Weather Cat

Our cat is seasonally aware and she helps us to keep track as well. Last night, she stayed inside...the whole night! She slept by my husband's legs, because it is cozy there. What does this tell us? It is fall. It is cold outside at night. This morning, after her favorite breakfast of shredded beef (mostly she licks the gravy), she was ready to be outside.
I have to put a special sheet on my bed, as she tends to leave her coat there when she gets up.
As the days shorten and cool down, she will spend more and more time in the house. When it gets really cold, she will have to be forced to go outside, the great outdoors is her powder room, but when that white, powdery stuff is on the ground, she is not interested in going there. She had a litter box when she was a wee kitten, but once she discovered dirt and space, that item was rejected, and she has never turned back.
In the spring, as the days get warmer, she will start to venture out more. She will still prefer to sleep in the bedroom when she is in the house, but she will spend less and less time there.
As the weather warms, she becomes less of a house cat until, come summer, she only occasionally graces us with her presence. We see her first thing in the morning for her gravy and from time to time she will come in the back door, walk through the house to allow us to touch her and then out the front door and on to...whatever she does out there.
During the summer, we do see her. She is hanging in the back yard, maybe sleeping in the dirt under the porch, wandering the neighborhood, stalking birds (she caught a hummingbird once!) or peaking out the backyard fence at passersby.
During the hottest times, she will come in the house, eat, and then head to the basement. In the laundry room, she has a blanket-lined basket she sleeps in, or she has a pillowcase covered chair in another place. It is cool down there.
Sometimes, she does come inside on summer nights. She will come into our bedroom and hang out in the screened window at the head of our bed. She sleeps and watches and when something really interesting happens out there, she is ready to go out and get involved. She never stays there more than a couple of hours in the summer.
We know that the end of summer is drawing near when she starts spending those couple of hours at my husband's feet again, and then the cycle starts all over again.
Ah, to have a weather cat.