I'm not sure how old I am. The human thinks I may be about 15 years old. I guess that's gettin' pretty old! I'm not much for the indoors, so my interests will be quite a bit different from Leo and Gizzmo's. 

About the only time I like the indoors is in the winter. I had a real bad experience a couple of years ago with winter. I made the mistake of wandering off to do some hunting one day and didn't realize that a terrible storm was brewing. It started with rain, then turned to ice and snow. Then the temperatures plummeted and it snowed an awful lot! I couldn't get back home for nearly two weeks! I guess the human thought I was a gonner! Frankly, so did I! I finally made it back one Saturday night and fortunately just in time. The human was getting in her truck when she spotted me standing by the garage door. Boy was she happy to see me! I was pretty happy to see her too! My ears were frost-bitten and so were my feet. It took a while, but I healed. Now I stick close to home and don't wander off much. Since then, I have lost the sight in one eye and am totally deaf,  which is another good reason to stick close to home!

So, lets talk about some of the things I really enjoy!

Birds: We have lots of birds at our house. I like to spend my day watching them. Sometimes I remember when I use to try and catch them. But I've slowed down a bit and besides, Mom doesn't want me to hurt the birds. So I "pull in my claws" and try to be content being a "Bird Watcher"!

Chasing My neighbors: Yep! There's a couple of rascals in the neighborhood who insist on coming onto my "turf" and harassing me! They're younger than I am, but I can whip up a pretty mean "junk yard cat" look which pretty much scares the crap right out of them! You wanna see my "junk-yard cat" look? Ok, you asked for it:

Now I ask you, if you saw this look, wouldn't you be scared!!

Trees: I love trees! I have a couple of favorites at my house. One is an elm tree and the other is a Linden. It smells pretty in the early summer. The human says I'm probably going to kill that elm tree, because I love to scratch it. I have definitely left my mark! The picture that won me third place in the "pretty" category is one of me scratching the Linden tree! She has added it to the photo page!

The Picnic Table: We have a little red picnic table behind the house. I like to lay on that table. Keeps me off the ground and in a position to move quickly if I need to take evasive action (from an invading cat or dog). I can see birds better from up there too with my one good eye!

Visiting: I like to wander the neighborhood sometimes (only in the warm months!) and see what's going on at the different houses. There are a couple of nice older ladies that live near us and sometimes I go visit them. I'm very careful about crossing the highway (a major highway runs in front of our house), so I usually don't visit the one lady until very late at night, when the traffic is low. She usually doesn't come out, but I can see her sitting in there watching a big box with light coming out of it! Humans are very strange! Why would anyone want to sit and stare at a big box full of light!? Must be hard on the eyes!

Helping The Human: I'm a very good helper. I help her when she plants stuff and when she mows the yard. I help her when she rakes. I stay away though when she runs that weed whacker! And when she's all done planting, mowing, raking and whacking, I sit with her on the "swing bench". I want to help her drink that beer she always has when she's finished doing all that work, but she says I'm goofy enough! Wonder what she means by that!!

I Won Something!: I can't believe it! The old stray cat won third place in the Barnhart Kitty Contest in the category "pretty kitty"!!! Bet no one saw my "junkyard" cat picture! So here's my award!

Well, I'm sure I've forgotten something!  The old brain ain't what it use to be! We'll add more stuff later if anything exciting happens. Considering we live in Vernon Center, the chances of that  are pretty slim! But that's one of the reasons we live here! 

She ate good.  In fact she always ate good!  I knew she would want to be outdoors, so I said goodnight and shut the door.  That was the last I saw of her. 

I have no idea where she could have gone, since she was not prone to wandering very far.  It could  be that she just decided  that it "was time" and wandered off to die.  I figure Lorraine was around 15 years old when I last saw her.. 

At first we thought she might return.  Cats have been known to disappear for long periods and then show up again (as she did a few years ago).  But after this long, and at her advanced age, we now believe she has made her final journey.  This page will remain as a "Special Tribute" to Lorraine's journey to the Bridge. 

I hope that when she died she did so peacefully, has joined my other kitties and is  waiting for me at the Rainbow Bridge.  I have missed her company when I work outside in the summer.  She always had a "wise word" to share :)   Thank you Lorraine, for sharing my life and for the pleasant moments we spent together.

-the Human