The Cat Lady

We live on the back corner of our apartment complex, facing the wall that divides us from a large city park. An anonymous individual leaves cat food and water in tupperware on the grounds near the park fence for stray cats to eat. The HOA has made mention on several occasions that they wish this person would discontinue this practice. The warnings have been unheeded.

Living so near the food drop location, I have had two exciting opportunities where I glimpsed the person I believe to be feeding the cats. Both were last fall, when I was pregnant with Jack.

1. I was bringing Hazel home from the park. Sitting on the steps just past our stairway, with her back to me, was a woman I'd never seen before. Long, wavy, waist-length blond hair. I'd place her in her mid-40's. Stroking a collarless cat I'd frequently seen nibbling at the afore-mentioned food! She did not turn around as I and my chatty child neared, which I found suspicious. For reasons I now cannot remember and do regret, I took Hazel inside the house and then came back out to look at the Cat Lady again. Alas, she was gone.

2. Mere days later, I was at my garage and spotted a lady with long, wavy blond hair driving an older car past me on the way out of the complex. I immediately called Todd to report another sighting of the Cat Lady. Because of the direction she was driving from, my best guess is that she lives in the building perpendicular to ours.

Jokes about the Cat Lady have been made in our house on a fairly regular basis over time.

Our rental company representative called me about two months ago to ask if I or any of my neighbors were the one leaving the cat food, as it is right in front of my building. I laughed, and told her I wasn't the Cat Lady and that she didn't live in my building. She asked me to confront CL if I ever saw her again.

It's all been very amusing and casual and just something to laugh about. Until...

Just before Labor Day, Todd discovered a pack of four raccoons nibbling at the cat food at night. He didn't think much of it at the time. But a few days later, he and Hazel were coming home from the park and spotted the pack running along our sidewalk in broad daylight! They headed straight for the cat food. Todd threw a few rocks at them to try to scare them away. Quite the contrary. They hissed at Todd and continued on with their feast, acting all hostile and making Todd worry for Hazel's safety.

The third sighting occurred as an entire family unit, in the early evening. I held Jack and Hazel at a safe viewing distance while Todd climbed the wall and vigorously chucked rocks at the raccoons for several minutes. After quite a long battle, they retreated far enough away for me to make a run for it and grab the cat food.

At that point, Todd declared war on the Cat Lady. Homeless cats or no, we can't sit back and let the Raccoon Gang invade our territory, acting all hostile and making us worry about the safety of our children.

For the past month, the entire Bonner clan has been keeping a constant eye out for cat food. Whenever we see it, we dispense of it. Hazel asks about the Cat Lady every time we walk past the drop spot. I've stuck to straight-up dumpster drops, but Todd's been working hard to send a clear message by rendering CL's tupperware useless.Cat Lady switched to paper bowls and started leaving the food on the park side of the fence. Usually it's just barely close enough that I can still reach it if I strain, but Todd has quite frequently had to jump the fence to gather food and containers. One day she got aggressive and dumped the food in a pile on the ground and left the empty bowl next to it. She's got her own ways of sending messages.

Todd and I took a walk past the building I suspect CL lives in, and I think we may have found her unit. Behold, the porch:We thought about dumping a bag or two of cat food on her porch, but decided that's like funding her project.

Frustrated with how this war has seemed to have no end, Todd took it to the next level and wrote Cat Lady a note, which he taped to the fence next to the remnants of her latest water bowl."Dear CAT LADY
I understand your concern for the cats and desire to feed them. However I have now joined the side of the HOA and am requesting you cease feeding the cats over here immediately.
There is now a family of 4 raccoons living here and eating your cat food. These raccoon have hissed at and threatened me and my kids not just at night but at 4 pm in the afternoon. This is unacceptable. I suggest you invite the raccoons over to your house for dinner as it is obvious you don't live in this area.
Putting food on the other side of the wall is still unacceptable. I can easily jump the wall and throw that away too."

Since then, the feedings have slowed down. She might just be out of town for a few days. If not, Todd admitted he's a little disappointed the Cat Lady might be done, as his next step was to add rat poison to the food. He said, "I can't throw all the food away, so I'll just make the food worthless. She's a sneaky little devil."