Surprise

Kitteh, lying in wait for something
Please click to enlarge any of these

Sitting at the kitchen table this morning getting outside the first cup of coffee when Liz walked in.

Scaring the heck out of something and making it run away and slip on the ice

No surprise as that is how the day usually goes. 


Except that I hadn't heard her truck. I usually hear her truck...before the dog does in fact. He sure is getting old.


I didn't hear the truck because she came in really, really, really early and milked ALL the cows by herself (except Lemmie, because she didn't know what I am doing with her) and fed the babies.


Wow, that sure is a great surprise.Thanks Liz!


And last night the boy dropped in with a half a dozen hilarious stories about life in the big city and pretty girls and all those young guy things we miss when he is gone.

"Something" track. I would say possum....what was that kitteh thinking!

So anyhow, I had time to go out an look at some tracks and take some pics. Brave kitties out there last night...but kinda stoopid!

The Better Half of Snow

C'mon, you knew there had to be one. It can't be ALL bad..only almost....I am not a winter fan, less so after taking a crashing fall while taking sand in so the cows had better footing (guess I should have sanded where I walk first). However, despite the bruises and bumps, there is an upside to this white stuff all over the ground.

Tracking, reading the unfolding story of what happened in the night, out in the yard while we were sleeping. There the crook-legged hen left a garbled trail over to the porch to steal cat food. Here the rooster scratched for sun flower seeds under the feeder. It is like gossip written in blue and grey against the white....every one's secrets revealed.

This morning's tabloid offered a probable explanation of where Triton went. Triton was a lovely cat Alan brought home not long ago. I really liked her....what a hunter.

Then one morning she was just....gone....we never saw her again.

This morning a set of large, like German shepherd-large, canine tracks, led from the bank of the creek right across the heifer road and all the way to the house and beyond. Right next to the cars and the back porch where Triton lived.

Canis Latrans. Bold as brass, right up to the house, right up to the hen coop, right past the pony barn. Although we have three dogs, they are all confined in warm places for the winter. None of them left the tracks. I knew there were coyotes around; you can't miss hearing them, but I had some idea that they stayed out in the field....waiting for the cats to come to them.

Hah! I swear if the door was open they would probably walk right in the living room looking for Elvis and Simon.

There are also bunny tracks out there, but very, very few compared to most winters. I guess that is the better half of having a coyote in your back yard. Besides cats, he apparently eats rabbits too.

Still.....