Dexter's New Life

Dexter has a new lifestyle here in Dusseldorf. He is now an inside-outside cat. It all started back in July when Art's parents were here. It was SO HOT that we could no longer get away with just tilting the windows open at the top, and had to throw them all the way open so as to entice a breeze here and there. Windows here in Europe generally do not come with screens, so Dexter had full access to leave the apartment, which he did. After a few days of trying to see how this would work, we have developed a sort of routine for Dexi. He gets to go out in the morning, come back in an hour or so later for breakfast (when Art leaves for work - otherwise Dex follows Art), then out again for a few hours, and back inside for a nap. If we leave the house for an extended time, Dex has to come back into the house, because he has taken to following us wherever we go. We thought it was very cute when he started following us the 100 yards to our local market, but then it became less funny when he started following us INTO the market. Imagine if you can, me trying to wrangle a toddler and a cat in a grocery store. Once I put Dexter into the grocery cart w/ Zach, which worked great until Dex jumped out and into the cake asile shelves. Sigh. Alas, he is not allowed to go into the store with us anymore...though Mohammed and the whole clan think it is hilarious. I was in the store w/ Zac when I heard Mohammed say "there is Zachary's katze".
The funniest part of Dexter's new life is that occasionally he meows to come back in the house, and I am either in my jammies still and don't want to come open the door for him, or he is in the back yard area. In these instances, we have developed a hilarious way of getting Dexter back into the house. We lower our canvas COUNTS bag (again Joanna, what a great Christmas gift) out the window or over the balcony, Dexter jumps in, and we pull him up. We had to use treats to convince him that this is a good idea at first, but now he happily jumps into the bag and allows us to pull him up. Very funny.
Dexter is now a much nicer cat, and rarely aggressive. He likes his freedom, and life could only be better if he had a cat door so he could come and go as he pleases. When we move back to the States, we will have to try and work that out for him. We have had suggestions of putting a long 2x4 out the balcony for him to climb up and down, but we have not yet persued that.
Part of Dexter's new life is apparently getting stuck in a tree. He did come down on his own though, however it was NOT graceful.
I do miss having Dexter in the house during the day, but he is a happier cat for it. And still sleeps with/on me at night. I have to save room for him next to my pillow otherwise he licks me to get me to move over.
Another cute picture is when we caught Dexter in Zach's crib for the first time. We have not seen it since that one time. So odd.