Alice goes Adventuring

John and I took Alice outside this afternoon, just to see what she would do. We put her in her little cardboard travel box (which is barely bigger than she is) and took her down the stairs and out to the grassy area next to the greenhouses behind our building. We set the box down on the concrete at the edge of the grass and opened it up to see what she would do. She sniffed around and looked around and mewed pathetically for a few moments, then hopped out, because it was obviously expected of her (okay, who am I kidding? Since when do cats do anything because it is expected of them?). She stayed really close to us on the concrete and went back to the box and tried to climb back in pretty quickly (it was also drizzling out -- no, please don't call the SPCA!) John decided to take the box out into the middle of the grass and let her try that, since she hadn't really explored the grass. She seemed to like that much better, and actually set off exploring in the plants and shrubs by the side of the greenhouse. John and I stood at opposite ends of the greenhouse to catch her when she came our way (we didn't want her crawling under the greenhouse door where we were unable to follow her!), and eventually put her back in her box and took her home to treats and petting. She was a very brave kitty, and a good thing, too, since we plan to make cat outings a regular occurrence. We're going to get a cat harness and leash so we can let her roam a little more freely (ironically enough), and hopefully she'll start getting bolder and more active and maybe lose some weight. Then in the summer time we can take her on picnics and let her romp in the (dry) grass! :P