Cat Burglar

We walked into the kitchen one morning to find this peculiar situation - it was not how we left the kitchen the night before.

On top of the hob, where the splatter guard was placed over a potato and a leftover hunk of roast pork in a cast iron pan and forgotten overnight, was this:

Just a potato. Something had helped itself to a piece of meat, and we didn't wake when the splatter guard fell to the floor. I thought we had a creature living in the house (mouse? rat?), but Dale realized right away that leaving our windows open overnight to let cool air in allows marauding cats to visit and prowl through at night. The window opening (no fly screens) is wide enough and low enough (aided by a few totes stored just outside the dining room window) for furry, four-legged cat burglars to have the run of the house!

We've seen probably 4 different cats in our yard at different times during the day up until now, and Dale saw one strolling through the garage into our utility room on one occasion. We didn't catch the guilty critter red-handed, but we believe we've worked it out. So, I did a thorough clean of our kitchen counters, we've adjusted our lower window settings, opened upper fanlights wider and I've also made a note not to be so forgetful about putting food away at night.

We live and learn!