Dodging bullets

I arrived home at about 11:15pm, after spending the evening at my parents house. I first discovered that the contents of the trash can are all over the place, courtesy of the local raccoons (normally I have a bunjee cord keeping it shut, not lately though). I clean up that mess and am in the process of dragging the trash cans to the street, when I hear a bell. I thought, wow, I can hear the bell on Zoe's collar remarkably well out here. As I continued my work, I started to feel that something wasn't right.

I'm halfway up the front steps when I see Zoe rolling around on the ground outside of the front door. The last time I saw Zoe (at 3:30pm), she and Flame were inside the locked house. I grab Zoe and bring her inside and immediately started looking for Flame -- after all, if Zoe got out, he could too. Thankfully, he was waiting for me on the stairs inside the house!

I enter the kitchen and find that today's strong winds blew open the kitchen door (it obviously wasn't locked completely). The floor was covered with leaves, and the contents of an empty pizza box that had been on the counter. I searched the house for other animals (especially racoons or the neighborhood cats), but it was just Zoe and Flame.

Needless to say, I was very relieved that everyone was okay. Zoe's past escapes have been well documented here, and I was very lucky that she was by the front door when I came home (who knows where she went before then). My biggest concern was Flame, though: still a kitten, no ID tag, and no experience being outdoors. But it looks like he never left the house.

Both Zoe and Flame got extra kitty treats tonight, and they deserve it... having to look for not one, but two cats at this time of night would not have been fun.