Last Cat

We believe that we have finally lost the last surviving member of the once large and resplendent family of gray, black, and calico cats that we had for many years, all descended from a memorable calico named Truepenny.   This last one was named Beauty, and he was a very old, short-haired, outdoors, black cat.  We haven't seen Beauty for over a week, and we believe he either went to some secluded spot suitable to spend his last hours, as he was on his last legs anyway, or one of his friends of another species carried him off.

We have decided that, for many reasons, we won't keep any more cats, though we still like them.   The wild animals that take turns in keeping us company throughout the year will do just as well and in fact even better because they dig up their own grub.  These include deer, turtles,  a rabbit, crows, skinks, snakes, squirrels, songbirds, quail, and some that we hear but never see -- turkeys, hootowls, treefrogs, and the like -- and others whose presence we don't encourage but that we know are always somewhere in the area  -- field mice, skunks, groundhogs, voles, moles, raccoons, and bears.

Right now the wild creature who is most in evidence is a brown and therefore adult five-lined skink or lizard.  (They have beautiful blue and cream-colored longitudinal stripes when they're young.)   He lives under the woodbin on one of the decks of my workshop, next to the steps.   He greets me silently every few days, before scurrying away, under the woodbin.   His name is Percy, Percy Skink.