We had a one day blizzard that dropped about 2.5 feet (.76 meters) of snow on the ground. The following day, mom and dad cleared a path so that the neighborhood strays could get to our back door slab. Our friend Blackie was the first visitor. He had probably not eaten for a couple of days.

The rough patch over his right eye is from a battle wound or injury from a few years ago. The skin was originally raw and looked like he had been burned. Stray cats have a remarkable healing ability. They get torn up so badly in turf battles with other kitties that you think that they couldn't possibly survive, and yet they do.

We do what we can for all of our neighborhood strays.