Carl the Cat

At the ranch, we have several barn cats.  

They take care of the ranch rodents and are super easy to maintain. 

They don't need much since they are very self-sufficient,
mostly they just need a nice warm spot to sleep.

Lottie fell particularly in love with one of the barn cats and
named her "Raja' (like Princess Jasmin's tiger).

When we are at the ranch, Lottie can't get enough of her 

and you will never see Lottie without Raja.

When we are home, all Lottie talks about is Raja.  

It's kind of weird that she loves the cat that much
even though she hardly ever interacts with her.  

Sadly, the last three times Mr. Nielson has been to the ranch, 

he has yet to see Raja.

Raja moved on to greener pastures.

We decided not to tell Lottie yet and instead started looking 

online for a free cat to replace Raja.

We finally found a cute white cat here in Provo and surprised 

The Little Nies, when we pulled up to a house where

 Mr. Nielson went inside and came out
  with a big white fluffy cat in his arms.

We decided to be really fun parents and get the cat the

the week before he leaves for the ranch, so the Little Nies
 (mostly Lottie) can connect with him.

Plus, seeing Lottie talk to animals is the cutest thing you'll ever see.

Melts my heart every time.

Then we discovered she was really he 

(regardless of his pink collar and pink dyed tail).

Somehow, we decided to name him Carl on the way home

 in the car with the cat sitting in Lottie's lap.

We pulled up to the garage and put Carl down.  

He walked around and then vanished into the deep snow and brush.

I looked at Christian. "Did Carl just run away?"

"No, he's just exploring," Christian said.

But Carl was gone.

Poor Lottie was heartbroken and would go downstairs 

to the garage multiple times during the day to see if maybe,
just maybe he had come home.  

Nope. No Carl.

Days passed, and we decided to shut the garage door 

we had kept cracked open in case Carl showed up.

To be honest, I was a little relieved. I don't love cats.

This morning I walked down to the garage to go on my 

still-dark-outside-early-morning-hike and stepped on what

 I thought they were little black rocks on the mat at the bottom of the stairs.

I turned on the light to discover that it was cat poop- frozen cat poop!

Carl was alive and in the garage somewhere!

Even Claire loved Raja.

We still can't catch him and hope when Mr. Nielson leaves for the ranch 

he'll cooperate and jump in the truck with him in a few days.

He'll do much better at the ranch.

Happy February!

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