It was the coldest dang day of the year ...

... and I had an adoption event to do.

Hauling tables and crates out of the car in a pet store parking lot on a Sunday morning when it's below zero and the winds are blowing at thirty miles an hour and the roads were crap all the way there is not exactly my idea of a good time, but I made a commitment.  Dammit. Ha.

It was nice and warm in the store.

There's two cats in this photo - can you spot them both?:

This guy is my favorite - goodness knows I've got a thing for the orange boys:

This is our newest addition, Bandit:

Bandit held up admirably at his first event.  He started showing up at one of our foster homes a couple of years ago.  They thought he was around eight months old at the time.  They started setting out a bowl of food on the back patio when he would come around, but he'd run off if they tried to get close.  Last winter, they put a styrofoam cooler shelter for him underneath their deck, and by the spring they could pet him.  Last summer he started tentatively coming into the house, and when he became able to be picked up, they scheduled an appointment with the vet.  After two years on the streets, Bandit now prefers to be indoors, and he is neutered, vaccinated, tested neg for FIV/leuk, and ready for a new home.  Good boy!

We took applications on two of the cats, and there is interest in one more.  Booya!

So I'm glad I bit the bullet and went out on that bitter cold day after all.

Oh!  Oh!  And while I was at the event, my snowblowing neighbor Jud not only snowblowed my driveway, he also snowblowed the cats' habitrails out back! (I shovel trails in the backyard when the snow gets deep so the cats can go out and get some exercise.) And I'm trying to picture the scene:  Jud comes over and snowblows the driveway.  He sees the path I've got shoveled along the side of the house to the back door and starts to snowblow that.  He comes around the back corner of the house and sees ... a bunch of random trails shoveled through the back yard. At which point he thinks I'm certifiably insane, but then he shrugs, starts up the snowblower again, and snowblows all the trails!  I definitely owe him a plate of cookies this weekend, AND an explanation.  Although he'll probably still think I'm crazy.  And I guess I am.