Simon the cat has found a new way to give me a heart attack. A few nights ago, I was sitting in the chair in the corner of our bedroom, which has a view right down the length of the hallway upstairs.
Simon was participating in his normal ritual of nighttime craziness, which involves much running up and down the hall and tearing up and down the stairs. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, until he disappeared.
The cat ran down the hall way, made a very sharp turn left, and jumped across three feet of open stairwell onto the plant shelf that's opposite. This is in our front entryway, which is two stories high. The plant shelf, which is on top of the front hall closet, is about 8 1/2 to 9 feet from the ground. It has a large basket on it with a fake plant in it.
He jumped across three feet of open stairwell, landed on the shelf, pushing the basket over slightly. He walked once around the basket, then positioned himself to jump back. This jump back, by the way, is through the railing of the upstairs landing. The spindles are 4 1/2 inches apart (I just measured), the width that's specified by building code so little kids can't get their heads stuck in the banister.
Four and one half inches. Did I mention that Simon the cat is about 4 1/2 inches wide? Yes, he is (he's supposed to be on a diet since he steals most of his brother's food, but that's another subject). So he's looking at jumping three feet across, to a level that's equal to the level he's on (so he doesn't have the advantage of being able to jump downwards), through a railing and between spindles that are the same width apart as his body, while at least eight feet in the air.
We haven't had a kitty funeral, so he made it. I'm just hoping that my heart holds out in the future.
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