I half-woke this morning to the noise of a crash.  Or perhaps I dreamt it?  I listened for more but there was nothing.  Had I heard anything?  Pan was in the room.  Hera wasn’t.  Maybe knocked something over.  Perhaps I’ll find out later?  Back to snooze.

Much later, and after browsing the web and answering some email, I finally get up and make my way downstairs with Pan running ahead of me expectantly.  First thing he wants everyday is to go outside.  I go to open the porch door and… a very perturbed Hera comes rushing up to the door from outside and gives me an earful.

And I’m thinking… what the heck??  How did you get out?  How long have you… hey… I don’t suppose that noise…

And then I have a hunch.  So I go upstairs and take a look at my solar panels and sure enough, there’s the evidence. Kinda funny to see, actually:

You see, I have a pet door in an upstairs window that let’s Pan and Hera get out to a patio off of my bedroom.  And I’ve got several planters out there with grasses, herbs, catnip and nepeta — all kitty goodies.  They do have to brave the various hawks and birds of prey, but they’re pretty good size cats and it seems worth the risk to let them enjoy free access.

So it would seem that Hera decided to try walking on one of the panels this morning and slipped or perhaps was even startled by the shadow of a hawk overhead.  (In fact, one such shadow passed over while I was up there to take a picture.)  She then must have scrambled to hang on, crashed into the metal gutter (the noise I heard) and yet still tumbled off the side and down to the ground.  A pretty good fall for a big fifteen pound cat particularly since the ground is much lower on that side of the house.  Well, Hera was a little annoyed for not being able to get back in the house all morning but no apparent injuries.

Next day thoughts: It is odd how there are simple paw prints at the top of the panel, scrambling smears at the bottom and nothing in between.  Did something try to pick her up?  Maybe, but she didn’t have any qualms about going out again later that night and she doesn’t seem to have any wounds from talons.  A mystery remains.

Alright, that does it.  Enough “surprises”.  After several mice in various states of disrepair, a bunch of live but tail-less lizards, a not-quite-dead gopher this morning and a most definitely dead and disemboweled mouse, gopher or rodent of some sort tonight… that’s it.  I’ve had enough.  No more pet door, guys — no more free in-and-out access.  Perhaps you’ll eventually deplete whatever remains in the fenced-in area but you’ll have to do it with controlled access from me.

Oh, you want back in?  Not with that lizard you’re carrying, Pan.

Hera, what’s that under your paw?  No, the other paw.  No, your *other* other paw!

Perhaps after many months like this (not being able to bring prey inside) they’ll lose this habit – or at least drive off all the prey.

They seem to enjoy the access to the roof though – I installed a pet door in the upstairs bathroom window instead. And there’s an upstairs patio area off of the master bedroom where I’ve put in some potted plants and grasses for them.