We live in what is considered country, surrounded by California walnut, peach and almond orchards. It is an easy existence where we are somewhat isolated from the general populated areas of our community. We have a fairly close knit neighborhood, not that we know everyone, but we do know their names and in general a little about them. Actually there are only seven families that we consider neighbors. Some have been here longer than others. The latest ones to inhabit our neighborhood moved here just last summer.
Actually we have been here the longest and have seen the older residents die or move away because they could not or decided not to care for so much property.
It has been a difficult scenario to see old friends and close neighbors cling to what has been dear to them but have to give it up because of the amount of work to keep up several acres of property. We have all shared (at least most of the small community residences) a love for the country life and what it means to work in and with the soil. We are in the country but still close enough to town to be able to get to shopping areas quickly and usually easily.
We have always had pets, outdoor pets, that is. My wife is very allergic to pet dander so we have made it a practice to separate the outdoor life from the indoor life. It has been hard at times, especially until the children understood the reason.
My daughter’s horse riding experiences always came with dander. She learned early on that she entered the house through the laundry room, stripped off any garment and dropped them in the washing machine before proceeding through the house.
Usually there was no problem but on occasion my wife would cloud over and begin to have difficulty getting her breath. On such occasions there was medication that would help. A few times it has been a trip to the hospital to get relief and to be able to breath deeply again. She has survived all the animals my kids have brought home from lizards to “pet mice” and everything in between.
About thirteen years ago, two identical small kittens showed up on our property. I don’t know where they came from but there they were huddled together. They were not really friendly. I don’t know why but they had this distance air about them that really made them rather superior to the rest of us mere mortals.
As they grew and matured, their personalities also developed into two very distinct personalities.
It has usually fallen my lot to name most creatures that inhabit our property, at least the ones we had intended to stay. These two kittens posed a problem for me. Two names would never seem right for them nor did anyone else come up with signatures for these new residents of the farm.
Finally in desperation they were referred to as “Kitty One” and “Kitty Two” and have remained so for the last thirteen years.
Remember these kittens/cats are almost identical. Like most twins, if you live with them long enough you become familiar with their quirts. Their habits are totally different and actually there are subtle but distinctive markings that distinguish them quite easily. Although from a distance I still have some trouble telling them apart.
What is apparent is how they carry their tails. One has a very straight tail and is usually straight out behind when walking. The other has a crook toward the end of her tail. Kitty One has the crook and Kitty Two has a straight tail. It isn’t complicated just a mark of distinction.
There is a shelf under one of the back windows, where the cats are fed. The shelf is somewhat protected from the elements of rain and sun. A ramp of a old widely cut rough timber was put in place almost thirty years ago and is still just as serviceable as it was when it was placed there long ago.
The shelf serves as a great scratching post as well as a passage through the flower bed to the shelf. The cats have used this access for all of their lives, but other cats have found the easy access to food as well. Not only cats but possums as well. I don’t know about other creatures, I have only seen possums on the shelf besides other visiting cats that need some nourishment along the way.
Kitty Two will sit on the shelf when she anticipates her morning portions. Her eyes are more golden color than her sisters and she uses them differently. There is more disdain with a very superior air about her. She sits very straight with her head pulled back as though assessing you and analyzing you to ascertain your intent and intrusion into her presence. Did she invite you there or did you just appear for her benefit. With her tail curled around her prissy feet, she surveys you from her lofty throne. She will eat when you have left but not usually before. Besides the straight tail, golden eyes and easily discernable dislike for you, she also is missing the little patch of white under her chin that marks her twin sister.
Both cats great me in the morning when I go out to feed them. Kitty One will stretch and yawn with gusto racing up the ramp in anticipation of the early morning repast. Kitty Two observes with some reserve and uses carefully placed padded feet to ascend the feeding rostrum.
One cat has an eager expression while the other is mainly indifferent to surrounding activities. One will come and rub back and forth contently but the other will keep her distance. Neither one will hide the fact they do not like to be held or for that matter even allow being picked up. It is OK to rub on you but try to bend down to lift or pet one and its instantaneous retreat will amaze you.
I have always maintained a farm needs at least one cat to keep the mice away or perhaps use them for food. I don’t know for sure these two are great mousers. Perhaps they devour their prey when I am not looking. Even I have seen a plethora of mice in the hen house where mice food is abundant. I don’t know why the cats don’t hang out there. They could get a great critter lunch when I am there to gather the eggs or refill the chicken feeder.
Usually after being fed, the cats will disappear, one for the entire day and the other to rest on some obscure comfort zone far from prying eyes and an interrupting presence.
Kitty Two is often seen atop a nearby shed where she can observe but be away from any unwanted interaction. She can be seen climbing a tree to the shed roof where she can either bask in the warm sunshine on cool days or enjoy the refreshing breezes of a lazy summer day.
