Kitty Hunt

We're going on a kitty hunt.
Gonna catch a fat one.
I'm not afraid.

This girls scout song was going through my mind on Saturday when I called my mom in Southern California, and she told me they were going on a kitty hunt. A Californian safari,  of sorts. A few days ago my parents received a flier on their door saying that Jackson the cat had gone missing in their neighborhood. The owner was offering a $1000 reward.

Neither the cat part, nor the reward part really sounds like my parents cup of tea. I'm sure they just put the flier aside with a little laugh, thinking, "Poor Jackson needs his medication."

My parents frequently take walks in the evenings, and that particular evening they went walking around a university campus nearby. When they got to the fish pond, my parents were surprised to see Jackson, a big fat grey cat who had obviously found his food source. They recognized him from the flier and started to follow him. Jackson would run around the corner, and when my parents followed Jackson was waiting for them... only to run away again. Not only was Jackson full, but he wanted to play a little cat and mouse... where he was the mouse. My parents could never get close enough to nab the cat and return it to it's owner. So instead they gave the owner a call to verify Jackson's whereabouts.

That weekend, my parents had the grandgirlies over for a sleepover. They showed the girls the flier and the girls were more than excited to search for the cat the next morning, especially if there was a reward involved. So my parents made a game of it, and gave all the girls some cat food (Lucky Charms cereal) to nibble on and tempt the cat once they found him. They walked over to campus where my parents had last seen Jackson.

On their kitty hunt, Meghan, Mackenzie, and Casey found...

The fish pond where Jackson had been. There were turtles in the pond, but no kitty.

And a mushroom.

Sadly, they did not find Jackson on their kitty hunt. Though, was that really the point?