The days have gotten longer and there are flowers in the yard. Fred explains that it is spring. We have rain almost every day.  I don’t like the rain, because it means they won’t take me for a walk. Mom says that the backyard turns into a lake after lots of rain. One day we sit on the front porch to watch the downpour. I like the sound of it even if Mom won’t let me leave the porch to explore the bushes that are there. She says she does not want to crawl through the wet bushes to get my lead untangled. Suddenly there is a loud boom. That noise scares me. Mom picks me up to bring me inside. She says the thunder and lightning won’t hurt me, but I’m not so sure. Fred tells me he doesn’t like thunder either.

A few days later, Mom announces that it is Dad’s birthday. Fred explains that birthdays are how people count how old they are. I start to wonder when my birthday is. Mom and Dad announce that we will celebrate my birthday on the same day as Dad’s. They say they don’t know the actual day when I was born, but that should work for how old the vet thought I was when they adopted me. The years they talk about for Dad sounds like a really big number. They say I’m now a one-year-old. This means as a cat I’m all grown up. Somehow, I don’t think I will ever have as many birthdays as Dad has had. I know that a one-year-old person is not all grown up. Mom bakes a cake, and serves it with ice cream. She even puts a little bit of the cake and ice cream on a plate for me! This birthday stuff is just fine.

After the cake and ice cream, Mom and Dad start talking about another trip. This one will be much longer than our trip to Big Bend. Mom says it will be at least a month long. Fred explains that a month is when Mom and Dad camp for the night thirty times. Wow! I’m not sure how I feel about traveling that many days, but I do hope Mom selects good places to spend the nights. If nothing smells as bad as the road did on our way to Big Bend, I should be okay.

Fred says that we will see lots of people that Mom and Dad call family. I hope I like all of them. I like it when people pet me and scratch behind my years. Fred says as long as I don’t try to hide, that’s exactly what family members will do for me. I like the sounds of that.