Another week, another Feline Friday, with Mr. Romeo welcoming you to this week’s gallery of our felines-in-residence.

Yes, that’s Romeo out on the deck, getting ready to trot down the stairs and begin a security sweep of the yard. Yes, I let him out a couple of times this week. And, yes, I know this is another example of intermittent reinforcement that will just encourage him to fuss all the more going forward.

If you’re a regular reader of Feline Friday news, you know that Romeo is the self-appointed guardian of the territorial boundaries, and for at least six months has taken on the assignment of repelling the advances of Lumber, who lives down the hill from us but seems to really want to connect with our little feline colony. Lumber’s occasional presence in the yard or under the house doesn’t seem overly objectionable to the other cats, but Romeo just can’t stand it. He desperately wants to drive Lumber away, and he’s got the various scars and medical bills to prove that he’s tried repeatedly to accomplish that task.

So Romeo has been under house arrest for months with only an occasional “out”. He’s unhappy about the restriction, and it leads to displacement aggression, meaning he’ll occasionally chase and take a swat at Toby, and sometimes even Annie. Of course, Annie fights back and that disrupts Romeo’s macho act.

Anyway, after not seeing Lumber in several days, I opened the door and let Romeo do his boundary patrol. Luckily, on both days he finished his rounds and came back inside without further incident. No sign of Lumber. Whew.

And so it goes in our Kaaawa household.

–> See the rest of Feline Friday’s Kaaawa Cats!