WINTER

Winter's still here. All my FaceBook friends up north are posting their snow pictures. In northern Alabama, they had ten inches. In north GA, they had a few inches, too. North Carolina and Tennessee are pretty used to it.

Down here, we had some cool weather. It got down below freezing a night or two. But the signs of spring will not be denied!

On our walk today, this white camellia was blooming defiantly.

Here you can see its companion, the red camellia. They seem to be vying for most optimistic flower!

And I'm totally ready for spring! Glad the sleet and snow and ice didn't get down here!

COLD WEATHER

When we first came down from north GA, we used to see people all bundled up in winter clothes while we were running around with a light jacket or sweatshirt. We'd laugh at them since it didn't seem cold enough for bulky coats and scarves.

But that was in 2005. How things have changed.

The winters started feeling colder a few seasons ago. Last year I actually bought a fake-down filled jacket. Now, with the low temperature in the thirties, I'm wearing it. No, I wouldn't have thought daytime forties and fifties were so cold ten years ago. But this is now.

Guess my blood's getting thinner. Wish my body was!

The azalea blooms that thought it was spring, are dead. The green buds on the trees are calling it quits. The Christmas cacti are having to be taken in or covered up. The birds going north are camped at our bird feeders.

The only good thing is that we have no snow.

LOCAL EXCITEMENT

It's been a hard few weeks without our sweet boy cat. My girl cat is gradually getting accustomed to being on her own but she's hanging out a lot with us. And still occasionally yowling like someone's stepped on her. I think she remembers him and wonders where he is and wants him back.

But we're all getting better. The local paper is helping take our minds off our boy. Especially when the front page headline features Ben Affleck.

Yep, that Ben Affleck. Seems he was in town scouting locations for a new movie. The people he ran into who recognized him were deliriously ecstatic. He was even kind enough to allow them to take pictures with him. We, of course, weren't among the favored ones. We never hear about anything when it's happening. That's okay. We're used to being behind times and styles and whatever's going on.

Anyway, the movie is supposed to take place in Boston during the Roaring Twenties. Wow! Our town will be perfect! We have all these criminals running around like that period did!

Well, maybe slapping your boyfriend's ex or beating on your momma's door or shoplifting a steak by putting it in your pants isn't quite reminiscent of Boston back then. But I'm sure we can come up with something! After all, we're imaginative and innovative!

Pick us, Ben Affleck! Please pick us!!!

Hmmm. Does Boston have any palm trees?

CAT

Our sweet boy cat is gone.

Our girl cat is not taking his absence well. She joined our family when she was a kitten and has never been without her brother before. She can't understand why he isn't here and keeps going through the house looking for him. Sometimes she yowls for no reason. Her appetite has dwindled.

After a couple of weeks hoping she'd get better, I took her to the vet. He's a new vet--very nice--who bought the practice from our old vet, so he hasn't dealt with our baby before. I explained that she's a temperamental cat. That she's missing her brother and has never liked strangers--she actually bit the old vet who laughingly referred to her as a "*itch"--and that I always took her out of her carrier and held her during examinations.

Making me out a liar, she behaved beautifully. When we had to leave her for a couple of hours while he ran a blood test, I was afraid she'd act up, but we reluctantly went off.

When we came back to get her, the vet said she'd been fine. He'd given her a shot and she hadn't tried to scratch or bite or anything. She'd been a perfect lady.

I don't know if he's lying, but he didn't look upset and he had no visible wounds. If he's telling the truth, this is probably the first time in her life she hasn't threatened a vet. Maybe she's taken a fancy to him?

MORE CRIME BLOTTER

This wasn't from our local paper but another county reported on a man ticketed for eating while driving. The policeman followed him for two miles watching him eat a double-Mac before citing him under Georgia's distracted driver law: "You just can't go down the street eating a hamburger." Looks to me like they ought to be after people on cell phones!

