Locked Myself Out of the House Again

July 27, 2014 Sunday

Since I stay up late with my friends on Saturday night, I sleep in on Sunday morning. (There is that whole getting up to go for a walk at 6 am, but I go back to sleep afterwards, and sometimes the walk seems more like a dream and only my walking clothes being used instead of in their neat pile lets me know I actually did go for a walk that morning!)

Apricot is getting used to the going back to sleep part and wasn't quite so mournful about it this morning, though he did make some token protests. That means he made squeaky hinge sounds in the bedroom for a few minutes until it became obvious I wasn't getting back up, and then he left. He didn't make as many squeaks this morning as previous Sundays.

It's summer, so it's hot outside. I needed to get groceries and I had a choice of doing it when I got up today (the second time) or tomorrow after work. This is a difference between 85 and 100 degrees, so I chose to go today when I got up.

Apricot was very affectionate and so I petted him and engaged him in return affections for a little less than an hour before I left for groceries. I mean, poor guy, I wake up, pet him a little, go for a walk, and go back to bed. I didn't want to get up, pet him a little, and go for groceries. He deserves more attention than that!

So, anyway, I leave, reluctantly, but every minute I spend in the house it's just getting hotter outside. I shut the door behind me ... and realize the keys are on the other side of the door. Really? I cannot tell you how many times I have locked myself out of this house. It's annoying. Perhaps I should get the door replaced with a door with a keypad, instead!

There is a complication here. I mean, I've locked myself out enough that I have a key hidden outside, but it's not to the kitchen door. It's to the patio door. And I've never opened that door since Apricot came here. He doesn't know it's a door.

And I learned with Max that cats do not appreciate having walls suddenly turn into doors. Granted, I'd be the one coming through it, not a total stranger (as in Max's case--it was my sister who I was giving instructions via cell-phone on how to get in because I was stuck at work). But still. This had potential to be a scary thing.

But I had to get back in somehow. I couldn't see through the patio door if he was in the living room or not, since I had sunglasses on. So I knocked on the door and said "it's just me" as I came in. The alarm started beeping and I headed for the kitchen to turn it off after I closed the patio door.

To my surprise, I met Apricot coming back into the living room from the kitchen. He had a very baffled and slightly annoyed look on his face, directed at me.

The only thing I can figure is that when I knocked, despite where the knock came from, he went with previous experience that said "knocks mean the kitchen door opens and someone comes in." It's always been other people--I don't knock at my own door usually!

And then the kitchen door didn't open, and he heard me in the living room, and came back into the living room to find that, sure enough, I was there.

So how did I come in the kitchen door without him seeing me and end up in the living room? This did not make sense, and he was not pleased that things were not making sense. Thus the bafflement and annoyance.

I apologized and explained, but I think he still doesn't know the patio doors open. Not quite the sequence of events I was expecting, but hey, it's better than scaring him!