Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Journey From Indifference

Sometime tonight I'll hear something at the screen door.  I might be asleep or might be awake but regardless, I'll open the door and probably say something like, "hey buddy, how did the hunting go?"

It will be Leo, my cat.  The only time he stays inside is to eat, sleep and get some petting.  He's not real crazy about rain but will reluctantly stay inside if its pouring outside.  So why would I wake from a sound  sleep, get up in the middle of the night to let a cat inside.  It's a long story and I'm only going to give the introduction here because it is too much for one telling.

When I was young, my wife and I wanted a house.  With no carpentry experience, I decided I would build us one.  Both our parents owned land in rural areas and both offered to give us a place to build.  My Daddy-in-Law said he knew a pretty place.  It was at the back side of his land about 1/4 mile off the highway and in the woods.  I realized later he probably thought the house would be awful and he would be ashamed of it.  What would the neighbors say?  The solution was put it off in the woods where no one would see it.  At any rate I didn't care, I liked it over there.

There were challenges; not least of all - mice!

My Mother suggested a cat.  Neither my wife nor I really liked cats but we didn't exactly hate them.  Mother reluctantly and apologetically gave us two saying she only had nine.  Here begins the stories which I will post as pages later.

By the way, here is a picture of my house: