has my little cat gone? She went flying out the door yesterday morning; she was on the patio when I got back from WalMart around 11 AM. However, by eating time (4 PM) there was no sign of her. She still hasn't shown up. I drove the neighborhood to make sure she hadn't been hit by a car, but luckily the streets were clean of everything but branches, limb, and other debris.

There's a lot of territory to explore around here. However, if she isn't back tomorrow morning I'll put up Lost Cat signs. We have very few children around here any more--it's been pretty much the same families for 30 years and the kids have all grown up. So, it's not too likely that some child picked her up and took her home and hid her in his/her room. When we moved to Cheyenne (1962) we had a cat, and when we stayed at the motel till our trailer was set up we, of course, let Sam out for you-know-what. He came back in very promptly the first couple of days. Then he disappeared for two days. The motel owner figured he had gone to the houses and nearby and gotten "adopted" by a kid. After a couple of days he returned. I'm hoping that's what happened with Lady. She's wearing a collar and has her license and rabies tag on it. Both of those have phone numbers (the vet and animal control) that could tell someone to whom she belongs.

CC is being very polite and eating only one of the food dishes. By mid-morning tomorrow, however, she will probably have given up on Lady and eaten the second dish of food also.

Other than worrying about Lady, and telling myself that her first expedition out was almost two days long, what else did I do?

Not much. Cleaned one cat box and when I was emptying the powdery pine pellets I chatted with my neighbor, telling her about Lady. She's seen Lady off exploring but she said she'd keep her eyes peeled driving back and forth.

I got to Arby's late enough that I was the only customer for a while and I got all sorts of reading done. Just as I was sitting down a woman came up and greeted me cheerfully. It was a swimming mother and she was curious about classes for this summer. I told her I was trying to find out when Girl Scout Day Camp was, but I couldn't wait forever on that. I gave her the link to the web site with the swimming information, telling her I'd be updating it soon.

So many people recognize me (even with clothes on and dry hair) from swim classes. I am totally clueless as to their names. After all, I see them only very briefly (if at all) on the first day, and then again on the last day. I've mastered the cheerful "Hey! haven't seen you for a while" smile and keep the conversation devoid of names. It usually works. Sometimes I even get a clue from what they say, although if the kid has been taking from me only a year I probably won't hear that bell of recognition ring.

Crossing fingers that Lady will meander back home tomorrow.