Saturday, January 5, 2008

The Cats of Maple Corners

When all else fails, post cat pictures!

This is Scarecrow. She showed up one day as a wee baby, meowing her head off. I was out watering the animals, when her head popped up from some scrap wood in the corn bin part of the granary. She has a slight film over her left eye, as you can see. She came with that.

This is Puddin'. She was actually born here, to another cat (that just showed up) that I didn't get spayed soon enough. I was lucky to find good homes among friends for all of them, but she stayed with me.

This is Freckle Face, aka Groucho Marx. She showed up a few years ago, a bag of bones and matts. When I took her to the vet, they wouldn't do any shots because she was so malnourished. I got her weight up and took her in to be spayed. When they shaved her for the surgery, they just kept going and shaved off all the matts. She looked like she had a mohawk, there was just a strip of fur down the top of her back, the rest on her sides had to be shaved off. She makes a lot of trills and odd sounds, and her meow is very kittenlike. She sleeps with Mom.

This is, well, he doesn't really have a name. He is a feral cat that hangs around. He figured out my dog door, and hangs out in the mudroom to warm up and eat. I guess I should call him semi-feral, because he will let me pet him in the mudroom. It's funny, he won't let me near him outside (this photo was taken through the glass patio door) or in the barn, but when he is in the house he will. I suppose he figures he has to endure the petting to get the food or be warm. I know he needs to be de-wormed, but I don't trust him enough to try to shove a pill down his throat.

I never intended to have indoor cats. They all figured out the dog door. I'm such a sucker.

Mom update: We had a really good, fun night last night. She was cracking jokes and one liners right and left. She was trying to (well, acting like she was going to) put the handle of a craft paint brush up my nose, and when I asked her to stop, and suggested that maybe she should put it up her nose, she sort of shook her head and said, "Oh, I'll get a different one. "

Then, she was calling the cat, saying here kitty, kitty, kitty. One came running, and she rolled her eyes, groaned, and said, "Ach, me and my big mouth!"

At various times throughout the night, she also used a dish towel as a grass skirt and did the hula, and did her best Red Skelton (drunk) and High Society Lady impressions.

It was good having my Mom back.

8 comments:

rilera said...

I'm a sucker for animals, especially cats. Your's are adorable! Thanks for sharing their pictures and stories.

Thank God your Mom is back to her old self. I'm so glad. It's so scary when they are not OK.

Cindy said...

Give your Mom a big hug. As for your cats. What a toughie you are:) I do love your feral boy. He is quite beautiful and plays you like a fine instrument, doesn't he? We are such suckers for animals, aren't we?

Spinningfishwife said...

Cats that chose you as their owner (serf??) are extra-special. I love your cobby-chops feral boy. There's a world of character in that big face.

Joanne said...

Love all the cat pictures. The "Marx" cat is so cute. The feral cat looks like a cat we used to have named Cinnamin. He had the striped tail just like that too!

Glad your mom sounds like her old self. Enjoy those times. ((hugs))

cornbread hell said...

i'll get around to reading the rest later, annie. for now i just want to tell you how nice it is to read this and to see the pictures of your cats. i hope the other cats don't get jealous, but my favorites are groucho and the feral guy, too.

glad to hear mom's doing well and givin' you a hard time. someone needs to!
i've missed you.

like i said, i'll catch up eventually, but right now i'm just gonna go read everyone's latest posts. (don't tell anyone, but i read yours first.)

Anonymous said...

Lovin' the kitty cats! Thanks for sharing!

rilera said...

I think we should have a Name the Kitty contest for your stray visitor.

Annie said...

Good idea Robyn! I'm up to any suggestions!