Today the cats taught ME something. Here's a little bit of feline 
behaviour I have never seen before.
     Mom and Lynn, the "alpha kitten" came sneaking out of the barn this 
morning. Well, actually Mom came sneaking and Lynn came pestering and 
frolicking. Mom was on the hunt, tracking down some hot prospect or other and 
was focussed on the job. She was talking to her kitten, making a series very 
small sort of yowling yelps. It sounded very much like instructions, but who 
knows? Anyway, Mom hopped up on a bench and peered around the corner of the 
barn at something out of my sight. Lynn started playing, trying to start a 
wrestle.
     So Mom reached over the kitten's back with a foreleg and pressed down. 
Lynn froze in place for several seconds and then started mucking about again, 
when Mom repeated the gesture. This time Lynn took her seriously and settled 
quietly. Satisfied that the kitten would remain still, Mom then slunk away to 
attack whatever it was around the corner, reappearing a minute later. Lynn 
never moved the whole time. And a minute is an eternity to a kitten!
     It seemed very much as if there was a fast conversation happening 
between them:
           Lynn: Let's play!
           Mom : Stay here and be quiet.
           Lynn: No, let's play!
           Mom : This is serious. You stay put and watch.
           Lynn: Oh, all right....
 
All the kittens have names now. We have Lynn, the black and white, and the 
little calico that looks just like Mom, who we call Echo. Then there are the 
two medium longhairs, called Aerial and Nikita. They are starting to 
socialize with people now and the dominant family trait seems to be a 
thunderous purr.
 
   Today we had this first serious snowfall of the year, about three inches 
of light fluff.  I released the horde, opened the back barn door and the 
rumbling riot came to a sudden silent halt. Being kittens, of course, it was 
five minutes later that they were exploring aggressively.
Lynn was sure there was a mouse under that big white carpet somewhere and 
started making short pounces like a cat playing Mouse Under the Blanket. She 
was last seen disappearing around the corner of the barn,  making six attacks 
to the foot of ground gained.
    Yesterday a Bald Eagle did a low pass over the barn. He was low enough 
that you could the golden color of his eyes. I hope he wasn't looking for 
lunch. At the time time, the horde was once again safely and warm in the tack 
room, but I may have to keep an eye on the raptors around here. Hm.
--- Maximus 3.01
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