that time when Cocoa went adventuring

Here are the facts:

• around the country, folks have been experiencing "unseasonably" warm and/or frigid weather of late
• we, here in Southern California, have had about a week or less of truly (gloriously) WARM and sunny days
• we, here in our specific household, have opened up the apartment for the past week or so, and last night was the first that I went to bed feeling "cold" enough to allow the heat to run if it reached lower than 75º inside, once the windows were closed
• my breathing has been for shit for the past two weeks or so, so I can pretty much attribute it to "seasonal allergies" and/or the weather changing
• in addition to general breathing issues, I've also been doing my damndest to cough up a lung or two, rather than just "clearing my throat"
• TODAY was a cooler-than-of-late day, hovering in the 60's and very low 70's for most of the day (and definitely "cool" now that it's nighttime)
• Stephen had a late night last night (just couldn't sleep) and a fairly "crap" day today; he works early tomorrow, so he had a nice warm soak in the tub and went to bed early
• it's hard to sleep when there's someone coughing up a lung in the other room

So here's what I did, in just the last hour or so:

I took my laptop, cough drops, and glass of wine out into the courtyard, so any noise I made coughing would escape UP into the sky rather than be trapped in the living room (and echo down the hall).

Cocoa sat in the (open) front window and watched me, meowing her version of "bless it" every time I coughed.

When I opened the front door just enough for a furbaby to venture out, it wasn't long before she peeked her head out, and then carefully investigated the courtyard area adjacent to the front door. While she was checking out the smells in front of Josh and Janette's place (immediate neighbors), Smokey poked his head out to stand guard.

Cocoa ventured as far as the foot of the stairs to the second level (not quite to the other adjacent neighbor), and past the potted plants of the neighbor across, and around the table where I sat watching her, to not-quite the top of the stairs leading down to the parking garage, when Smokey sent her some subliminal cat signal that she'd had enough adventuring for the night, Dearie, and she skulked back into the apartment.

I wasn't too far behind her tail, as we both needed to pee. ;)

But now she's begun acting like "outside" is where she belongs, dammit, and why haven't I opened the front door for her for more adventuring? I mean, c'mon, Momma! It's only not even 10 o'clock yet!

I love my brave girl. I gotta keep that bravery in at least a little check, right? They're both good furbabies.

Smokey guards the back while Cocoa snuggles in