Wednesday

Oh, attachment! What a curse! (I say that with a smile.)

Maybe you get attached to things? I don't especially. I can flip, let go, move away at a moment's notice. I'll get rid of things others would find difficult to let go of. Start fresh, begin again -- these are not terribly hard for me. (Though I admit it, I get bouts of nostalgia later, for all that once was...)

But living things -- family, friends, animals... flowers! If the bond is strong, letting go is impossible.


It's another cold day -- now just twenty degrees below normal, but still, no one likes March to be below normal!

I'm out semi early to feed the animals. Sweet kittens have learnt from mom that coming out to create a visual reminder to The Person Living Inside The Yellow House pays off.







Okay okay okay, I'm coming!

Stop Sign still demands first dibs, but I know she holds them off just so long and then she does her morning prowl while the little ones dig in.

She is in the barn when I feed the cheepers.











She is in the old orchard as I leave food for Whiskers (the Writer's Shed, used by Whiskers as a hiding spot, abuts the old orchard), watching.






Whiskers arrives early today. He eats all the dry food. I come out and put in wet food. He hides, of course, then comes out again to finish that. And then he comes back one more time.






You still need more? You are one hungry cat. Okay okay okay, I'm coming.

In the meantime, Stop Sign has let her babes snuggle next to her on the blanket. I suppose tough love does not mean pushing them away on a cold day.






So you could say all's right with the animal world here, at the farmette. Except --  the impending cheeper release looms large. Even if we get the ostensibly calm rooster, letting them all out now is a guarantee that they'll just make their way to the garage and hang out there for the better part of the day. The snow and ice are impossible for them. They may like their freedom, but they do not like white stuff on the ground.

Ed says we can't predict how the cats will react. Except for Stop Sign, none of them have never seen a cheeper on the loose. I retort that I darn well can guess how the kitties will react: they'll run like crazy. Even Stop Sign side-steps the chickens. No one will want to share the garage with them.

Too, how do we manage to feed four cats when the cheepers are so hell bent on eating cat food (which inevitably has lots of chicken parts in it)? This was always a problem, even with just Stop Sign eating here.

We contemplate building feeding stations for the cats that are inaccessible to the cheepers. It would be a project! Tell me how one might design something that invites giant Whiskers but keeps out curious cheepers?

So who comes first? The cheepers, who may have squatters rights and are pretty fun to watch, if somewhat annoying with their pooping habits and scratching up my yard tendencies? Or the cats -- fickle felines that could be gone tomorrow if the winds blow in another direction and spring fever pushes them out into the wild again?

I don't want to prefer one over the other. Why can't they all just get along?? (And leave my garden alone while they're at it??)

You can tell what we talk about at breakfast time...






I do take a break from animal worries. I have a lunch date with a friend with whom I have not shared a meal in decades! That's a delightful set of hours! (The restaurant we go to has morphed into something completely new since I was last here in 2005, just days before I first met Ed...)







And immediately after, I pick up Snowdrop...






(Hug goodbye from a school friend...)






We drive to the farmette, where she tells me a story, straight from the book she "wrote" and illustrated in school...






But of course, there's not much time for play. I have to use a lot of convincing to let her know that dance class won't wait, that we will be late if we don't leave right now.






There isn't a doubt that this little girl loves Storybook Ballet. But at this age, being punctual is not a priority for her.  (Today's tale, Frozen, is a hot number for most girls (boys?)  in her school and Snowdrop is no exception -- she adores these Disney classic tales... Or, in this case, the Hans Christian Andersen classic tale, since Frozen is a remake of The Snow Queen -- that's for those of you who have not been around a little girl (boy?) in the last five years.)







I pull into the farmette driveway when the sun has disappeared for the day. As I roll into my parking space, my headlights pick up the eyes of Whiskers. It's rare for her to be here now. As I get out of the car, Whiskers disappears of course. I check her bowl, add some dried food bits and retreat.

Oh, the cat's back! So are we getting to be hang out home for this guy too?






In the meantime, the kitties watch mom scamper to the barn... Again -- it's unusual to see them be brave and up and about at this hour.






And a rabbit watches at the sidelines. (Oh no! A rabbit? Please don't get all worked up over a rabbit!)






Ed and I are no closer to a good solution, but on this we both agree: we don't want to give over all our waking hours to cheeper worry or cat surveillance. Perhaps in the end, we'll do nothing much. Sometimes attachment means that you have to let go a little of all that pulls you toward a someone, or some animal, or some flower in the garden.