Smeared blood and chunks of hair eerily greeted my husband Sunday morning as he opened the door to the old house to feed the cats. We have two officially recognized cats here at the Dismal Land and Livestock Company, Gilligan (male, orange) and Satan (female, tortoise shell). It is the large assortment of unauthorized cats that cause concern and lately it has been one orange tiger-striped male cat in particular that has been bothersome. He hangs around at night either looking for more territory to claim or maybe just a free meal. Gilligan, the defender, tries to warn him off with the moaning and wailing that only cats can do before a fight. We come out and scare off the intruder (I know my husband would have shot him by now if I weren't such an animal lover), but he keeps returning. As the tale continues, Gilligan turns up missing that same morning. My husband looked in all the likely places before he came in to tell me. By this time, we should have been ready to leave for church, but I told my husband a cat was more important than church today. I joined the search with no luck and we then resorted to leashing the dogs to track down Gilligan. No cat to be found. I ended up leaving in time to do my Primary job and Husband got out his chair to await the cat's hoped for return. This crazy story has a very happy ending. Gilligan returned on his own about 45 minutes after we gave up the search. He had a few scratches on his nose and matted blood on his tail, only the blood wasn't his. It looked like he had brushed against something bloody. I guess Gilligan handled the marauder all by himself as the stray cat hasn't been seen since.
