THE WINCHESTER-NABU DETECTIVE AGENCY
YEAR TWO: CASE FILE NO. 28-80
AMBER LOVE 19-NOV-2018 Catch up on Year One and previous Year Two cases at the Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency. This work is supported by the generous backers who adore my cat stories at Patreon.com/amberunmasked and they also get first access to what’s happening with my books and podcast. For a one-time tip, you can go to the new PayPal.me.
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Where we left off:
Another shard of an important artifact was discovered and retrieved from on top of the mountain.
The Chase
Briefing:
A year ago, we introduced you to the presence of a new species of Gorgon which was something I accidentally summoned during a ritual. Worse things have happened. Don’t judge. It just goes to show sometimes my rituals and blends of ingredients can go awry.
According to the Moon moving from Aries into Taurus, we’re leaving a time for quick, decisive action and heading into a period best for patience, diligence, and practicality. It’s also a good time for seeking comfort and coziness which I’m sure you could figure out from the chill in our northeastern air (unless you’re a reader from down under; in which case, enjoy your spring!).
The Full Moon hits this week on Black Friday! New York time, that’s 00:39 when shoppers will undoubtedly be destroying malls. The only reason Black Friday mornings aren’t as bad as they used to be is because greedy corporations have forced employees to work on Thanksgiving trying to beat their competitors to the punch for holiday receipts. The thing is, several news reports over the years have proved that you can do even better waiting for sales closer to the holidays and Black Friday is a freaking waste of time. It’s an abusive demand on employees.
If you happen to be in a service industry, you may just have to suck it up anyway — like being private investigators, for example. There’s no shortage of cases of cheating spouses this time of year. Oliver prefers if we don’t take those cases and stick to our niche of otherworldly investigations. Besides, this is a podunk town. If there are cheating spouses, it’s already being discussed at the tractor store.
On the Prowl:
We do still have a tempting feline Fraulein that keeps coming into the yard. This femme fatale looks so much like one of my past cats, she probably is related somehow. I say that because the family feeding her is the same family who had never fixed their animals and as soon as we had a female in her first heat, she was knocked up. It was OBVIOUS who the baby daddy was. That mama of our was too feral and didn’t adapt to being a family cat. She kept getting out and wanting to stay out and she got hit by a car, but not before granting us a beautiful litter. Chances are that daddy cat fathered a number of generations.
If you’ve watched My Cat Hell from Hell with Jackson Galaxy then you know inside cats who normally get along just fine can go batshit berserk at the sight/smell of an intruder. This has been happening from time to time. We don’t have deterrents in our yard like fenced in dogs or motion activated spritzers.
Gus O’Clock was 4AM today when he delivered a dead mouse to the bedroom. He proceeded to play with it for fifteen minutes. Then he chomped it so the bones were crushed and swallowed it whole like a freaking snake. Needless to say, he was energized and couldn’t wait to go outside for some more real hunting. I made him wait until 7:40 because of the delaying sunrise.
We had just reached the back end of our property at the junkyard when Gus saw her. She thought she could run through and get over to the house that feeds her. Normally, I hold Gus back and he pouts and stares at her. Today… I said fuck it. I let go of his leash and let him chase her through the yard. They ran through Bunny Hollow, dashed into some bushes and came back out; then they looped around below to the lower level and careened through the junk yard.
As soon as Gus got close to me, I said, “Stop,†and he did. He was puffy so I didn’t touch him, but I picked up his leash. He sat on a rusted old staircase for a while to calm down. He never did catch up to her that I saw. Maybe now she’ll think before wandering through our yard. I would welcome her. I like her. She’s pretty and reminds me of Lady Claire. But if she’s going to piss off Oliver and Gus and they tear each other’s throats out, it’s not so good.
My friend Thomas Pluck reminded me about the product Feliway. He uses it with great success for his cats by diffusing it. I had tried it decades ago with different male cats when I had three; and it didn’t work at all though I only had the spray version. Tom’s advice got me to thinking about what’s around the house. I have a ton of essential oils so I had to something on hand that would do the trick. I know cats aren’t fond of orange (that’s something you’re supposed to use to repel them if they’re chewing wires or some other unwanted behavior).
Here’s what I came up with:
I have a small diffuser from Kohl’s (enough for one room). Filled it with filtered water. I have no idea how many drops of anything I used.
- Lavender
- Young Living’s Believe blend which is wintery (blue spruce, balsam fir, frankincense & other stuff)
- Cedarwood
- Ylang Ylang (this one I used sparingly because it can get too potent with floral notes in a blend)
Before the femme fatale chase, Oliver had been having problems at random with Gus. I thought it had to be the change of the seasons and that Oliver isn’t getting his time to nap on the balcony anymore. Meanwhile, Gus goes outside for adventures at least once a day. I tried to bring the outdoors in with that blend of essentials. I also moved two catnip plants inside. Oliver seemed to love it! He even came into my bed to nap TWO DAYS in a row! That is not something that happens.
After Gus came inside from his adventure, we waited nervously to see if they would go at each other, but they never did. Everything was fine. Maybe if the stray cats stay away, things will return to normal.