Lost and Found

On Tuesday we enjoyed going to the temple for our Stake Temple day. The kids were at the church across from the temple, with me and other kids and moms the first two hours, and with the next shift of moms the second two hours. Victoria and Karissa had a ball, Austin didn't know the difference, he was just glad to have me back to nurse him on time, and Jason and I got to go through a session together! Since we were near the only Baja Fresh in the area that we know of, we decided to eat dinner there to finish off the day (it's one of my favorite places to eat!) When we returned, we didn't see Yoda (our cat). We assumed he must have been out when we left, but we didn't worry about it. We thought he'd be home soon , or in the middle of the night, as he sometimes does when he's out on the town. When he wasn't home the next morning, we got a little worried.

Yoda is a different cat. He doesn't even jump over baby gates, let alone a fence without something to jump off of to give him a boost! He's never gone more than 12 hours. He likes to come home to rest and eat, though I prefer it that way so he doesn't get into too much trouble. He is a big cat, 13 lbs., and has his claws.

The last time we "lost" him was in Delaware. He was gone 3 days and it turned out he was "stuck" in our next-door-neighbors' garage! (He actually wasn't "stuck", just too freaked out to leave the garage when it was open.) So this time, Wednesday morning, the kids and I went to all the neighbors in our cul-de-sac and asked them to open their garages in case he was "stuck" in one of them. We had no luck, but there were two left we were going to do later when the owners returned. One of them was Victoria's friend Bethany's house. When they came back we played in their backyard for about an hour. When we left they opened their garage for us, though we didn't see or hear Yoda. The next morning I was worried sick. I thought maybe someone who didn't know him called someone to pick him up. I gave his information to the police station and found directions to the local humane society. While I was getting ready in my bathroom with my window open, I heard a weird screeching sound, a dog bark, and a scream. Minutes later Bethany's mom called me and told me Yoda was in her yard attacking her dog! When I went over there, Yoda was in the corner of their yard, (our yard was right on the other side, he could have eaten our grass through the fence!) molting and hissing at the dog. I was scared to pick him up, he was so freaked out. I helped get the dog back into their house and when Yoda calmed down a bit, I picked him up and took him home.

So he was next door, probably in their garage at first since we didn't see him in the yard when we were there Wednesday, and couldn't get home because he could not jump over the fence! We think he's a little wimpy, but we love him anyhow. The next time he goes missing, I'll not sweat about it. He'll just be stuck in someone's garage or yard again!