Nearly all my lifetime we have owned cats, some house cats and many outside cats. Returning to Calhoun about 30 years ago, we tended to adopt cats that showed up at our doorsteps, some really feral.

Most of the doorstep cats were neutered by the Calhoun WAG program, but one stands out, naming it the Cat from Hell, truly feral on every check list.

One day it wandered into the yard, seeking some food from our more honorable cats. It wasn't long we before we observed the Cat from Hell's presence, often attacking the tame cats and our dog.

Our immediate response was to respond with a cane, driving it back into the woods. It coming back, sometimes attacking the person with the cane.

It was obvious the very large cat was impaired, suffering from an injury that had flattened its head with one eye missing, a left leg suffering from atrophy.

Having long suffered from killing living things, it continued to haunt our backwoods home mostly at night, including a couple efforts to climb my frame.

A friend was visiting our home for a weekend and decided he would take a walk around the Joker Ridge, when the Cat from Hell attacked him, biting and scratching. He managed to shake loose without serious injury.

It was then we decided the cat must be euthanized and with help of a couple of neighbor boys, we raised the bar, arming then with shotguns. Placing a bowl of food in the middle of the road, the Cat from Hell was disposed, running over the hillside to gasp his last breaths.

We dug a hole for the burial, saying some kindly words from Buddhist scripture to no longer harass.