Cats, Kittens, Barns, and Memories

These are the stray kittens that I have been feeding. In this picture they are all eating like little pigs. Here I had mixed a can of Friskies with some Kitten Chow. That one in the top that is just now coming to eat was the meanest of all. (not really mean, just more wild). The first time I caught it, it bit me several times. Then later it bit me again on the finger. That time I think it was an accident as I had Friskies on my finger and it just tried to take a bit. Anyway, no harm done and a few drops of blood lost.

First off the little yellow one and one of the black and white ones disappeared. I figured maybe someone had come along and picked them up. The mother moved them across the road to another barn, so I fed the remaining 4 over there. Then she moved them back again. Then 3 more disappeared leaving only one. It was there for about 3 days and then it too disappeared. I have looked everywhere for them. They knew me and always came bouncing out when I called them. They were not afraid and they knew my voice. I have held and petted them to make them friendly. I thought strong about bringing that yellow/black/white colored one home with me, but I didn't. Now I wish I had. I have been all around the house, the shed where they were born, the big barn across the road, and all the other old outbuildings. It makes me sad that they are gone and I don't know what happened to them. The gentleman that owns the farm was there today and I took a picture of him. He's very nice. I stood there and talked to him for about 30 minutes at least. He said he would go look for those kittens but he was barefoot. He hates to wear shoes. We talked about the old days.

I told him how much I enjoyed going in the barn across the road since it reminded me so much of when I was a kid and the barn at home. It has stalls down the side, hay in the loft, and lots of other nocks and crannies. It's really a big barn! He has 2 tractors in different sections of it and one has a bushhog on it. There are a couple of huge areas where cattle used to come to get shelter and feed in long troughs and an old bathtub which they drank from. The smells, which I know most folks wouldn't appreciate, I do. Just brings back so many memories. I'm going to take my neighbor with me sometime and I'll climb up to the hayloft and have her take some pictures. So stay tuned. You know you do not want to miss that.