A Pole Cat at the Farm

Not a smelly skunk or musky weasel critter...Just Ranger...Pole Sitting.

A "Tiger" Tail with Superheroes

Tiger makes his entrance at Four Sisters Farm...and into the hearts of some young superheroes.

Like most farms, Four Sisters Farms enjoys having some farm cats around.  You may have read stories before about some of them (cats eating cupcakes, flying cats, checking on cats in the middle of the night, cat poo, grumpy cat, and even a cat miracle). Seems like the cats are ever-changing...some come...some go...there seems to always be a new litter.

Sometimes we get to play with and handle the babies like when Lou Lou came to the farm to help with four little ones that we thought we wanted to tame...and we did. But that is another story.

Not all the superheroes really like cats and kittens.  In fact, one of the superheroes is pretty much petrified of them.  He is convinced they will "get" him.  So he watched from the safety of the house as his mom and siblings held and petted little kitty Tiger.

We figured out that something happened to Tiger's momma kitty and he got hungry enough and brave enough to come to the house where the older cats are fed every day.

After the superheroes first met him, they were playing and exercising in the yard when Rock Star kept hearing a faint mew.  So they went to see what was going on and discovered their new little friend, Tiger had fallen into a window well and was stuck.  They had to save him!

I was inside snuggling the littlest superhero and didn't hear the commotion.  It was all over by the time she knew what had happened.

Rock Star got down into the window well and rescued little Tiger.  Now, first of all, she is the least likely of the four sisters to do anything with cats because she is allergic to them.  But save this little kitten in distress, she did...but then SHE was stuck in the window well.  She sent the superheroes in to tell me what was going on but all I got out of them was that the kitten was stuck.  I thought they were just excited about the kitten...something was lost in the translation.  So Rock Star got more of a workout than she bargained for and fought her way out of the window well.  We had a good laugh at my inability to figure out what the kids were trying to tell me.  I might have understood Lassie telling me Timmy was stuck in the well better!

I guess all is well that ends well, and thankfully this story did end well.  The superheroes and Rock Star made a new friend and the superhero who was afraid seemed to conquer his fear enough to come meet the new little farm dweller.  He even managed to snuggle him a bit with his mom's help as I snapped some pictures.

Of course, I had to come meet the cute little fur ball too.  Hello, Tiger!  Nice to meet you!

Pop - My Hero (contented sigh)

We have cats at Four Sisters Farm. They are a necessity in the country as they keep the rodent population controlled.  Once they even killed a mole for us and brought it to the lawn for us to see. We were so proud.

With wild (feral) and semi-wild as well as tame cats on our premises, there is a new litter of kittens once in a while.  Recently, Pop discovered a litter of four that "Mama Kitty" was hiding in the pole barn. Of course we told the grandkids - especially Lou because she LOVES animals of all kinds, but has an intense fondness for cats.   Pop and I like cats okay and truly appreciate them; but we feed a lot of cats at Four Sisters Farm...not enough to keep them from killing mice...but we feed them.

So when the latest litter was found, Lou and I devised a plan to capture them when they were big enough.  She began doing research and passing info along so we would be prepared.  What we were NOT prepared for is just how sneaky, fast, and scrappy feral kittens can be!  We worked hard and captured one.  Only one.  We told Pop about it and he came out to the pole barn to help us.  Sure enough, semi-wild Mama Kitty had taught her babies how to hide and stay very quiet!  But Pop moved some firewood and found them and helped us catch the remaining three.

Fast forward now...past the kitty litter, scratches, and kitten chow.  My plan was to keep them long enough to find a vet to fix them, then turn them loose.  Well...we still have them.  By day, they play in a large dog kennel and all the grandkids love to play with them.  By night, they are moved to a smaller cage and wheeled via a wagon back to the pole barn for safety.

But I am still not to the point; so hang on...one dark and stormy night (literally), I had the kittens in their play yard on the front porch and had been so busy I hadn't remembered to transport them back to their night spot.  Pop and I decided to let them stay on the porch; but we hadn't accounted for their nocturnal naughtiness and noise...right outside our bedroom window...nor had we anticipated Mama Kitty's disapproval of our choice to deprive her sweet litter of their safe place for the night.  So imagine trying to sleep with kittens jumping, playing, meowing, and their mother expressing her opinion LOUDLY.

I threw on my robe and flip flops, grabbed my flashlight and made the transport.

So, still not to the point.  I know.

Pop and I laid down and finally got to sleep...then Mama Kitty showed up on the porch again...like she had lost her mind and couldn't find her kittens.  Pop reassured her that her brood was safely put to bed and came back in.

Pop:  "Do you think she could be smart enough to tell us there is a problem in the pole barn?"
Me:  "I don't know."  ( Especially at about 2am.)
Pop: "Do you think I should go check on them?"

I envisioned one of the little darlings stuck in the cage trying to escape and said, "Maybe." hoping that he would...and he did.  There were actually no wrongs to right and no kittens to save.  Pop is my hero just for being willing to come to the aid of four defenseless little kittens on the word of their somewhat confused mother cat.

That is the latest reason Pop is my hero.

And how I know you want to see the kittens.  They are so cute!