We Say Goodbye to Another Old Friend

The only picture of Lightning we could find.  It's blurry, but then she was rarely still in the old days

One stormy afternoon seventeen years ago, in Mom's first Cheesehead incarnation, a tiny black and white kitten popped out of the tall grass surrounding the Viroqua property, mewing pitifully.  Being who they were, Mom and Norma immediately raced to provide sustenance to the poor thing before the storm moved in.  The kitten waited until they had moved off and sniffed at the plate of food, but took off into the grass without touching it.  "It must be too scared to eat," they thought, but it reappeared a few minutes later along with another kitten that looked just like it.  Both babies proceeded to demolish the food in the dish, and from that day on they were a part of the South Asbury Road menagerie, de-mousing the barn and prowling the neighborhood under the names Thunder and Lightning.  Lightning had a white blaze on her face that really did look like a lightning bolt; Thunder actually looked a lot like Adolph Hitler, but they were found during a storm, after all and I guess "Hitler and Lightning" just didn't sound right...

At any rate, after a good long run we had to say good bye to Lightning this past week.  She died peacefully in her sleep and was buried beside the old hen house where Thunder still lives.  It was a very sad day for both of us, but especially for Mom, as Lightning was one of the last links to the happy times in Viroqua.  Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.