My fault, totally, because I put her outside. She was going into heat and she was yowling and the farmer was being noisy and I needed sleep... and I couldn't put Dave outside.
Although it was tempting.
He wouldn't have appreciated it.
So I tucked Pumpkin on the porch and when I got up at 4:00 AM to write, she was gone.
Just that.
Gone.
No yowling or meowing or whining or anything. And she never went off the porch (stinkin' hormones, you cannot trust anything with rampant hormones!!! Although they are quite necessary for production of the species.)
Silence.
It was cold, and the warming light for the kitty house was on, but no kitty.
I called her.
Yeah, I know, my cats don't respond to calling, either, but it seemed right.
And she didn't come.
Nor did she show up by morning. Or afternoon. Or Sunday night.
PANIC MODE.
I'd killed her. Clearly. A rogue coyote came up from the back field and must have eaten her!!! Or an owl swooped out of the night sky and grabbed her! Or a hungry fox or weasel came along and feasted, although there were no orange owl pellets around, nor dead bodies, but that didn't stop my imagination from running wild.
This very big coyote was caught on a hunter's camera two weeks ago.... behind my house. Which meant he ATE MY CAT.
That's the writer in me. And the mom.
It's always my fault.
So no Kitty on Sunday.
Alert some of the neighbors.... alert Facebook folks nearby to keep a lookout....
Nothing.
No wailing, no meowing (except for me as I went from porch to porch doing a pretty fair imitation of a cat in heat or a male responding yowl.... Years of practice have clearly developed my ear, and you should hear me do a rooster!!!!
Very convincing. But I digress.
Nothing on Monday.
On Tuesday I went to a couple more neighbors... knocked. Rang bells. No one came to the door. Cars in driveway. So that's a little odd, but maybe out with someone else.
Nothing Tuesday night. I kept watching and calling.
No answer. No little orange kitty dashing across the yard or the field.
And then Wednesday morning, at 4:45 AM, there she was. Tucked in a rocking chair, curled up, clean as a whistle (so, inside??? Someone thought she was a stray, maybe???) and the minute I opened that door, VROOOM! SHWISH! ZOOOOOM!!!!
That cat scrambled into that house so fast that it was cartoon worthy.
She went to each of her favorite spots. Her dining room chair. Libby's chair in the living room. Her playroom perch, Maggie's pen, another playroom perch, checked out the food area, her water... then did the rounds again. Twice.
As if she couldn't believe it!
HOME!
You could see it in her excitement, her look, her gaze, the way she trotted from place to place.
So funny.
And Maggie the Golden Doodle is probably the happiest of all. She had no idea where her buddy had gone.... and she was watching for her. looking all over. So we have a Homeward Bound kitten and a happy pup.
All is well!!!!
And here's an extra note: I have made Mindy's Sour Cream Blueberry Bundt Cake (although I didn't use a Bundt pan, I used this amazing pan I got a few years ago because I couldn't resist it:
https://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Platinum-Collection-Heritage/dp/B0021CEREA
I love this pan. I don't even have words to say how much I love this pan and how cakes look.
SIGH.
It's like the greatest pan ever, so now you know.... I love cool stuff!
There. I said it out loud.
When it comes to my baking, I love cool stuff.
And that's it for today.
And I'm just going to say that you'd think with all this stay home/stay safe stuff the weeks would be boring. Well... parts are.
And parts aren't.
And isn't that just the way of it?