Other cats we have had have ended up as Frisbee cats while trying to cross the road that runs along the front of our property. I have never seen our current felines ever off the property. They have free roam of three and a half acres that they share with geese, chickens and horses.
On either side of us are not-cat-friendly dogs. For this reason and probably this reason alone, our cats are home bound. It always amazes me how close to the fence the cats will go and how unwelcome the neighbor’s dogs make our cats feel. I am always impressed at how quickly the cats will respond when someone inadvertently leaves the gate between our properties and a dog gets through. Of course a great chase ensues with the cat up a handy tree and the dog left without something to sink his teeth into.
There was a young fellow who stayed in a travel trailer on our property for awhile. He had a wonderful dog named Luke. The dog was usually kept on a chain clipped to a section of the chain link fence that runs along the west side of our property. The dog had a large half circle to roam when the owner was not at home. Often we would let the dog off the chain to let him roam the yard and enjoy the coolness of the flower beds.
The dog and the cats had some sort of understanding. The dog would chase and the cats would run but only fast enough to stay some distance apart. Neither one ever caught up with the other.
One particularly blistering hot day when the temperature hovered around 110 degrees, the dog and cat did their usual run about the yard. The only difference was it was too hot to run or even walk fast. The cat lead off ambling across the yard and the dog took his lead from that and ambled after the cat, doing their usual dog and cat chase only is very slow motion. It was comical to watch the two, in the hottest part of the day, slowly cross the yard only to collapse at the edge of the lawn, the cat in the flower bed and the dog laying on the edge of the lawn, both too exhausted to pursue the other any farther. Even animals have their limits.
The cats have been constant companions when I am working in the pasture/orchard. Just seeing them cautiously evading the watchful geese is an opportunity to observe nature in action. The cats early on learned that geese can be a speedy foe with a painful pinch and they shy away from any intentional encounter.
Usually the geese will keep to themselves when I chance into their area. The cats then have time to sneak about investigating what I am about. The horses can be a problem at times when they lumber about poking their noses into what I am doing. Now and then I have to slap them away. They become like mosquitoes – bad companions. They too are part and parcel of life on the farm. They eat the summer grass that keeps growing and my wife enjoys seeing them when she looks out the back windows while working in the kitchen.
Both cats have brought a simple enjoyment to the “farm”, one a sense of great dignity and the other a playful abandonment. Although they look alike there is a definite discernable difference. I have enjoyed both and value their companionship and quiet understanding.
Actually we have been here the longest and have seen the older residents die or move away because they could not or decided not to care for so much property.
It has been a difficult scenario to see old friends and close neighbors cling to what has been dear to them but have to give it up because of the amount of work to keep up several acres of property. We have all shared (at least most of the small community residences) a love for the country life and what it means to work in and with the soil. We are in the country but still close enough to town to be able to get to shopping areas quickly and usually easily.
We have always had pets, outdoor pets, that is. My wife is very allergic to pet dander so we have made it a practice to separate the outdoor life from the indoor life. It has been hard at times, especially until the children understood the reason.
My daughter’s horse riding experiences always came with dander. She learned early on that she entered the house through the laundry room, stripped off any garment and dropped them in the washing machine before proceeding through the house.
Usually there was no problem but on occasion my wife would cloud over and begin to have difficulty getting her breath. On such occasions there was medication that would help. A few times it has been a trip to the hospital to get relief and to be able to breath deeply again. She has survived all the animals my kids have brought home from lizards to “pet mice” and everything in between.
About thirteen years ago, two identical small kittens showed up on our property. I don’t know where they came from but there they were huddled together. They were not really friendly. I don’t know why but they had this distance air about them that really made them rather superior to the rest of us mere mortals.
As they grew and matured, their personalities also developed into two very distinct personalities.
It has usually fallen my lot to name most creatures that inhabit our property, at least the ones we had intended to stay. These two kittens posed a problem for me. Two names would never seem right for them nor did anyone else come up with signatures for these new residents of the farm.
Finally in desperation they were referred to as “Kitty One” and “Kitty Two” and have remained so for the last thirteen years.
Remember these kittens/cats are almost identical. Like most twins, if you live with them long enough you become familiar with their quirts. Their habits are totally different and actually there are subtle but distinctive markings that distinguish them quite easily. Although from a distance I still have some trouble telling them apart.
What is apparent is how they carry their tails. One has a very straight tail and is usually straight out behind when walking. The other has a crook toward the end of her tail. Kitty One has the crook and Kitty Two has a straight tail. It isn’t complicated just a mark of distinction.
There is a shelf under one of the back windows, where the cats are fed. The shelf is somewhat protected from the elements of rain and sun. A ramp of a old widely cut rough timber was put in place almost thirty years ago and is still just as serviceable as it was when it was placed there long ago.
