It’s the final Feline Friday of July, and Ms. Annie is the star of the show. Well, at least she was the one who posed for the camera more than any of the other cats, so that makes her the star.

A little history. Annie entered our lives back in 2004. We were on our regular walk to the beach in the early morning, just about dawn. We were walking on the side of Kamehameha Highway towards Kaneohe, past that short stretch of houses after Swanzy Beach Park, and had just arrived at the spot where the highway runs along the ocean near Polinalina Road.

And we heard a kitten crying.

Of course, we stopped and looked. Right at that spot, there’s a drainage culvert that runs under the road and empties out onto the beach and on to the ocean. And looking down from the road, we saw a kitten trying her best to scramble up a steep bank of sand. Luckily, I was able to grab her before she made it to the top and onto the highway in the middle of morning traffic.

So there we were, suddenly with kitten. We took her home. She was just about perfect. We might have made a token pass along the section of Kekio Road where she most likely would have entered the culvert, but I have to admit we didn’t seriously try to return her to her former litter. It was quite clear that she was going home with us to stay.

Annie is still the only hunter in our cat household, but she doesn’t get much opportunity these days since we’ve shifted to “indoor cat” status. She probably gets to go out more than any of the other cats because she almost always comes when called.

Almost always. One night this week, she decided not to come and ended up having to spend the night outside. She probably hadn’t expected to be locked out, but that’s what happened when she failed to return. I did get up once in the night and check, but she wasn’t anywhere around (or at least didn’t respond when I called). But as soon as I got up, she was right there at the door ready to get inside and get something to eat. Apparently the hunting wasn’t up to par.

–> See Ms. Annie and all the other cats in today’s Feline Fridayh foto gallery.