Friday, September 13, 2013

Backyard Beauties

This is my favorite little blue-eyed toddler.
 
 But we have another blue-eyed beauty in the backyard.
The County Line's typical cat population looks more like common barnyard kitten than Siamese. So we're not too sure how this exotic-looking kitten came from our run-of-the-mill cats. She has me singing Crystal Gayle's "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" to myself every time I see her.
One of her litter mates is this black and white cutie, whom we call Boots.
Awhile ago, a big black and white tomcat showed up and started sharing vittles with our cats.
He has apparently now shared a little more than that. He is getting braver. But he still won't let Randy get too close. However, Randy is diligently working on taming his cute little offspring. The shy tomcat has definitely added some diversity to the cat population at the County Line through this latest litter of kittens.
Their other litter mate looks more like their Mom, a calico beauty.
Genetics is a curious business, isn't it? 

Three little kittens
Give us the dickens
In figuring out their "lines"
A calico mama
A black and white papa
The results are quite divine!

(Now you know why I write prose and not poetry. Dr. Seuss, I am not. I could say that I will award a cat to the person who writes the best poem. Any takers? However, I will have to clear the "trophy cat" with the resident cat wrangler.)

6 comments:

  1. Oh Kim! They're all so beautiful... The black and white one (Tuxedo) looks like my Spencer! Thanks for sharing your stories, poem, and pictures. Deb

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    1. Randy is definitely the cat person around here, but I have to admit they are pretty cute. Randy says that these are staying here, so any "trophy cat" for a wonderful poem will have to be a different one!

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  2. Funny where the colors come from. We just found two little kittens in an abandoned building on our property. We see occasional flashes of Mama but she won't tolerate us.
    Love your header. MB

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    1. They look nothing alike, though two of them look like their parents. It's a mystery. The header was a photo I took in September of 2009. I just got two beautiful rainbow photos last night. Check 'em out! (The evening of September 15.) Thanks for taking time to comment!

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  3. B&W, Siamese and Calico cats are my favorite!

    We had several B&W house cats growing up. In High School Sister acquired a Siamese from the neighbor. It was an outside cat, except when Dad was not home. She did not like Dad and made sure we all knew it. We had to keep a close eye on her in the house or we were doing laundry with urgency.

    When I went home to visit Mom said “look at my kitten, it just showed up one day.” It’s a gray stripped typical barn cat and sweet as can be. In private Dad snickered and told me the kitten didn't just show up. The kitten wondered into the grain elevator when he was in town drinking coffee one day and he brought it home. Several days later Dad confessed to Mom the real origins of the kitten. Jokester he is!

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    1. If the black and white tomcat weren't so skittish, I'd think that he arrived on our farm via Randy, kind of like your Dad's exploits! When I was in Topeka this weekend and reading books with Kinley, she would say "Papa" every time we saw a kitten in a book. Same goes for tractors. What fun!

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