Samantha's birthday

My cat turned 20 last week. We don't know when her actual birthday is since we got her from the animal shelter. They said she was about 7 months old, so Lela and I counted back and decided we'd celebrate Feb. 12th as her birthday. Since it's also Lincoln's birthday, we named her Samantha Lincoln.

It's fantastic to realize that Samantha has lived with me for 20 years. That's longer than my child lived with me, longer than I lived with my parents.

Samantha holds the record for living with me. Twenty years.

Hannah made her a "cake" out of catfood and cat treats, and we gave her her gifts: a cushy fleecy round cat bed with a collapsible half-dome hood and a zipper underneath in which to place a bag of catnip.

I put this in front of her favorite window, where she can bathe in sunbeams and also see outside. She seems to love it.

I also got her a cardboard cat scratcher and sprinkled it with catnip. She likes it.

She isn't interested in the fishing toy with a feathery doodad on the end of the line. She practically sniffed and turned up her nose at it. She's no silly kitten any more.

All in all, a very good day in our life, and I was glad Hannah, who is animal-crazy, got to help me celebrate this milestone.