A woman and man got to arguing while riding in a car. At a red light, she grabbed the car key, and they got into a fight that attracted a crowd. Both got arrested. !

A shoplifter tried to steal Tide Pods. Guess he needed clean clothes.

A woman called police because she was being harassed by her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. The situation heightened after her ex and she exchanged lengthy texts about him being in town for the holidays. Hmmm. Maybe the new girlfriend needs to make him her ex, too!

After being warned once about calming down during an argument with their mother, two sisters got arrested for running around her house, beating on windows and doors while their kids were inside. I'd be hiding, too!

A man punched his boyfriend in the face while he was asleep. The boyfriend called 911 for help; then the man called 911 back and said they were no longer needed. The cops showed up anyway. Seems the boyfriend had called another man "cute" on FaceBook which precipitated the argument leading up to the punch. When the boyfriend pressed charges, the police started to carry the suspect away but he fell to the ground, screaming he didn't want to go to jail. No kidding!

Two 'friends' were arrested. The out-of-town visitor vomited in his host's hallway after a night of drinking, then fell asleep. His host woke him up, yelling that he needed to clean up after himself. That led to a big fight where someone's head got rammed into the sheetrock. Ugh! I'd have been yelling, too!

Finally, a policeman reported someone broke the window on his police cruiser and stole several things: a police ID and two pistol magazines along with the policeman's driver's license and credit cards. Other personal items taken were cash and a gift card. Not even a police car is safe!

I love our local paper!

CRIME BLOTTER

There haven't been too many crime reports in our newspaper the past few weeks. Maybe there hasn't been as much crime. Or maybe too many big headline stories have overshadowed the local stuff.

But we have had a few in the last couple of days, some of them dealing with food.

Seems a woman went into a store with her own cup, filled it from the soft drink dispenser, then lifted a pack of peanuts. While she ate and drank in the store, the clerk saw her and had her arrested. Don't know why she didn't sneak them out before consuming them. She might have got away with it.

Although in another store, a woman--I hope it wasn't the same one!--picked up a candy bar and hid it before trying to leave. She didn't get away with it. One candy bar's worth getting arrested? Even if it was a large KitKat, I don't see it.

In a different vein, a woman came out to her car parked downtown to find the rear window broken. She thought a bullet had damaged it. The item didn't say whether or not it was, but the possibility sure makes me not want to go downtown!

And finally, a man came into the hospital with a gunshot wound in his hand. He was hazy as to the location of his 'accident' and said the 9 mm gun fired after he'd taken out the magazine and was trying to extract the chambered bullet. Naturally, he had no idea where the gun was. He got reported to the Violent Crimes Unit anyway. Wonder if that had anything to do with the shattered car window?

And while it wasn't in the crime section, a rabid fox terrorized a neighborhood yesterday. It bit two people and a dog and rampaged for a couple hours before the husband of one of the victims shot it. Now people are asking why police or the DNR didn't respond to their 911 call. I'd like to know that, too. Good thing the husband knew how to shoot.

CATS

I've been a little distraught. My boy cat is old. Like about twenty.

The last couple of years he's been blind and deaf, but he was able to find his food dish and his litter box and his bed. Then he began having some mental problems. Meowing in the middle of the night. Going around in circles. Wanting to eat every couple of hours.

But he was still in pretty good health so we catered to him. Feeding him three or four times a day, putting him in his bed when he meowed, moving him to a familiar place when he got lost.

We were making it fine until the last couple of weeks. Now he's looking tired and withdrawn. And he's making hacking noises that sound like whooping cough. When I pick him up, he's uncomfortable. He's always been a gentleman and would never scratch me, but I think he's beginning to be in some pain.

I can't see him suffer, but it sure is hard to let him go.

Here he's asleep in his little bed. I moved it into my bathroom because he likes it in there. The girl cat usually sleeps with him, but lately she's deserted him. I'm wondering if she knows he's feeling bad and is making it easier for him.

Pets are like children. Easy to love and hard to lose.