And Then There Was "Life"

Another weekend post from my son's farm:

It started with an innocent glance out the window. I noticed one of the cats walking towards the shop. She hopped onto the dog house with the cat condo in the attic and then entered. I thought to myself, "If I was a cat, that is where I would have my kittens." And thought little else of it. Until ...

I went to feed the cats and heard this mewing from above. Not in the loft by the window but along the wall beside it. All three little kittens who live up in the loft were accounted for so my heart skipped a beat when I thought, "Babies!"

I hopped up to take a peek and sure enough. The Mama Cat who had been hissing at everyone and everything upon my arrival the previous night (I had wondered if this could be a sign she was in labor because this seemed out of character for her). Sure enough. I peeked in and saw one proud Mama looking up at me as if to say, "Look what I did!!"

I marvelled at the wonder of life on the farm and then started to ponder what may be going on in the cat loft in the shop.

One particular cat was at my side and a bit ahead of me as I made my way. She quickly hopped into the cat loft ahead of my arrival. When I couldn't see inside, I used the camera on my phone to take this:

I was 95% sure this meant there were kittens. But my suspicions were not confirmed until my next trip back. As I approached, the suspected new mom made her way just as I arrived. Sure enough, there was the tell tale sign of mewing kittens as soon as they knew their mom had arrived.

Then I had the opportunity to witness another act of mothering. I heard an unfamiliar meow that caught my attention. Immediately I noticed one of the "teen" kittens running to the sound. As it turns out this was this guy's mom and he knew she had caught a mouse for him.

This is as close as I could get to "Little Smokey" last week:

She/he was too timid to make it down the cat ramp onto the platform where all the cats get fed. I tried and tried to coax her down but she just wasn't ready. But this weekend, I'm almost certain she remembered me. When I arrived Friday night, she was the friskiest of all. It as if she was saying, "Look at me! Look what I've done!! Look at me now!!!" And when I went to pick her up, she didn't even struggle or act uncomfortable. It melted my heart just a little. Look at her now:

All in all, it was a most excellent day. I bonded more with the dogs. I gave the rabbits some treats. I simply soaked in the day and its small wonders.

The sun set upon another most excellent day on the farm. And it was good.