Homestead mailing list

["Lisa K.V. Perry" <lisakvperry AT gmail.com>]

I have a light heart this morning. Just read Don's bittersweet post. Our
beloved outdoor cat returned this morning, just before I was going to check
the woods for him and call the neighbors.

He was missing for only 24 hours, but he always greets us first thing in the
morning, throughout the day and comes trotting up the driveway road every
night to greet us when we come home. I had to take client to an errand in
town yesterday and was gone for just a few hours, upon returning our greeter
was still missing. No sign of him when we went to bed. The night before last
our dogs had been put in the basement (to keep barking dogs silent for a
peaceful night's sleep), but the neighbor's dogs came down to our farm and
barked up a ruckus off & on all night. The following a.m. our cat was
missing and I thought the worst. It was a natural thought; in the last month
our ducks succumbed one by one to predators when the pond was frozen (best
guess--no sign yet--unless they flew away), our 14 year-old pet turtle died
and my son's parakeet died a few days after our house was so cold from the
power outage mid-February. The ailing wood stove worked, but not well and
the keet just got too cold. My boys have taken turns being sick all week
with some flu/cold bug and we haven't felt very positive.

I went outside to tell my husband and oldest son goodbye (he was leaving to
take the SAT test) and we were all glum--and then Hobbes appeared! He looked
a bit scruffy, had small chunks of fur missing and I suspect the neighbor's
dogs, but he's back and in one piece. Right now, all is right with the
world.

Lisa