patio. Those are concrete, open to the yard for outdoor kitties, so I was never on it. I sat on a shelf in the kitchen window, watching my sisfur dive-bomb field mice from a fence post and climb down the rose trellis from the roof, and all the cats were having fun, but I wasn't. When it got too hot out, the other cats stayed in a lot. Then one of the boys always took my shelf.



But the second kind was a real porch, a good screened-in one we had on our mountain, five steps up from the ground. I could sit out there and be treated to a Nature Cinema all day! It was heavenly! There were birds and flutter-byes to watch, bunnies and squirrels that came out of the woods, and sometimes one of those birds got into the porch by squeezing in the roof. Boy, was that exciting! I learned to jump high and chatter my teeth and chase, but it was my sisfur who.... well, nefur mind. The porch was shady, so we girls could be out there lots of the year. We were all indoor cats by then. I didn't go out in winter, but my sisfur did. She couldn't live without smelling the woods and seeing the stars at night, even when it was freezing. Brrr! Summer was better.

We got the third kind when we came here. It's an enclosed porch, just a big room with lots of windows facing the yard. I love it out there, too! I wait and wait while it's closed up in cold weather, and finally a warm day comes, the door and windows are open and I'm out there! Then every day after breakfast I want that door opened! At first it's wonderfur, everything is green and purrty, I have chairs and window seats to be in and I'm so happy. But as the summer goes on, my mom watches the thermometer out there and gets furry unreasonable about it! She'll pick me up and call me a limp little kitty noodle, and drag me inside, and shut the door! I complain about it, but I just go plop on the kitchen floor and cool off. Maybe she's right. Sometimes.

Can you tell that I thought one of these summer porches was the best kind? Yes, I did. But now I've heard of another kind that combines the furry best of all three. My mom told me about it, she was there. It's kind of an enclosed patio on the ground, like a really big room outside, part outdoor carpet and part real dirt and woodchips! Closing the bottom, there is wooden wall but the whole upper part is all screened in and latticed, open to the air. It has kitty size shelves all around, and you can see out on three sides. Doesn't that sound divine? Oh, I'm gonna dream about that kind this summer!