Dead Cat Walking

Not actually, more of a sight for sore eyes. It all started like a normal weekday morning - I get up at 4:45am, one or both dogs comes down stairs with me to go out for the morning's business, if one goes the other one appears after I close the door on the first. Then Scotia shows up for her own personal exit. Then I fill the food bowls and a fresh bowl of water, let the dogs back in and maybe the cat comes back in, maybe not. Didn't remember either way this morning. We received a wee bit more snow overnight than had been forecast, enough that I wanted to clean the driveway after eating my breakfast. Still dark out when I open the garage door where I see cat paw prints heading away along the driveway to about where under the snow there is piled lumber that Scotia frequents in search of chipmunks but as I approach that location with the snowthrower the tracks end in a little circle of disturbed snow no paw prints going away from there in any direction. Damn I think, a fricking Snowy Owl nabbed my cat!

Those things can grab 12lbs of cat and hell she's barely 7 years old, I'm too close to retirement to break in a new cat (that's another story for another day). So I lament her loss over the day, not a good way to go being hauled off suddenly by a bird of prey the day after she was trying to prey on birds in the backyard. I wondered if she might have managed to escape the talons and survive to find her way home. Once home

from work on a drive where I anticipated having to inform Carol of the tragic end of our feline family member I was met by the dogs and as we entered the house there's the cat in the kitchen watching our entrance, normal as can be. I picked her, looked her over, healthy as ever. Told Carol my story, she says that Scotia had been in all day. Idiot cat!! But how did she get from where her tracks ended in the snow covered driveway and am I going to lose sleep over it tonight?!?