I was working outside the house after the hurricane passed, putting
back the patio furniture, and I had the glass sliding door from the
Florida room to the yard open. I rarely use that door and never leave
it open, but the sliding screen door was closed. I didn't realize that
it was possible for a cat to walk between the screen door and the
outside glass and then push through at the end. But Scooter figured it
out.

I was inside and noticed Scooter just as he pushed past the end and
into the OUT. Yikes. I calmly slid open the door to get him but
Scooter bolted around the house. FREEDOM AT LAST. I shut the door and
calmly walked after him but he had disappeared. Panic. It's Florida.
There's vegetation everywhere. I poked in bushes, called him, walked
around a few houses. Then Scooter popped back into view, ran back into
my yard, paused at the closed door, and shot around the other side of
the house. I went in, made sure that Nipsy and Baby were in the
bedroom, locked them in there, and left the outside door open.

For an hour I walked around calling him, to no avail. My cousin and
mother were driving around looking for him. The worst part was, his
collar has a tracking device, all my cats have them, left over from my
former house where I let them in the (fenced in) backyard. I had let
the batteries die because they don't go out in Florida, at least not
yet. I am working on getting a cat proof fence around the yard but
haven't done it yet. So I tried the tracker but it found no trace of
him because the batteries were dead. I did just replace them on all
the cats. Actually I had replaced Marlo's when I brought her over to
Mom's so we could find her new hiding places.

So, I know that cats usually are scared and wait somewhere nearby. I
went in, and waited. Half an hour later he walked in the open door.
Adventure over. That was yesterday but I was too busy to write about
it until now. He's lying next to me on the bed as I write this, and
Nipsy is yowling for Temptations. Baby is likely under the bed but is
about due to surface. So all is normal.