Homestead Cats

Meghan and I used to volunteer at the local humane society socializing the cats and kittens that were waiting to be adopted. "Goblin" was one of those kittens. A palm-sized, potbellied little scruff of a thing who was always intimidated by his brother. When Ghost was adopted and Goblin remained for several weeks, we grew alarmed he might end up being euthanized. The only answer was for us to adopt him ourselves. So the still extremely small "Goblin" came home and immediately was renamed Scrabble for his inability to jump well. He went over obstacles by clawing and scratching and managed to always look inept.

Needlesss to say the tiny kitten turned into a rather large cat--38 inches from front paws to back when stretched out on the bed(which is his favorite activity). We now believe Scrabble is part Maine Coon. He tends to squeak to us when his food dish isn't readily available or he needs some other attention. He isn't overly excited about hunting and seems to think his main job in life is to hold the bed down. This he does with great aplomb.

Because Scrabble was allowing all manner of rodents into the garden and barns we decided we needed another cat. Enter Billy--a stray orange tabby rescued from the shelter because even though he had a heart murmur he also purred profusely and liked to be snuggled. The "indoor only" cat quickly became an in-and-out cat because he is either going all out at a dead run or holding the bed down with Scrabble. Billy Bob Thornton Cat has shown a certain ineptitude at catching rodents although he is willing to race up a 60 foot maple tree if there is a squirrel badmouthing him. We continue to hope that one of these two rather large cats will eventually figure out they do have jobs, but for now we must be content with being their laps and gofers when the food dishes need filling.