Background:

The squirrels around here are no dummies. They know they have plenty
of time to get away if a cat spots them on the other side of the chain
link fence. It's common here to see two tuxedo kitties, and one mostly
white, black and white kitty, crouched down, tails lashing, intently
watching a squirrel sitting under the pecan tree a few feet away.

Every so often I decide to buy a collar for Rocky. At first it was a
real fight to put one on, but now he meekly lets me put it on. Thing
is, it isn't long before he comes home without it on. Well, actually I
guess I help him get them off. Since he's outside so much of the time
I want to make sure he could escape if he were to ever get hung up on
something. So I buy safetly collars, and if I think it doesn't pull
open easy enough, I trim the little plastic tabs so it opens easier.

Today:

I bought him another collar today. My plan was to get it adjusted and
remove the little bell, since I've learned the collar lasts longer
without the bell. He patiently let me adjust it and put it on. I was
still making the final adjustments when a squirrel came down and
started searching for pecans. LB and Sammy ran over and started
watching the squirrel. The squirrel pretended to ignore them - while
keeping one eye on them and making sure they weren't jumping the
fence.

Rocky figured he'd been patient long enough, so he took off running to
join the squirrel watchers. The thing was I hadn't gotten around to
removing the bell, yet. After a few feet he heard the bell, and
screetched to a stop. He looked around on the ground, trying to figure
out where the strange noise was coming from. You could see him puzzle
over the problem. He saw a pecan on the ground, and batted it around -
no noise. Walked a little ways - still quiet. Sat down to groom
himself and consider the problem. When he reached back to wash his
back the bell tickled again. He spun around in circles trying to see
what was making the noise, but couldn't spot anything. Started
sniffing around on the ground and batted a couple more pecans, because
it sounded like it was either right behind him or on the ground under
him.

Finally, when I could control my laughter, I went over and took off
the collar and removed the bell. Surprizingly, he let me put it back
on without a fight. Each collar seems to last a little longer. The
first lasted half a day, the last lasted almost a month. We'll have to
wait and see how long this one lasts. If I can ever get him to wear
them long enough I'll put a tag on with his name and phone number, so
hopefully if something were to happen I'd be notified.