Choosing to Be Cooped Up

Why would anybody choose to be cooped up indoors when he could roam free instead? Why would anybody go to work every day in a closed box, when they could be looking at butterflies and flowers all day? Why would a chimpanzee stay in an enclosure rather than go out into the world? Why would a kitten choose to go into a storage shed, when it knows once the door closes, it can't get out till I open it?

The world is full of mysteries.

Bow, for instance, has choices now and has had choices in the past. Each of us do. Millions of people go to work every day in a closed box where they cannot see the outdoors, and they don't come out until it is practically night, and then they go home to another closed box. Yes, they say they do it in order to make a living, but most of what their income pays for is a box to live in. If they did not want to live in a box -- if they wanted to live outdoors instead -- then they would not even need that income.

But I'm not here to tell you about the average employee or about Bow. I'm here to tell you about the kitten. Yesterday, I realized that the kitten likes to be put it in storage. It actually looks forward to its time in the storage shed.

We were walking along and came across another turtle.

The kitten pretended not to be interested.

However, in time its curiosity for the better of it, and it went to inspect the turtle.

It happened like this. The kitten keeps following me on all my walks, just as if it were a dog.

When we spotted the turtle by the lagoon, the kitten took a break, while the turtle tried to decide what to do.

While the turtle was considering, the kitten moved in to inspect it. So I decided to take action. I picked up the kitten by the scruff of its neck and took it to the storage shed. But... I had my phone in one hand and the kitten in the other, so I put the kitten down gently on the grass, while I opened the door to the shed. Now, since we have been through this several times before, you would think the kitten would take this time to escape and avoid incarceration. But, no! The kitten wanted to go in the shed. It waited patiently for me to open the door, and almost walked in by itself. But it hesitated a little, instead allowing me to pick it up again and put it in the shed and close the door.


Eventually, the turtle got up the courage to walk a little.

And then I went for the rest of my nature walk.

I saw two insects sharing a thistle flower.

I saw a hummingbird moth pretty close up in my pasture.

This is the closest I have gotten to a hummingbird moth, but it still looks tiny.

And then when the walk was over -- and it was a very long walk -- I opened the shed door. You would think the kitten would bound out, hungry for freedom, right? But no, it got up slowly, ambled up to the door, sniffed, and then, as if asking itself if leaving the shed was really worth the effort, it jumped out.

I am beginning to think this kitten really wants to be an indoor cat.