Newest Residents on the County Line

 

Taking photos of baby kittens is kind of like taking photos of multiple toddlers. It's next to impossible to get everyone looking in the same direction. I think I was as exhausted by my efforts as this kitty appeared to be.

One of our mama cats had five babies. They now have their eyes open and are getting cuter - and bigger - every day. We haven't had a surviving crop of kittens for awhile. This time, the mama had her babies in the Igloo near the house. The Cat Whisperer thought that required a change of bedding material. I concurred. I probably wouldn't have chosen white, but I wasn't the shopper. 

Then, after Randy had invested in a new pad, the mama moved them to the window well. 

I would have thought the accommodations in the Igloo were better, but I'm not a mama cat. Maybe she was trying to avoid the Big Man. She wasn't too wild about his attention at first. She'd hiss and claw. Randy may have had a battle wound or two. But, as I reminded him, a protective mama is better than one who moves them away - never to be seen again.

So far, she's kept them closer to the house, so Randy has been doing his part to tame them - even though we don't have a date that the girls (or Susan) will be here to play with them.

We try not to play favorites around here, BUT ... these are Randy's favorites.

But he does give them equal time. 

Yikes! We almost had an escapee!

They are pretty cute - favorites ... or not.

Will & Avery: Part of the Family Now

 

Back in November, I introduced you to the newest residents of The County Line. So, I figured it was time for an update. 

Will and Avery have made themselves at home, and they have been growing like proverbial weeds. My Facebook feed reminds me every so often of how quickly time marches on. Kinley's 12th birthday has come and gone, but my Facebook memory feed still offers glimpses of her first few weeks of life. It's hard to believe - whether we're talking human sisters or cat brothers. 

 

Before anyone thinks we are abusing the cats based on photos I took from their igloo during a snow storm, here's proof we are not:

I sent these to the kids, telling them it was the very definition of a "cat nap."

They take up a little more space in Randy's arms these days. (They were not particularly cooperative for this photo op. They are cats, after all.)

They still like their igloo - snow, rain or sunshine.

Our farm cats have also become accustomed to watching the 'Cats (K-State Wildcats) on TV with their favorite human. Just like Big Cat used to do, they know that the leopard print blanket is their spot. 

Sometimes, both come in for an evening cuddle. Just as often, it's only one brother. But last night, both came in to watch our 'Cats knock off the Jayhawks in an ESPN Big Monday game. If that's what it takes to win, maybe Randy will have to work harder to find both Will and Avery when the 'Cats are battling on the hardwood. They may be named in honor of K-State football players, but we'll take a little basketball magic, too.

Meet Will and Avery!

Meet Will and Avery! They're "purr-fect," don't you think?

Since Randy lost Big Cat, he'd been in search of a new yellow kitten. What could be better than one yellow kitten? Evidently, it's two yellow kittens. The Hutchinson Animal Shelter had a 2-for-1 price special. (Genius marketing, don't you think?) So these two brothers came home to The County Line - appropriately, on Randy's birthday at the end of October.

The Animal Shelter had named them Mac and Cheese. But they were just going to have to get used to new monikers. We started a family text regarding names for our new friends. Kinley and Brooke suggested Milo and Charlie. Pumpkin and Spice were other suggestions. But Eric's suggestion of Will and Avery won out.

For the uninformed, those are the names of the two K-State quarterbacks - Will Howard, the veteran, and Avery Johnson, the true freshman. 

Brent, who is always good for some humor, texted: "Just hope it doesn't end up like the OU guy I know who named his kid after Lincoln Riley." (For you non-football fans, Lincoln Riley was the coach at OU and abruptly departed for what he thought were greener pastures at USC.)

Also from Brent: "Shouldn't Will be an existing cat that everybody loves, but isn't as exciting to play with now that we've got the quickest kitten in the world to play with?"

I must admit: I laughed out loud at that one. But, then Avery looked a little more like a true freshman quarterback during his appearances at the October 28 game vs. Houston and again against Texas last Saturday. And Will had another great game. So Will and Avery it is!

The whole family at the October 28 K-State football game!

There is a long-standing tradition of using K-State football player names for animals around here. Brent's bucket calf and steer names can provide a retrospective of prominent K-State football players of the 1990s.

