Twelve months ago today Miss Millie joined our family. Why is making the one year mark so significant that I had to blog about it? Well, you see, of the last four pets we've brought home, this one has had the longest staying power.

The following creatures are listed below with the duration of their life as a Carpenter and HIS subsequent fate.

• Buddy the hamster: two whole weeks; chewed through the metal cage and escaped at least 10 times. The final escape was out the back door never to be seen again.


• Zeke the white kitty: two months; decided to go outside and for some reason ran up to the top of an 80 ft. tree. He stayed up there for two days and nights. The fire department doesn't respond to such situations any longer so he took the matter into his own hands and jumped. Along the way he hit a few branches, landed on the fence and broke his leg. As a result he had internal bleeding among other issues and was put out of his misery by the vet.


• Tigger the orange kitty: four months; He was the best cat ever. We adopted him at 8 months old and he was perfect for our family. Unfortunately he wanted a little more adventure than indoors could offer and began wandering out into the woods after dinnertime. We think he probably became dinner for an owl, raccoon or another critter larger than himself. R.I. P. sweet kitten.

Even though Millie has wandered off a few times, eaten some items that didn't agree with her and endured a couple of doggie illnesses, she appears to have more lives than both of the felines but together. Must be a girl thing!

Happy one year Millie! Here's to one more!