The City Mouse in the Country

So what comes next?   Most of our house improvement projects are done, but the last blog post I wrote got me thinking about something because winter is closing in on us, although this time two years ago we already had a several inches of snow on the ground.  Today, as I write this we are expecting a balmy 46 F (8 C) although it's rainy and windy so it feels a bit colder.   Sadly winter is on it's way, so my first order of business on a lazy Saturday is creating a bit of a shelter for all the outdoor cats which have adopted us. We have two indoor cats and two indoor/outdoor cats which are our own.  Our neighbor is a good guy but he owns four horses and a goat.  Because of this he keeps a few barn cats around, which serve to keep the rodent population in check and away from his animals feed Our back porch is generally where they hang out  because they are protected on one side by a wall, which serves as a windbreak and they also know that Sue and I are totally powerless agai

    Generally speaking about Six PM every night it's my job to feed our cats.  Officially we have three.  Unofficially we have seven or eight.       Even though we don't have a barn...we have barn cats.   Our neighbor has horses and he encourages the barn cats because they do a great job of preventing mice and other rodents from getting into the feed.       When we moved into this home some two odd years ago, we were frankly asked if we wanted the previous owners two cats trapped.   "No," my Susan said, "they were there before us."        Since then we had one of the original two outdoor cats pass, while the other one is a semi permanent fixture on our back porch.  She sneaks in sometimes and once I woke up from a nap only to find her at my feet purring away contently.  Our youngest cat, Bobble (so named because his head was bigger than his body when he was a kitten), was meant to be leashed trained because of future plans of traveling the country in an RV,

    When I was a young man, I was surrounded by dogs.  In fact, it always seemed like dogs were just part of my growing up.  Buttons was a toy collie mix who loved to run after rabbits and to this day my dad and I laugh at a slow motion chase scene that was out of a cartoon.         She spotted the rabbit in the high grass of our neighbors home...she looked at my dad quizzically.   "Go" he said and she was off.   Chasing after this poor bunny.   Buttons was able to catch up to the rabbit on the straightway, but didn't have the cornering ability of the rabbit.  Well this rabbit decided to run directly towards my dad and I as we stood near our home...the dog so close that we wondered what Buttons would do if she caught the rabbit.     Bugs the bunny got so close to the house that he jumped and bounded off the wall, that's where things went into slo-mo and become a cartoon.  Buttons applied the breaks her tongue flapping as she leaned as far back as she could her front l