Getting new kitties doesn't mean we forget about Big Cat. He was a fixture around here for a long time. In fact, my birthday gifts for Randy reflected his love for our old friend. As I wrote in October, Randy buried Big Cat under the lilac bushes. I got him a memorial marker to add there. 

I also got him a Christmas ornament to hang on the tree featuring a photo of our friend. 

 Will and Avery have already begun their jobs as County Line models.

Of course, they can't replace Randy, the County Line Super Model. But they are nice accessories, don't you think?

Maybe they don't need to be models. They can be neck warmers instead.

RIP: Big Cat

  

Sometimes, things come into your life and you don't realize how important they will become. 

Once upon a time, a yellow cat arrived at The County Line. At this point, we don't remember the details. He was likely a member of a litter of kittens. His siblings are no longer remembered. If I have photos of him as a baby, they are buried in plastic tubs in the basement. 

But that little yellow cat grew to be Randy's favorite. Eventually, he became Big Cat. 

Randy and I both grew up with farm cats. Those cats come in and out of your life fairly frequently. Life on a farm can be dangerous - for people and for animals. We don't know exactly how old Big Cat was. Brent thinks that Big Cat was part of the family when he was still living here at home in high school. (Brent graduated in 2006) And our son-in-law, Eric, confirms that Big Cat has been around as long as he has been. Eric probably had his first visit to the farm in early 2007.

But we are sad to report Big Cat's passing. While we were at the high school football game Friday night, a couple of roaming dogs came into the farm yard and killed Big Cat and our newest kitty. Since the girls haven't been here to name that smallest cat, it didn't have a formal name. But I guess, as it turns out, it's appropriate that we just called it Little Kitty. 

If you're a long-time reader, you know I'm not an animal person. (Yes, I know admitting that causes people to question my humanity.) Before we got married, I did not offer any false advertising about my stance on animals in the house. I didn't grow up with them, and Randy did. As I like to say, it was part of the pre-marriage negotiations. 

However, even I modified my stance - to a certain degree. Yes, during the summer when he shedded unmercifully, Big Cat was relegated to the outside with the other farm cats. But come wintertime, Big Cat could come in for an evening of TV viewing with his favorite person - as long as he stayed on his blanket.

I joked that Big Cat was a one-person cat. I was more often than not on the receiving end of what I called Big Cat's "evil eye." 

However, even I would greet Big Cat when I returned to the house. In recent years, it seemed Big Cat spent most of his day snoozing near the back porch. Sometimes, I'd have to nudge him aside to get down the back steps. 

As Big Cat aged, he spent more and more time taking naps. (I suppose the same could be said of cats' human counterparts.) 

Big Cat was definitely the Patriarch of The County Line Cat Kingdom. And while Randy did his best to tame new baby kittens - especially before visits from our granddaughters and our daughter-in-law, Susan - Big Cat was still Number 1 in his heart.

It's not like we thought Big Cat would live forever. In fact, Big Cat had probably used all nine of his lives and a few more for good measure. Randy had mentioned several times that Big Cat was probably living on borrowed time. 

But both of us hate that Big Cat didn't have a peaceful death, gently falling asleep, dreaming his cat dreams. 

Randy wanted to find a fitting place to bury Big Cat and Little Kitty. He chose to lay them to rest among the lilac bushes south of the house.  

We know we'll long remember Big Cat. But maybe those memories will be especially poignant when the lilacs bloom.

If you're somewhere nearby and have a yellow kitten you'd part with, please let us know.

 

Operation Tame the Kitties

 

Operation Tame the Kitties was underway at the Fritzemeier residence.

The head Cat Whisperer had his work cut out for him. He was determined to have tame kittens to share with Kinley, Brooke and Susan when they were here for our farm sale.

Two of our farm cats cooperated in supplying a bevy of kitties. Two young moms had litters at about the same time in mid-July.

Maybe the co-parenting deal they've worked out led to the kittens' health. There were a total of nine kittens between the two of them. Only one didn't make it.

At the beginning, Randy was transporting the kittens from the window well to his lap in a small Tupperware box.

By the time the girls got here for the farm sale, the kittens were used to that mode of transportation. And the girls could wrangle the kittens themselves if Grandpa was busy doing something else.

It wasn't too long after that weekend that the kitties could escape the window wells all by themselves. Now, they have the run of the backyard.

Randy's mission is still underway. He goes out on the back steps and chats with them most days.