Cats And Dogs

When Clay was here, he mentioned that he'd seen Missy just sitting out in the goat pen when he rode up and asked if she ever came up to the house.  She tried it a couple of times, but Bess was having none of that.  Bessie loves "her" cats, but will tolerate no others.  Missy was probably hunting, or at least patiently hoping for the ground squirrels that I see more of every day.  Good on ya, Missy!  Missy was again in the pen yesterday morning and ran up the path to meet me.  Like all cats, she doesn't ask for, but demands to be petted and stroked.  "Okay, lady, that's enough now.  Follow me and I'll show you the way to the cat food."  It's a good thing that humans are so easily trained.

Along those lines...the normal (such a relative term) morning routine is this.  Treats for Bess and the cats are given just before I go down to the barn.  It happens every so often that one or the other sleeps in and misses roll call.  Well, if you snooze, you lose.  Unless you're Celeste.  Routine is one thing, treats are another.  If she's the one left out, any time I go into the kitchen later she'll wind herself around my ankles, crying as  if her heart was broken.  "Please.  Please please please!"  What can I say?  I'm trainable.

I fear that Bess has made her last trip to the cookie store, also known as the feed store, where we went yesterday.  Lately her failing eyesight has made her afraid to jump out of the truck at home.  I think her depth perception is gone.  She used to fly out like Mighty Dog (cartoons from 1964).  Even with encouragement and the waving of cookies in front of her nose, it takes such a long time for her to work up the courage now.  It breaks my heart.  I can boost her hind end up onto the seat, but she's too heavy for me to lift down.  I even buy two 20-pound bags of birdseed now instead of the 40-pounders of the past.  I don't want to put her through that, though I'll miss my traveling companion.  I'll still bring her cookies.

A sure sign we've passed the vernal equinox are the blooming plum trees.  This old tree, here when we moved in, as well as the two younger ones I planted in the west orchard, have burst into bloom.  The reason this old girl is so bent is because the deer use the trunk like a ladder to reach the ripe fruit.  The peach and cherry trees are always a little slower to join in.  The cherry tree has never borne fruit because cherry trees need a male and female close by, and the prior owners never planted a male.  Another sign is that I'm seeing the first Baby Blue Eyes pop up.  Such cheery little flowers.

One reason for going to the feed store yesterday was to get gasoline so I can go into town today.  Sigh.