Crazy Cats

My street has tons of stray cats. Actually, it’s a problem in many places in Israel. I’m not sure why. I have nothing against cats, when they’re household pets. But when they try to invite themselves in my house because they smell the food that I’m cooking, I’m not exactly a welcoming hostess.

There was a long-term problem in my backyard. My yard borders another yard from the next building. The other yard is actually an entrance to an apartment, and it has a solid gate. However, there is a massive hole above the handle of the gate, and the cats are always climbing through it and getting into the neighbor’s front yard. Why this hole is there is completely beyond me. Whatever. The cats don’t bother her, and it didn’t bother me, either.

That is, until the cats figured out that they could cross over into my yard. We’ve already had a flea problem from the cats, and one time a mama cat was hiding her kittens behind my dryer. That was a whole fiasco in itself, because I found them on erev Pesach, and almost got into a cat fight when she came back and found me moving her babies from her spot. She was ready to kill.

The other morning, my husband found the (same?) mama cat and two of her babies sleeping in our hammock. That was really something. And don’t think this mama cat is anti-social. Nope. She invited half the cat ‘hood over for some late-night partying. Most recently, hubby found like 8 cats frolicking around our yard at 5:30 in the morning.

Over the months, I’ve tried different ways to block them from coming through the fence. I put a plastic mesh-looking piece up on the corners of the fences, and that helped for a while. But these cats are Israeli cats, which makes them super smart and super-duper stubborn. Soon enough, they realized that they could squeeze underneath the fence, since there was no way for me to tie the mesh down at the bottom six inches.

Then, I put my clothesline hanger against one of the corners, and that worked for a while – until they realized that they could just keep walking past it and squeeze underneath the fence further down. Then, I tried to hold the mesh down with bricks. Didn’t work.

These cats are fearless. And completely crazy. The fence that they walk along to get into my yard is two stories higher than my downstairs neighbor’s garden. If they would fall, they’z be goin’ on a one-way trip to cat heaven. Finally, I realized that I would have to put up some type of wall on the outside part of the fence, where our two yards connect.

I found a broken piece of plastic and tied it up to my fence. Then I took my old curly hose and laid it along the length of the wall that they walk on. This way, I figured that if they somehow make it over the ridiculous wall blockade, it would be almost impossible for them to walk over the hose.

Here is a picture of my handiwork. Impressive, no?

So far, thank G-d, it worked. But, I’m not breathing easy just yet. I’m sure they’re currently holding an emergency staff meeting to try to figure out some new logistics so they can re-establish their home base. Just try me, kitties.

What has this saga made me realize, other than I hate stray cats?

Well, dahlings, the Evil Inclination works the same way! First, he infiltrates without us realizing. He welcomed himself in when we weren’t paying attention. Now, he’s lying back on our hammocks, wearing Ray Bans and sipping a margarita while he causes chaos and destruction in our lives. Trying to get rid of him on our own usually doesn’t work. Many times, we have to bring in reinforcements and up our game. But, he’s no fool. He ups his game, too.

Pretty soon, he’s throwing wild, all-night parties, and we’re at a loss of how to beat him. This is no easy task. For that, we need to call in the big guns, i.e., Hashem. The only way we can outsmart the evil inclination is with Hashem’s help! There is just no other way.

How do we do that? Only with personal prayer! The evil inclination is much, much stronger and smarter than we are. He is an angel from the dark side, and we’re just humans who can’t manage to disconnect from our smartphones for more than the time we’re actually asleep.

Lesson #2: Take heart. Overcoming any challenge is usually not a one-step process! It takes many repeated attempts and failures to move to the next level. But I can tell you a secret – asking Hashem to help you overcome any challenge will make the process a whole ‘lot shorter and easier! I promise!

Wait a minute… I just realized there was no lesson #1. Sorry about that. I’m too preoccupied with having to clean up the pieces of tuna that my kids left by the front door because they wanted to light a can of tuna on fire and then eat it. The tuna, I mean. Not the can. Maybe that’s why I have a cat problem??