Nolley got neutered. In real time, we’ve successfully made it through the wrecking ball known as “the cone.” Holy smokes, that cone was annoying. I think it was more annoying to us than to him. He didn’t fuss about it or being unable to scratch or lick his incision. One box checked, four more to go (one more dog and three cats).

Jamie is chugging along in the impossible garden. After a few days of sprinkler use, the garden has started to grow faster. I’m honestly shocked she got anything to grow this year. We didn’t use any compost or bring in any major amount of material to prep the soil. Everything she has growing started from seed, and I think she used one bag of Miracle-Gro in her starter pots. Only because we brought it here from the last property. We also didn’t want to go crazy with the size or location because we haven’t master planned the rest of the clearing. We still need to figure out the exact location of the house, chicken coop, garden, and some kind of water hole.

Gandalf knocked on the door and asked Sarah if she wanted to go on an adventure. We think she crawled into the undercarriage of the car before I drove to town. We realized later that day that we haven’t seen Sarah in a while and she was missing. After connecting the dots, we drove around trying to find her. While driving, an emergency broadcast message came through the radio regarding a tornado heading towards us. We raced to Jamie’s Aunt’s house and saw the tornado cloud passing by south of the property. I’m not sure if it was ever a confirmed touchdown but the south side of New Albany got some damage.

That cell dropped 4-1/2″ of rain in just a couple of hours. It’s pretty hilly around here, so we rarely see catastrophic flooding, but a lot of the lower roads had water running over them. Our property was a few miles north of the major stuff. Our ditches were roaring and we had water flowing over the driveway where the single lane expands into the parking area near the shop. No damage was done to the driveway, but a lot of our trails are littered with debris piles that were washed up.

All of that happened with Sarah out in the wild. I’m sure Bilbo and the Dwarves faced the same, but I’d wager they were a bit more prepared. On the 11th day, braving the wild, Sarah was found clinging to a tree above our neighbor’s mailbox. I’m not sure how far she ventured away from us, but she was found Three Doors Down (GREAT band from Mississippi). The neighbor posted on Facebook that she had been found, and one of Jamie’s high school friends tagged her, thinking that this cat would be a good replacement for Sarah. It was Sarah! I saw the post a bit before 7am and raced over to the neighbors to bring her home. She was thin and pitiful-looking. The next two days, she spent a lot of time at an all-you-can-eat cat bowl buffet. She gained her weight and strength back, but unfortunately, her story is not over…TBC.