Close to home

I am feeling just a tad jealous of my fellow potatos' travels this summer. With the lovely economy, we stayed close to home...but, we were lucky enough to spend time with some interesting creatures that came to us.

First it was the kitten with pneumonia that stayed for a day, but was too sick to keep near our other cat. Thanks to his tenacious purring, he was taken in by a foster mom and nursed back to health via antibiotics, nebulizers, and humidifiers (it took a whole month). I am so grateful to his foster mom for taking a chance on him. He is now a constant friend as I type, sleeping on my feet at this moment, and purring like a tiger when awake. (His name is Topher, by the way.)

Our second visitor was a rather large king snake, (I hope that's what it was!), that slithered around our back patio for an entire afternoon. I took pictures from inside the house and enjoyed his antics from afar. His tongue was constantly sipping at the air as he climbed our fence, lifted his body up to one of our chairs, and finally disappeared into the foliage. I have to say that we slept with all our windows and doors closed that night, and we still scan the patio for our friend before stepping outside. It was truly a magical experience, but one that I'd like not to repeat.

Now that summer's over, it's pretty quiet around here, but Topher and I are always on the lookout for a chance visitor.