The Memphis Commercial Appeal carried a story on Friday about a feral cat that had a peanut butter jar stuck on its head for about 19 days. An area family had been feeding the cat but the feline would never allow itself to be petted.

Then on Nov. 10 it showed up with a peanut butter jar stuck on its head. The cat still refused to be touched. When the animal didn't show up for several days they figured it had used all of its nine lives.

Some 19 days later, though the cat was found, exhausted, dehydrated and too worn out to attempt an escape. Long story short the cat is in recovery and doing well. Although there's no mention as to whether or not "Wild Oats," as the cat is named, has warmed up to humans.

A similar story is going on right now in our little corner of the world.

A dark brown and yellow calico kitten showed up at the local golf course several weeks ago. Like the Memphis cat, this one pretty well decided it wanted to avoid human contact.

One of the club's employees, with her heart in the right place, tried to catch the kitten. It fact, she did catch it. However, when she stuck her hand in the box to pick it up … Well, you know happened.

The kitten continued to hang around looking for scraps and likely whatever slow mouse that happened to venture by. Over a week or so, it became obvious mice were few and scraps were being too properly disposed of because the kitten was looking pretty scrawny. It was clear that something had to be done if this kitten was going to ever see 2008.

That something turned out to be a local guy who put a bag of cat food (probably kitten food) in his vehicle and a supply of bowls.

A regular, four days a week, at lunchtime at the club, he began bringing the kitten a bowl of cat food every day. When he plays golf on the weekends he will also set a bowl out for the kitten. Then he began going by on the one day a week he doesn't eat lunch at the club, because Tony is closed on Mondays, and dropping off a bowl of food. When he doesn't get to play golf on a Saturday or Sunday he makes sure the kitten gets fed.

The kitten still won't get close to people, but it knows what time dinner is scheduled to arrive.

One day last week this fellow was running a little late to lunch. The kitten showed up at the club's dining room window at the regular time. It stood outside and "meowed" while pawing at the window.

Mike Long said the kitten was asking, "Where's my food?"

Not to worry. The kitten's best friend, Mark Pelts, showed up within a few minutes and dinner was served. Cat people will appreciate this relationship.

The kitten dictates what happens and on its schedule. It will allow Mark to feed it, but that's about all the human contact it needs, or apparently wants.

This tale is not unlike another story when Jim Reynolds adopted a pair of stray dogs that appeared on the golf course. Jim fed them for the longest and I'm pretty sure had a local vet take a look at them, getting them ready for a good home.

Now I know the danger in mentioning the generosity of these two guys. Some will say I'm only opening the door for other strays to appear on their doorstep.

Trust me, that's going to happen anyway because this isn't an isolated case where these two, and fortunately others like them, are concerned. I thought it was worth mentioning and since these two just happen to be attorneys several myths about that particular profession have probably been shattered.

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Good news abounds

On the national front.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Employers added a solid 94,000 jobs to their payrolls in November, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent and wages grew briskly, encouraging signs the nation's employment climate is holding up in the face of turbulence in the housing and credit markets. The fresh snapshot of the labor market, released by the Labor Department on Friday, showed that hiring was brisk in education and health services, retail, professional services, the government and elsewhere. That helped to offset job losses in construction, manufacturing and financial services - casualties of the housing slump and credit crunch. The 94,000 new jobs in November came after a surprisingly strong payroll gain of 170,000 in October. The unemployment rate stayed at a relatively low 4.7 percent for the third straight month.

On the state front.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - Missouri's tax revenue is coming in ahead of what was budgeted. The state Office of Administration says November's net general revenue was up more than 6 percent compared to November 2006.Missouri's annual budget takes effect in July. Through the first five months of its fiscal year, net general revenue was up about 4.5 percent compared to last year. The state budget was built on an assumption that revenue would grow by 3.8 percent this year. The larger-than-projected increase is largely because of income taxes, Individual income tax revenue was up more than 7.5 percent during the first five months of the budget year. Sales tax collections were up barely 1 percent over last year.

Bud Hunt is the publisher of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.