Our home isn't exactly in a rural area, but life here still moves more slowly than other nearby cities.  For a change of pace, every so often we take a day trip to the big city, and that's what Pat and I did recently on a sunny Saturday morning.

   Not surprisingly, new buildings and developments had gone up since the last time we were there, and when we spotted a shopping center we didn't remember, we made an unscheduled stop.  We went in the PETsMART, and the first place I headed was the cat adoption center.  If you'd been there, you would have seen a guy murmuring "Are you a Good Cat?  Yes, you look like a Good Cat to me," to the gray tabby, the long-haired calico, and the tuxedo, and wishing he could take each of them home.

   Pat avoided temptation by shopping for the 4 cats we already have at home, and ended up getting a dozen cans of food and a bag of dry kibble.  We also considered getting some grass seeds, because it's good for cats to have greens available, but our cats never go for the indoor winter grass with the enthusiasm and gusto they show for the coarse rye grass that is abundant at the edges of our yard during the warm months.  If rain keeps them from going outside for grass in the spring or summer, they ask request demand that someone bring some in.

   The cats like greens in other forms, too, which is something we learned from Caitie-Belle.  One evening Pat was making supper, and soon, the Calico Diva joined her in the kitchen, hanging around underfoot.  Pat was able to ignore her entreaties for a snack, but then she accidentally dropped a small piece of lettuce on the floor, and before she could pick it up, Caitie-Belle pounced on it and ate it.  We knew that cats are meat eaters, but after that we realized the value of letting them have a side salad with the main dish.