Ladies and gentlemink, SHE CAME BACK!!

I am so happy to be able to report that I am 
covered from head to toe in dander, loose hair, 
dirt, and grass, to say nothing of scratches, 
received a few minutes ago while retrieving the 
Feline Pest from under the deck!!

Emily somehow has managed to forage for two solid 
weeks, during which we have had a miserable cold, 
drizzly, snowy patch, while not leaving the back 
yard.

We spotted what we thought was either her or the 
lady down the street who's practically identical, 
Thursday evening.  She headed through a little 
hole to hide out underneath our storage shed in 
the back yard, and aside from catching a really 
good glimpse of her tail after she spooked the 
living you know what out of me, I couldn't get 
close enough to see whether it was in fact Emily.

Tonight, one of the Crotchedy Old Ladies (tm) 
spotted her on the porch (and made appropriate 
unwelcoming noises).  She again hid out, this 
time under the deck.  After about 15 minutes on 
my belly in the dirt, I got to where she could 
look me square in the eye and realized that yes, 
this WAS Mom, and came to me.

She's probably lost five pounds of the ten, and 
is filthy dirty, but she's in amazingly good 
shape.  I feel like I should cry for joy but I'm 
too in shock!!

So thanks, all of you who told me not to give up 
hope, YOU WERE RIGHT!!

And Show Me JOY!!