This is Oliver. He is my neighbor's cat. I took care of him, his shy brother, two birds, and a bunch of fish while our neighbors were out of town last month.

I talk to Oliver in a singsongy voice so he figured out, while wandering by one day, that this is where his new friend lives. Since then he has spent hours sleeping under our vehicles and in our bushes. When it rained the other day, he was sleeping on our (covered) front porch when I came home.

He does all this for a bite of Noel's deli turkey or a small sliver of cheese. I know his mommy and daddy feed him well so we will not fatten him up over here.

But he is one of God's humorous creatures. He loves to be petted and follows me from the driveway to the house like he thinks he is a dog! And he is loud outside our front door if he thinks I should come back out with more food.

We now have to plan an extra five minutes leaving the house to check under the cars before we drive away, and for me to pet Oliver. Probably good to slow down our pace a bit. :-)