Meet Casper

So we added a new member to our growing family yesterday. Still very much in the adjustment period, but so far so good.

I'll share the story of how this came to be. It goes back quite a bit.

Last winter, shortly after moving here, DH and I heard a mewing coming from outside. He opened the door and let in a skinny young female cat. It was a particularly cold night, and one of our rare Alabama snows, at that, and we didn't have the heart to put her back out. So we let her say. When it warmed up again, we put her back out hoping she'd go back home, wherever she came from. But she didn't. As time passed, I asked neighbors, but no one claimed her. I told E1 that if she took good care of her, she could keep her and name her. She did.

Then in the spring we got chicks. We were keeping them in the house, and it made her very curious. We had to keep her away, and shoo her away from them often. I think it got to her, and she started fleeing outside. Then we went to visit family for Easter. When we got back, we didn't see her, but didn't think much of it. It was late. The next morning, I sent E1 out to catch her bus for school. And she came back in wailing. Her cat was dead in the road, right in front of our mailbox, where she caught the bus. I wanted to keep her home, but the bus suddenly showed up and she ran and jumped on it, tears still in her eyes, and I didn't get to talk to her again until she got home from school.

When she got home, we buried the cat in the place of her chosing. It was sometime around then, that I promised she could have another cat.

It took me this long to honor my promise. In the time between, I even tried to talk her into something else. I'm really not a cat person. But I did keep an eye out. I need to find a cat who could handle children, other pets, and not want to run outside. One that wasn't a kitten, but wasn't old either.

Yesterday, I found Casper on Craigslist. And now, here he is.

Hopefully, I'll get some decent pictures soon.