Middle of Winter Blahs

This photo was taken many years ago, looking out our back window at that stupid cat.  Smokey is long gone and so is that house, but the picture of her is still funny to me.  She must have thought she was invisible.  It looks like that bird feeder is empty too, so she would had a long wait for any action.

Smokey came to us by way of Preschool.  I went to pick my youngest daughter at preschool one day ( I did say it was a pictures of years ago.) and she came walking up to meet me holding a little ball of white and gray fur, saying " Tommy's Mom said I could keep her. Can I?"   That mother had brought in a box of kittens for Show and Tell and proceeded to give them away.  I am not an animal person. I was raised with cats and dogs so I know they are work.  I already had work.  I had children. And a job. But, since this was the daughter that had caught a moth in her little hand and then named it, I gave in and we brought Smokey home with us.

Some years later, we were transferred to South Carolina so Smokey made the trip with us girls in the minivan while Terry drove the other car.  We were loaded with and kids and boxes and houseplants.  There was no putting Smokey in a carrier for all those hours driving from Michigan, so we tried a collar and a leash.  You just know that did not work.  We tried to "cat walk" her at rest areas with no luck whats so ever.  What a nightmare.  She spent the entire trip in the back area of the van with the houseplants.  Yep, you guessed it.  We found where she had pooped in a cactus plant.   That would have been on Youtube if it were to happen today. 

My daughter that lives on the western side of Michigan texted me that they were supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow tonight  (Thursday) so the boys were hoping for a snow day.  Those are rare in their school district.  

I may not have to worry about that anymore, living in the land of magnolias now, but I do remember that bitter cold.  I think I'll be content to just look at the old pictures, like this one.