It might have been ten degrees for lunch but the kittens Emily and Ginger had laid up overnight in the insulated cat houses out back with the nice mattresses. The small openings keep them out of the wind and their body heat doesn't leave the place. Their fur and Mom Nature does the rest to keep them well overnight in frigid cold.

I laid out a breakfast at dawn just before 7 a.m. when I was going out in the wife's car to ShopRite for a warm muffin, a newspaper, a single small green banana for my Cheerios some days away, a ten-pack of Friskies for $3.99 and a half-gallon of 2% milk. I also purchased a small Tyson package of chicken thighs and one of drumsticks on sale. My bill was $15.39. I was horrified that I was losing fifteen bucks that could have gone to beer, smokes, horses and the girls behind the Citgo station after midnight.

Nah, not really. It was 7 degrees out when I rolled in from ShopRite at 7 a.m this morning. I laid out a second breakfast for Emily and Ginger and laid out even more food when their father the huge orange tom showed up.

Lunch time? Well, the three house cats had a great lunch and raced off to bury themselves in warm beds. And then I laid out a lot of food for Emily and Ginger.

What did I see? I saw Emily and Ginger eat with great vigor. Their huge orange father was behind them and another huge orange tom that I hadn't seen in months was in front of them. Both toms were hungry and both hunkered down to glare at one another from twenty feet away while two female kittens gobbled and ate in the middle. The young girls are not "in season" and neither tom was interested in them but both toms did not like the appearance of the other.

I would have liked to stick around to see the outcome but I had action going upstairs in the man cave at Gulfstream Park. I heard no "yowls" or cat screams or anything that sounded like a cat fight once I went upstairs but the two girls outside are still juveniles, not fertile, not laying out a mating scent and no doubt not worth a vicious tom brawl for mating rights.

After the getaway at Gulfstream I laid out an enormous dinner for Emily and Ginger. They ate today beyond what cats normally eat but calories from food beget interior warmth that helps keep them alive through frigid nights.

And Emily needs to keep going before she lands with the skilled veterinarian and surgeon Dr. Wallach (DVM).