The shelf serves as a great scratching post as well as a passage through the flower bed to the shelf. The cats have used this access for all of their lives, but other cats have found the easy access to food as well. Not only cats but possums as well. I don’t know about other creatures, I have only seen possums on the shelf besides other visiting cats that need some nourishment along the way.
Kitty Two will sit on the shelf when she anticipates her morning portions. Her eyes are more golden color than her sisters and she uses them differently. There is more disdain with a very superior air about her. She sits very straight with her head pulled back as though assessing you and analyzing you to ascertain your intent and intrusion into her presence. Did she invite you there or did you just appear for her benefit. With her tail curled around her prissy feet, she surveys you from her lofty throne. She will eat when you have left but not usually before. Besides the straight tail, golden eyes and easily discernable dislike for you, she also is missing the little patch of white under her chin that marks her twin sister.
Both cats great me in the morning when I go out to feed them. Kitty One will stretch and yawn with gusto racing up the ramp in anticipation of the early morning repast. Kitty Two observes with some reserve and uses carefully placed padded feet to ascend the feeding rostrum.
One cat has an eager expression while the other is mainly indifferent to surrounding activities. One will come and rub back and forth contently but the other will keep her distance. Neither one will hide the fact they do not like to be held or for that matter even allow being picked up. It is OK to rub on you but try to bend down to lift or pet one and its instantaneous retreat will amaze you.
I have always maintained a farm needs at least one cat to keep the mice away or perhaps use them for food. I don’t know for sure these two are great mousers. Perhaps they devour their prey when I am not looking. Even I have seen a plethora of mice in the hen house where mice food is abundant. I don’t know why the cats don’t hang out there. They could get a great critter lunch when I am there to gather the eggs or refill the chicken feeder.
Usually after being fed, the cats will disappear, one for the entire day and the other to rest on some obscure comfort zone far from prying eyes and an interrupting presence.
Kitty Two is often seen atop a nearby shed where she can observe but be away from any unwanted interaction. She can be seen climbing a tree to the shed roof where she can either bask in the warm sunshine on cool days or enjoy the refreshing breezes of a lazy summer day.
Other cats we have had have ended up as Frisbee cats while trying to cross the road that runs along the front of our property. I have never seen our current felines ever off the property. They have free roam of three and a half acres that they share with geese, chickens and horses.
On either side of us are not-cat-friendly dogs. For this reason and probably this reason alone, our cats are home bound. It always amazes me how close to the fence the cats will go and how unwelcome the neighbor’s dogs make our cats feel. I am always impressed at how quickly the cats will respond when someone inadvertently leaves the gate between our properties and a dog gets through. Of course a great chase ensues with the cat up a handy tree and the dog left without something to sink his teeth into.
There was a young fellow who stayed in a travel trailer on our property for awhile. He had a wonderful dog named Luke. The dog was usually kept on a chain clipped to a section of the chain link fence that runs along the west side of our property. The dog had a large half circle to roam when the owner was not at home. Often we would let the dog off the chain to let him roam the yard and enjoy the coolness of the flower beds.
The dog and the cats had some sort of understanding. The dog would chase and the cats would run but only fast enough to stay some distance apart. Neither one ever caught up with the other.
One particularly blistering hot day when the temperature hovered around 110 degrees, the dog and cat did their usual run about the yard. The only difference was it was too hot to run or even walk fast. The cat lead off ambling across the yard and the dog took his lead from that and ambled after the cat, doing their usual dog and cat chase only is very slow motion. It was comical to watch the two, in the hottest part of the day, slowly cross the yard only to collapse at the edge of the lawn, the cat in the flower bed and the dog laying on the edge of the lawn, both too exhausted to pursue the other any farther. Even animals have their limits.
The cats have been constant companions when I am working in the pasture/orchard. Just seeing them cautiously evading the watchful geese is an opportunity to observe nature in action. The cats early on learned that geese can be a speedy foe with a painful pinch and they shy away from any intentional encounter.
Usually the geese will keep to themselves when I chance into their area. The cats then have time to sneak about investigating what I am about. The horses can be a problem at times when they lumber about poking their noses into what I am doing. Now and then I have to slap them away. They become like mosquitoes – bad companions. They too are part and parcel of life on the farm. They eat the summer grass that keeps growing and my wife enjoys seeing them when she looks out the back windows while working in the kitchen.
Both cats have brought a simple enjoyment to the “farm”, one a sense of great dignity and the other a playful abandonment. Although they look alike there is a definite discernable difference. I have enjoyed both and value their companionship and quiet understanding.
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1 comment:
I truly enjoy all of Clair's down home wit and wisdom. Keep it up.
Jim Johnsn
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