Today, Hiro shows up with something on his side….something …wet. Thinking it is tree sap that he has rolled in, I brush it with my hand….My hand turns Purple! Purple?…..Purple. He’s covered in the stuff!How or why is this cat Purple? I run inside and Show Cheryl
….asking if she dropped a bucket of Ink in the front lawn. We quickly hypothesize various possibilities for our cat to turn purple. Ranging from the possible….to the Outrageous….we basically were at a loss. 
Perhaps the neighbors had beets growing in their front yard….or he brushed up against some of my tissue paper that was dyed purple. Who knows? Whatever it was, he was not allowed back into the house with that crap still on him.( Hint hint) I ran outside with a paper towel to see if I could remove any of it before he paints our furniture….
He didn't seem to mind it much, and dropped no hint as to how he covered himself….until…..
I watched him trot over to a bush and begin swatting a bird….a live Robin. I ran over quickly to save the poor creature, Only to realize the Robin was covered in purple as well. Here is were the observer/biologist in me finally pays off…. Drum Roll…..
( all that college money well spent!) I observed several years ago…and every year since, that the migrating birds, especially Robins and Cedar Waxwings, love to stop by our choke cherry tree and stock up on some high energy fuel for the long trek south. 
As a result, my poor Subaru, and pretty much anything else under or near that tree…turns purple. ( See where I’m heading?) The Bird…in a desperate attempt to flee the cat, must have decided that dumping any excess weight was a good plan before flight time.
However, he was not fast enough as the cat still managed to catch him and pull out several essential feathers. Without those feathers, the poor bird could not produce enough lift to escape. ( keeping the bird around as Hiro’s outdoor toy.) The Bird DID however, manage to turn our cat purple…which kind of gets your mind wondering…just how much purple is INSIDE that bird???
Lucky for the bird…I was there, and picked it up and put it in a tree before Hiro became bored and decided to “break” his toy. I see the Robin can still hop and flap to various branches, so hopefully he will recover in time for the big push south.
Other than that excitement, Hiro and I have been having fun tracking and occasionally catching Voles in the front yard. I’ll admit, Hiro is better them me. ( although I know where they live…AND I had one in my hand before he squirmed out) I don’t have too much of a problem with him catching Voles….The Landlords like it as the Voles tear up the lawn. But Birds… I like the birds…So I help out whenever Hiro decides to target one of our feathered friends. This whole episode reminds me of a topic on The Oatmeal. How Much Do Cats Actually KILL? Check it out.
On a less violent Note…Our cable is back. Yeah! As a result, I have been wanting to blog about this beer we found in Nowhere Iowa. From the makers of Toppling Goliath. We have had their beers before, and I guess they are “Coveted” by people “in the know.” It’s a good beer. 
I was going to have a detailed description of the flavors and notes…but…with the several days of not being able to blog, I have forgotten the exact flavors. I DO, however, remember that it was a really good beer and we will be trying more from them in the future. ( I can’t even remember the small town in Iowa where we discovered it…) 
So…If your cat turns Purple..out of the Blue, Check for Robins….Or wet paint signs. You never know….
