Pint-Sized Mess.

I confess it's been since May since I used the cat house.

Which means it went all summer without a cleaning.

There truly is a sober reason for the pint glass in the cat house, though I've no recollection of the variety of dried-up sprigs. I suspect it's maypop vine or sunflowers that sprung up in the lawn (PLEASE let it be sunflowers - if it's maypop, that means I never tucked the stray sprigs into the large vine in the garden.)

And that pale shell of a sulphur chrysalis dangling from the stick - Absalom from the previous round of Confessions, um, last MAY. Shedded skin of a gulf fritillary caterpillar in the jelly jar, frass-y paper towel, and a seashell come un-glued round out the mess.

Shedded skin...wha..? I didn't raise a cat past Absalom.

Uh-oh.

Guess it was maypop in the glass. And I failed at egg-leaf inspection, then never bothered to clean out the glass.

RIP, little frit fella.

All this house drama called for bleach (and a pint.)

The cat house litter was first to go, then the house moved to the lawn for a hose-down and a spray-bleach bath.

It dried within the hour. I glued shells back into place and arranged the stick. The clean scene just begged for cats.

So, I tracked down my husband somewhere in his house-work (that's house WORK, not housework), and put it to him to choose the next cat house guest.

"Honey, pick black, yellow, or orange."

Reticently, he said, "uh...black...?"

And black it is - a cluster of pipevine swallowtail eggs that will grow and emerge into lovely black butterflies.

They won't all live in the cat house. Most will repair to the garden pipevine.

Two will stay, their future monikers being Flora and Fauna.

.

For you Addams Family fans, you might recognize the names Flora and Fauna (the movie aired this cat house cleaning day - October is Chiller Month on cable.)

Which brings about the choice of pint. Shipyard Pumpkinhead ale would be an ideal pint this time of year. But Stone IPA will do nicely (it's logo being a charming gargoyle, so very...October.)