The catlets continue growing and are catching up on Mom. Sometimes
I mistake Echo for her mother now, if I'm not watching closely. Every
morning she greets me at the barn door with some anxious meowing, but
remains just out of reach. She's a lot like some teenagers I know.
     Ariel, still a charming little furball, has learned the trick of
getting a pace in front of me and flopping down on one side for a rub.
This can be irritating when one is pushing a large wheelbarrow with a
hundredweight or so of shavings in it. I may have to install brakes on
the wheelbarrow if she keeps this up. A while back she collected a real
winner of a cut. She hopped up on a hay bale for her usual morning
workover and I noticed her throat was soaked in blood. However, she was
so remarkably unconcerned about it that I just waited and watched
carefully. She had no fever, no swelling, nor any signs of anemia. For
the next two weeks she had a great ugly clot under her chin, and it
slowed her down not a whit. Now she has a bare patch there, and it is
all healthy pink skin. Soon the fur should regrow. This is one tuff cat!
I still don't know what happened to her, but there are eagles about, and
coyotes, and a Rottweiler with a violent history, plus lots of the sharp
nasties that abound in a barn. Throw in other cats, cars, visiting
children, visiting pit bulls with rather odd owners, electrical gear and
all the places they could fall from and it's a bit of a wonder they
survive at all.
     When Ariel is not irritating me, she is irritating the other
animals. She loves to accost me first thing in the morning and make the
horses wait for their morning carrot while I attend to her current itch.
The horses do not approve, and express themselves with loud whinnies of
protest, stall kicking and impatient pacing in their stalls. Doesn't
bother Ariel a bit. I think she enjoys the ruckus. She will also take
any opportunity to steal my attention away from Duke, which drives HIM
nuts. It leaves little doubt as to who is in charge of the barn.
     Nikita is turning into the barn ghost. You know she's around, but
you don't see her that much, unless the whole family is indulging in
mass mischief.
     Snaffle still leads her little family around and sort of sets the
pace of life for the other cats. We are starting to get stretches of
sunny weather now, and there is a concrete apron at the back of the barn
that catches the morning sun very nicely. This usually means that around
ten a.m. everbody can be found having a nice snooze and sunbath by the
back door of the barn. This is followed by a half hour of "king of the
mountain" on the sawdust pile, and then maybe a stroll to inspect the
livestock. After that I don't know where they disappear to. They aren't
telling.
     Lynn, our tuxedo cat, is learning to chase the twine from the
hay bales. She like a tummy rub these days, but not too much or you will
discover just how sharp those little teeth and claws really are!
     And that's about it for today. More news as it happens...:)
 
 
 
 
 
--- Maximus 3.01
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