The Home Front
For eighteen years, we had Kitty. We got her as a little solid black kitten from my daughter’s gymnastics teacher. It was part of the deal to make our daughter feel easy with her brother’s new pet snake named Rippley, Believe it or Not. Rippley was a corn snake who lived in an aquarium at our house. He was a tiny little bit of a snake. The deal was that if Caleb got a snake, then Lonna could have a cat. So, Kitty came home one day to live with the Standridges. Along about that time, our youngest son, Joshua, decided he was left out. So, we welcomed Hooch the Wonder Pooch. Joshua was five when tiny little Hooch came to live with us. He was a feist/beagle mix we all adored. 
Now, everyone got along well. Rippley stayed in the aquarium, and Hooch and Kitty guarded our place. One day, David and I went out on the porch, and they were curled up together. David likes for all of us to be working, including the animals. David said to Hooch, “Get up and go protect our place. What are you doing, cuddled up with Kitty?” David said to Kitty, “You useless hunk of fur. Why don’t you go catch a mouse or something?” The next day, something was wrong. Kitty sat outside our door and meowed very loudly over and over. She had never done this before. I ran to check on her. She had a mouse on the doormat for David. I called him to the door to see it. That was the end of it, right? No, it was not. It became a daily ritual. Kitty sat meowing on our doormat with a mouse for David. I thought she would surely stop soon. But it kept going for days.
I thought about it for a while. What are we going to do to get her to stop bringing the dead animals to our doormat? I had a talk with David, and I said, “This started after you called her a useless hunk of fur. You’ve got to tell Kitty to stop bringing us those mice. Tell her she did well and to stop bringing them to you. Tell her she is not a useless hunk of fur.” David said, “Danna, cats can’t understand us.” I didn’t give up, and he finally relented. “Well, okay. I’ll give it a try.” So, the next day, when Kitty showed up on the doorstep with David’s present, he said, “Kitty, you are a very good cat. You are not a useless hunk of fur. You can stop bringing them to me now.” And she did.
-Danna Standridge, Author of What’s Cooking with Danna, Y’all? and Happiness is Homemade Y’all! For speaking engagements and cooking demonstrations, email [email protected]. Join her in the kitchen on Facebook @DannaSwannStandridge and YouTube @dannastandridge8749.
Need a Crowd Pleasing Treat? Oreo Cookie Dessert
“The easiest dessert of your life with only 4 ingredients and never a spoonful left!”
Ingredients:
- 1 5 oz cook and serve Jello chocolate pudding mix
- 3 cups milk
- 1 package Oreo cookies
- 8 oz Cool Whip
Directions:
Layer cookies in a 9 x 13 dish. Cook pudding according to package directions and pour hot over the cookies. Let cool completely. Add a layer of Cool Whip right before serving.
