She's Home

Tomorrow is our last family get-together of the holiday season. Since we had ham on Christmas Day we decided on our traditional turkey. I don't know about you but I can't imagine having a tradition turkey dinner and not having pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream for desert. (Yes, I'm really on a diet, but I'm allowed turkey and potatoes and vegies, and I'm gonna taste that pie.) There will be enough people here to finish off the pie so I won't be tempted later. Anywho, I had just pulled this from the oven

and smacked Hub's fingers for eating these sausage rolls,

when for some unknown reason I walked outside. The weather had turned cold a couple of days ago and there is still snow on the ground but I didn't get a jacket or sweater, just stood on the back porch looking around and...two yards over I saw an orange cat. I called "kitty, kitty" but it didn't move, I YELLED "FRITZ" and the cat still didn't move, but looked in my direction. At that point I took off running, which is no easy feat when you are overweight and have two artificial knees, but believe me, I was running. When I got within six feet she still hadn't moved and I was afraid of scaring her. I called "kitty, kitty" again, no movement, I said "Fritz" and she started crawling on her belly (all cat owners will understand this move) toward me. As I picked her up she snuggled into my shoulder as she has done since she was a kitten (18 years ago), purring at the same time screaming MEOW, MEOW, MEOW at the top of her lungs. She is filthy, hungry, thirsty, cold, and extremely skinny. Just look at that dirty nose. You can't see her feet or belly but they are dark brown with dirt.

She has been on her own for three weeks and how she survived I will never know. We had cold temps, windchill factors of -11, snow, rain and 70 degree temps. I had walked the neighborhood numerous times calling her name. Was she in our neighborhood all that time? Had she gotten up under a car or in a truck and transported away from us and is just now getting back home? How did she keep from freezing? How much longer would she have lasted? This is one happy family and we shed more tears for her return than we did for her disappearance. I was afraid to cry when we couldn't find her. Tears would of made it so final, like I had given up. Hubs thinks perhaps she got in someones garage or shed when it was really cold. And he never doubted that she would come home. I really need to listen to him once in a while.

2009 is gonna be good!