Gollum

You may not be aware, but we own a cat. Many people in our marina who have been there for three years don't know this.

Gollum came to us about 4 1/2 years ago as a strange, nearly hairless beast living under my car in Michigan. I love animals, so I instantly began feeding her, giving her water, and slowly gaining her trust. The last one took awhile, and even when I felt I could trust her, she still scared the crap out of me with the noises that came out of her. She sounds similar to Chewbaka or Gollum from the Lord of the Rings movies.

Gollum decided on Monday night to wander out of the boat - a very rare occurrence. Because she is often in hiding and sleeps her days away, we didn't realize. It wasn't until the next day when I realized she hadn't touched her food that I knew something was wrong. I looked all over the boat, but she was nowhere to be found.

I ventured further and started looking in the water, expecting to find a fuzzball floating in the water. There were a couple other people who noticed me looking and after explaining that yes, we have a cat, they started looking too.

I was just about to give up when suddenly I caught site of her, next to a dinghy stored on the dock less than 20 feet from our boat.

I'm sure she had a COLD night, but she seemed happy to be back home and I'm sure she'll never venture out again.