Archie, Other Animals, and Building Skills – Thoughts from November 18, 2025

Along with Archie chewing on a mouse that I mentioned in my last Thoughts from Life, there is a new story involving Archie and a cast of other animals. Because I work at night, I come home at about 1:00 in the morning. When driving into my spot beside Patti’s truck, I saw Archie on top of our small shed. He jumped down to the fence when I got to the gate and did his usual meowing. I told him I can’t open the gate with him balanced on top of it. He jumped down to a trash can, so I opened the fence. I rubbed him while he was at my chest level. As I closed the gate, two large dogs ran up to the gate and were barking aggressively. I kicked the gate and they ran away. I looked back at where Archie was and didn’t see him. Keep in mind that this never happened at our house before.

Eventually, I found Archie hiding under a chair on the porch. I looked at his food and water dishes and they were empty. Patti usually feeds him before she goes to bed, which was hours ago. I went inside, said hello to Scout, Willow, Beatrix, and Luna, and got him food and water. He was still nervous from the dogs. I rubbed him while he ate to calm him down. Going back inside, I noticed the girls had eaten hardly any of their wet food “sups.” I combined as much as I could of one dish into another. Taking it out to Archie, I saw Scout and one of her kids staring intently outside.

I opened the screen door, and Archie was back on top of the shed. I looked on the other side of the porch and saw a splotchy black cat eyeing the food. He ran off when I came out. I tried to coax Archie over, but he was afraid of the other cat. Shooing the cat completely out of the yard, Archie eventually came down to eat. I stayed with him while he ate, but eventually had to go inside. I finished preparing for my next day of work and checked on Archie again. Our automatic light on the porch had gone out. When I opened the door and the light came on, a raccoon was staring at me beside the porch. I stomped my foot, and I think it went under the porch. The size of the raccoon’s head freaked me out the most. I’ve seen raccoons before, but this one seemed to have a larger head than any of them.

I talked to Patti the next morning about all the happenings with Archie. We decided we can only feed him when we can sit with him. The best thing for him would be to let him into the house, but that’s almost impossible right now. The four indoor cats have enough issues of their own. They don’t need a stray male cat coming in and adding to the chaos. The inside cats, though related, still have issues among themselves. Patti and I just need to keep doing what we can for Archie outside.

As I’ve said before, the kitchen remodel is just another problem for the inside cats to deal with. The section I worked on recently is between two vents in the floor. They are just far enough apart to fit one cabinet between them. I attached the first cabinet to the wall that led to the large cabinet between the vents. This first cabinet would be an anchor for all the rest of the cabinets. In the end, I could only attach one cabinet on my days off. I spent most of my time planning for the future cabinets, so I don’t cut off connection points. Having to remove sections because I didn’t plan well enough is not something I want to do. I have a small notepad that I put measurements and drawings of what I’m planning. My building skills are growing each time I create something new. All my new tools are being put to good use.