"Humble" barn cat!

Here's to "Smokey T. Cat" 

(the T is for "the"!)
May you rest in peace or whatever cats do when they leave us!

To the companion who waited every morning on the front railing until I came out to do chores… 

And when it got extra cold outside, he listened for the bell on the front entry to ring as the signal for him to come running from the hay barn to spend the night inside with us humans.

He even took over writing my blog one time.

Here it is:

From Smokey T. Cat:  Humble barn cat that I am - although I’ve never seen a cat that thought himself “humble”!

My purpose in life may simply be to enjoy what I have - and also drive my human a little nuts.

Tricks...

One of my tricks occurs when I see it’s dinner time.
Here’s how it goes: 
I nestle in the hay in the barn.  
I watch from my perch as the horses get fed. 
When that’s finished I know my owner is heading back to the house where my food is kept under the deck.
And I am off and running.

My route goes from the barn, across the yard, behind the bushes, leaping onto the steps, then under the windows, jump to the top of the dog house, and then fly to the picnic table stored under the deck and hop over to the wood pile where my dish is kept.
No trick here yet.

Here's my challenge...

The trick is that the feed bin is between the dog house and the picnic table.
The trick is that the I am usually in hiding. And my owner has no idea when I will pounce! 

And she, poor dear, does not know if I will miss her in my flying leap or WHAP! she’s been hit by a flying fur ball!

By then you’ll see me sitting innocently by my dish waiting to eat!

Life is good.

(I miss you my little "flying fur ball".)

.

I don't see any cops… do you?

I don’t see any cops... do you?

We’d been driving for hours... it looked like we were finally reaching “the end of nowhere”... and if not... at least “you could see it from here!” as the saying goes.

It was the day before the Memorial Day weekend rush of traffic to get to the “lake”.  We were going to visit relatives near the Canadian border for a graduation celebration.

  While driving those deserted highways I wondered why the speed limit was so slow - 55 miles an hour.   

Actually, I was more concerned about deer or other wild animals running out of the woods than I was about traffic.

  Well, the next day we were driving back home.  Still not many folks on the road because now it was the middle of the holiday weekend.

But I found out that police were patrolling the highways!

Here’s my story...

I had been driving for a couple hours and was just cruising along on a  quiet highway. 

I watched a lone car coming at me from the opposite direction but I didn’t pay much attention because I saw he was safely in his lane.  

Not until I looked in my rear view mirror and saw him make a U turn.

Not a good sign.

Then I saw his lights flashing and I knew for sure it was not good!

I couldn’t believe he was stopping me!

But since I was the only one on the road I decided it was a good idea to pull over!

Here’s what happened next...

The officer came up to my window and politely asked if I knew what the speed limit was?  I just looked at him because I thought maybe I had missed a sign and it was really higher than 55!

No such luck.

He continued, I clocked you at ____.  

I smiled - like a kid caught with candy!

I didn’t deny it.

I had looked at my speedometer when I saw him turn around.

But the worst part...

I thought I heard my husband sitting in the passenger seat trying not to laugh because I was the one driving, not him!

And I cringed in my seat as I thought that the worst thing about getting a ticket was the razzing I would get from my friends in law enforcement back home!  Because I’m such a cautious wimp of a driver.

I thought about how I’ve gone through two citizen - police academies and could ride with them on duty, but I have declined because I would probably shut my eyes and sink down in the seat if we were chasing someone!

Or maybe throw up.

Anyway... the officer did not give me a ticket - just a verbal warning.

But he kept me sitting at the side of the highway for a long time it seemed - checking my driver’s license, etc. - and I would have lost any time I had made anyway!   (I think that was the plan!)

And then I thought that my friends back home in law enforcement wouldn’t have been any help because they probably would have told him... “You stopped Rosie?  Ohhh... she’s trouble!  Better put handcuffs on her... put her in the back seat... “

(They’re funny.)

What I did right...

I didn’t argue with the cop - (because I was wrong) - but also I have a good driving record.

As I pulled back out on the highway I saw my speedometer creeping over the limit already and I realized I shouldn’t get pulled over again!  So I put my cruise control on 54 just to make sure I behaved.

        I felt like I was the proverbial little old lady out for an afternoon drive. But everyone was safer... including any little forest critters crossing the road.