Farming in the shade

Barn cats serve a purpose on our farm--keeping the pest population somewhat under control. We don't let the cats fend for themselves, though. They're provided dry cat food daily. This keeps them healthy and strong so they can hunt better. We've also taken care to spay and neuter them all. So why do we have so many? Because the food we put out attracts feral cats. And because there are folks in this world who think, "A farm! My unwanted cat can live there," and dump him/her off. No, I'm not kidding. So every couple of years we have to catch a few new additions and bring them in for the procedure, if we're low on kitties. Or to the animal shelter if we have enough already. If we didn't do this, we'd be seriously overrun.

The Farmer headed out for morning chores, accompanied by his helpers. There was a chill in the air, and when I hung the freshly washed jeans on the clothesline this morning, steam rose from them. I tried to get a photo of it, but you'll just have to imagine it. My camera is not capable of catching such subtleties as steaming laundry.

Nah, guess not.

I have spent entirely too much time on cats lately. We are over-run with them, frankly, due to people dumping them and wild ones just wandering over. We feed them, appreciate their rodent-control services, don't pay attention, and suddenly there are 4, 982 of them. Yikes! Last week I brought 7 kittens and 1 mama cat to the low-cost spay/neuter clinic 30 miles away. I paid my money, drove back home, and picked them up the next morning. Kept them in the garage for a few days while they recuperated, and let them all out. All is well, right? No. Several of them have a respiratory virus (common among barn cats, I'm told by the vet at the spay/neuter clinic), and are hacking and coughing and dribbling in a cluster right outside our front door. If nothing else, it'll probably keep the travelling cutlery salesmen from stopping... I was advised to buy the stinkiest canned cat food for them to eat while they're recovering. Apparently, they don't eat if they can't smell. A...