I was off line for what seems like forever with phone line problems.  (yes,
I'm on dial-up)  I'll spare you the boring details.

For your reading edification...I'd like to post one of the poems that has
made creative writing class so fun.

Abandoned

One day comfortable, nesting

With his family.  Next

Tossed out into the wild and

Trashed beside the road

Dumped to fend for himself

Pleading for food and salvation

Turned away

Reported as vagrant

Never quite losing hope

For a family to love him

Eyes wide, he dodges

Traffic, snakes, dogs

And he is just little

A babe, without arms

To hold him

Hiding among garbage cans

A food source, safety of sorts

Woebegone, staring

Lonely, starving, unwanted

Unloved, undaunted

Maybe someone

Will give a kitten a home.

It was written about Pine Cone, our kitty who was dumped at the camp ground
at Morrow Mountain State Park here in North Carolina, and who has since made
our lives so fun and entertaining.  Not that the other six don't have their
own claw holds on our hearts.

Pam S.