I'm just back from a trip up the Fraser River to the town of 100
Mile House. Sure enough, at the other end was a house, next to the house
was a barn, and in the barn was a cat. Just the story of my life, I
guess.
    The cat's name is Moulaka (MOO-la-ka) and she lives in a very small
one stall barn with a large and friendly Thoroughbred cross. Her life
has not been easy. There are dogs about the place, and one of them is a
large Shepherd-Great Dane cross with some guard dog training. Said dog
has not yet learned the difference between cats and fetch toys, and is
noticeably psycho.
   So for the first year of her life, Moulaka was endlessly harassed in
the backyard of a small condo by the monster dog and two others. She was
thin, scared and quite ragged looking. Then her owner moved up country,
to a place where there are lots of fences, fences that dogs could not
cross. Moulaka immediately moved into the barn, on the far side of a
fence from the dogs.
     The weather in 100 Mile can be harsh. This winter there were two
days of -35 degree weather, which translates to approximately equal
misery in either Celsius or Farenheit. What's a scrawny cat to do? The
answer was simple and direct. Make a home. And so she did, burrowing a
couple of feet into a pile of shavings in her tack room. There she hid,
safe from dogs, rain and biting cold. She started putting on weight and
fur. She took up horse watching.
     In a matter of months she was a cat transformed. She is now
positively fat, her fur is thick and her natural people personality has
burst forth in a flood. She is the happiest, friendliest jet black Manx
you ever met. She always wants to be picked up, purrs like thunder, and
is always ready to engage in long conversations with barn visitors. The
only drawback is that she makes it nearly impossible to get anything
done quickly in the barn. After all, it's HER home, and she expects
visitors to visit. If she could, I'm sure she would serve tea and
biscuits. Come to think of it, something has been messing around with
the heater in the horse's water bin. Gee, I wonder....:)
--- Maximus 3.01
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