Searcy, AR

My cat, made famous by a blog that included Raven and Nutsy, has disappeared.

My cat, who just came up to our house and made her home on our back porch 7 years ago, has gone.

My cat either found a better place to live and ran away or she has been done in by something larger than she was. We miss her. My husband even admits that he misses her. In fact, he was the one who told me to come see what was on our porch that day 7 years ago. A cat and two kittens!! He said, "If you give them some milk, they'll stay."

He swears that he said, "!!$$##&&%!! Don't you give them any milk or they'll stay!" But that is just the red-neck-expected response. He is really pretty gentle. Once we got rid of the two kittens which quickly turned into 7 kittens, we had the cat spayed and the job became easier.

Back to my guilt feeling. We were eating dinner a few nights ago and a big gray cat came right up to our door and started begging. He was looking right at me and saying, "I'm hungry! I'm friendly! I understand you may have a vacancy on this back porch." Hubby made that same remark again, "If you feed him, he'll stay. "

With his urging, I fed him. He was back the next morning begging again. He was back that night at 6:00 begging again. Morning and night for several days he has come begging. We had left-over cat food from the lost cat so why not feed this cat? He eats like he's starving.

But is he? Here's the thing I'm worried about. Are we guilty of attempted alienation of affection? Are we trying to steal someone's pet? Are we too quick to think that we have been handed another cat just like the one that disappeared. What do you think? Should we shun this cat? Shoo him away?

Here's his picture. This was made tonight after he'd stuffed his belly and was getting a little groggy and sleepy. He's a little cross-eyed too.

Two more pictures contributed by my blogging buddy, Anita Hart. Her mother is in each of them and they were traveling. The first picture shows the ladies in Hot Springs Arkansas in the mid 50's. She has the identity of some of them. Her mother, Corrine Hart, Inez Pickens (Dean of Women at Harding College), Margurrite O'Bannion (Exec. Secretary to Dr. George Benson), Myrtle Roberson (owner of the Rendezvous Restaurant), and an unknown lady with the long fur tails.

The long furs were so popular then. I think the more furs you had, and they still had the heads on them, the more money you had.

Personally, I never had any fox or fur heads and tails.

They definitely had to have on high heels (but not as high as today's!) hats and gloves and the little purses that matched the shoes.

That was during a time when fashion dictated the length of the dress. It appears that fashion said to have the skirt about mid-calf and these ladies, who loved to be fashionable, followed to the inch!

The next picture finds girls at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis TN. They are actually on top of the Peabody. That's where the famous Peabody ducks live.

For those who have never heard of the Peabody, it is famous for the ducks who march into the lobby to spend the day swimming in the fountain and basking in the love and adoration of the guests at the hotel. At the end of the day they march back up to their home on the roof.

A red carpet is laid down for the little ducks to walk on.

They again have on their hats and probably gloves are somewhere present. Two-toned pumps must have been in style. No doubt the purses matched the shoes. Corinne Hart, our famous one, is second from our right. Looks like slightly askew hats may have been the rage!

Having inherited a few old pictures of Searcy Arkansas houses that a widow was throwing away, I have posted a few on these blogs to see if Searcy residents recognize them. The designer of the houses had taken photos and saved the photos and the floor plans. Once he died the widow wasn't keeping them. I kept them from being lost forever.

Here's another picture of a newly built house.....or at least one that wasn't very old.

And here is the same house today. It appears largely unchanged, doesn't it. Those little trees really grew!!!

It's another year of Winter weather.

Drag out the old Winter clothes and put up the Summer ones.

I have done that.

Now eliminate the ones that you no longer wear!! OK, I can handle that.....

How about this nice green pant suit. Man, I look good in that! (Well, perhaps I "looked" good in it.) It is tailored. Pleated pants that go to the waist. The jacket is long enough to cover any widened hip flaws. I'll think about giving this away because it is lined and hot and my office is TOO hot.

Okay, here's another lovely suit. The jacket is a little shorter but it still covers most hip problems. Pants also go to the waist and have belt loops for me to hang my phone. But it is very old and perhaps should go? Here's a gray suit. I liked it too but it was sans belt loop pants.

Looky!! My favorite Liz jacket, covers the hips, long sleeves with definite tailored look. And here's my Jones New York one!! You know, even though they were on sale I paid quite a bit for them. With this global warming and my heightened body temperature I may not get to wear them again so should they go?

What about this one? Skirt and weskit! Weskit? Is that a word anymore? Used to be. Oh, I loved this outfit. What? Size 10? 10? When was I a 10? I'll lose weight and wear it again possibly.

My Liz shiny sweater!!! It had to be worn at Christmas or parties back before everyone wore glitter every day of the week. Hey!! I may be able to wear it now as an everyday sweater!

#$%#&$$#!!! That's it. I cannot part with any of these things this year! I'll just go sneak some of my husband's old clothes out and get rid of them and I'll have room to keep these outfits for a few more years. He'll never miss them because he has too many and never gives anthing away.

Great solution, Mrs. Duncan!!!!

My very favorite coat of all times is>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. WAS.....: (

Gosh, I wish I had not given that away. It was lightweight, had a faux fur collar so that when I wore it to New York to NAR convention, no one spit on me. Wait! That may have been before fur brought out nasty comments and expressions........Anyway, that was a good lesson. Don't give away your favorite things!

Very good solution, Ms. Barbara!!

A friend of mine, eons ago, was preparing to move and had a lot of things to throw away. Being a scavenger, I claimed some of it. One thing she had was several pictures and floorplans of houses in Searcy that had been designed and built by her husband. I guess they were built probably in the 40's and 50's. The houses were not fancy. I kept the pictures in my car for a long time and tried to find which ones they were because they were not addressed.

Here's one of the old pictures.

And here's the way it looks today. Anyone remember it? Interesting to compare, isn't it?