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| Resting after a long drink at the milk pan |
This is baby kitty, or 'the grey one', as we sometimes call her. She does not necessarily require a more formal name. Maybe as the years go by and there are other baby kitties... we shall see.
She was one of a litter of four. Mama kitty had them in the chicken coop, which is where she had her litter last year also. By the time I moved back to the farm on September 28th, this little grey kitty was the only survivor. Life is tough for kittens on a farm. Maybe it was the dogs? We don't want to say for sure. We believe in and support the circle of life here.
So she survived. This made her special from the beginning.
And her fur! Oh, her fur is so soft and luxurious. It does not work for farm life at all. She almost always has at least two chicken feathers stuck somewhere in her fur. That is what started our bonding process. She let me pick her up when she was so tiny and I started grooming her. She was covered in sticky burrs from the burdock plants. So almost every day I would go out to the chicken coop and scoop up my baby kitty. As we sat in the sun she would let me pick out the burrs. Meowing and 'complaining' the whole time. But in my lap she would lay, like a Queen. And each day she was easier and easier to pick up. Now she comes up to me in the yard and talks and whines, I just love her. There is some kind of magic in developing a friendship with a wild baby kitty who lives with her mama in the chicken coop.
Baby kitty's sister from last year's litter had a baby herself this year. Well, she had two. One of them survived the tough life of a kitten on a farm. This baby kitten has never been touched by humans. We see her sometimes, hiding behind things in the barn. Or we may see her out in the yard, but only when we are up in the house looking down. She is WILD. I guess she may be a he, no way to tell from this distance. Anyway, this baby kitty makes me so happy and grateful that my baby kitty let me pick her up. Day after day after day. She accepts me as a friend and likes to lay in my lap while I scratch her neck and ears. She lets me pick out the burrs, which is terribly satisfying for someone with a case of obsession/compulsion.
Cats are really special beings. There are four dogs on this farm and one of them adopted me as her human. Pepper follows me every where and I enjoy her company. But she is insecure and needy, just like a human in many ways. Baby kitty likes me, that is clear, but she can take me or leave me. Our friendship is equal, balanced, satisfying. The cows of course are lovely beings. They are nice to hug and smack on the butt. Sometimes they will let you scratch them behind the ears. But they are separate in a way. There is no real intimacy there, probably because they are enlightened and are unable to connect to me and all my human emotions. Baby kitty is crazy and she meows a lot and rubs against my legs and chases things in the yard and seems to have some quality that allows me to feel connected to her. Like we experience things in the same way sometimes...
Well this is starting to sound a little crazy for sure. All I really wanted to express was how much I love this little grey fuzz ball. Love her in a way that only a cat can allow a human to love her.
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| That is mama kitty in the foreground. (Well, now she is really grandma kitty, but I like to call her mama.) Kitty drinking out of the milk pan is mama kitty's survivor from last year. Her baby is the WILD one. All the chickens and cats get along. Its so fun to watch. |
