It was 1976 and that winter was one of the coldest I can remember. It was the first time I heard the words "El Nino." Some people on television said that it was some warm water, in the Pacific, called El Nino which was disturbing the jet stream and pushing cold air down our way in Florida.

One very early, and very cold, morning down on Lake Santa Fe, the sun wasn't even up yet when I heard what sounded like a cat somewhere outside. I went outside to check and it seemed to be coming from under the house! Standing before the front steps and bending low, I called "Here Kitty!" and a tiny white kitten came running out and into my arms! I held him on my right side, up against my neck, as I carried him in. He was purring real loud and rubbing his little wet cold nose against my neck!

The first thing I did was feed him. I knew he had to be hungry. Then I noticed that his right front paw was half eaten off and beginning to get infected. Some people, and books, will tell you to always bandage a wound; but, my practical experience has been that that is not generally the best thing to do. I washed and scrubbed his foot. He was real good about it. Then I poured some hydrogen peroxide on it. I repeated the process a couple of times over the next couple of days and the foot healed up very nicely! Having only half a foot did not seem to bother him any!

I named him Pilgrim because he wandered into my life like a pilgrim. Over the next couple of days, he ate so much that his sides were always poking out! He must have been really starved down.

Both Pillsbury and Cookie ignored Pilgrim as they did each other! All three, I think, missed the lake; but, I was happy to be back in Garden City; and, I do think it was safer
for all four of us!

Pilgrim got to be a big cat! In the photo below, he is not yet full grown; but, he did get to weight over 20 pounds and none of it was fat!

My best memory of Pilgrim is the way he used to "hunt." He would see a bird, a squirrel, or something; then, he would crouch real low, start wriggling his rear end in the way cats do to "get ready"; then just before he would take off, he would let out a loud

"yoowwll."

"Get ready! Here I come!"

It took Pilgrim quite some time to learn the shortcomings of this particular method of hunting!

One day Pilgrim had a heart attack and died!

A short time later I found Cookie dead.