The Cat Lady

Let me start at the beginning. I grew up on a farm and always had cats. They were my friends and taught me the facts of life (this was in the 60's in the South and Southern ladies did not talk about s-e-x). The first cat that my parents allowed in the house was Tinkerbell, who ended up giving me toxoplasmosis, which also caused his demise.

During our first year of marriage, Steve and I adopted Chapel Bells from our church's yard sale(hence the name). He was our first baby, whom we transported from Florida to Mississippi several times (much to his discontent). He lived through our babies.

During the next years, we had several cats. There was Whitey and Burt and Smokey and Simon, just to name a few.

Our most recent long-lived cat was Shaggy, famous for waking me up in the middle of the night. Shaggy came to our house with his sister Stewart, who ran out of her nine lives early on. They came into our lives when Maribeth was in 7th grade, so you can do the math as to his age. A few weeks ago, Shaggy went outside, never to return. I like to think that he decided to go live with Opie.

Just before Shaggy moved on, Grayson showed up and stayed. I'm still not sure to whom he really belongs, but I must assume he goes somewhere during the day. Maybe he has a day job. But he returns here at night to eat and rest up for the next day.

About a month ago, Molly adopted a cat that was found in the Sonic parking lot where she was working. It was a little kitten she named Margaret Thatcher, aka "Maggie." Unfortunately Maggie brought a colony of fleas with her, so in order to rid her house of fleas, Molly assigned custody of Maggie to us. Grayson and Maggie have become fast friends, so now we're up to two cats.

Today when I get home, I notice a cat sleeping on my front porch. It is a cat that I've seen off and on in the neighborhood. I go outside, get the cat to come up so I can pet it. Luckily it had a tag, so I know for sure it has a home. Maggie decided to check things out through the door - but it did not go so well. I guess that's good for all of us!
Anyhow, I'm not sure how my house got on the most popular house list for cats. Maybe that's where Grayson goes during the day. I am wondering if this makes my house a "cat house."

All of this isn't that important - unless a taxi shows up at your house and your cat runs out and gets in. At least you'll know where it's headed!

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Gifts that make today special: Lunch at JAlex with Molly, Sam, and Lynnette; Granddaughter news, Carol's email