Once upon a time Scruffy, an adventurer by nature, learned that if he wanted to get in the house and we didn't respond to his meows at the back door, he could climb up to the treehouse, jump onto the sunroom porch, and meow at my bedroom window and eventually someone would respond.

Scruffy (the black cat)
with Pixel (who's just made the realization, "Oooh, I like this idea")

He's been doing this for ages. I have even gotten phone calls from neighbors on two different occasions: "Linda, that black cat is up on the roof again. My husband's worried about him," went one. "I just love watching that cat up on the roof!" went the other.  It gets confusing for poor, neglected-at-the-back-door Scruffy, though, because the air conditioner goes in one window. When there's no air conditioner in, I let him in through that window. But when the air conditioner's in, I have to remove the screen from the other window that faces the roof and let him in that way. It's a learning curve twice a year, every year.

So today I hear the meow and head to the window. I'm not the only one who heard the meow.

Guess who now thinks the bedroom window is the most efficient way in AND out of the house.

Originally published in 2013