Mom says we will get back to all about ‘Running a Farm’ next week, but for right now, there is REJOICING in the House and on the Farm.
It started raining and
it hasn’t really stopped.
As for me—
I’m not sure about this rain stuff.
TLC Cai-Cai
“People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and the future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”—Albert Einstein reflecting on the death of his friend Michele Besso
Mom took me on her lap and started petting me, I began to purr, LOUD, just for Mom.
Mom said I know Mindy Lou-Sue, my wonderful Min-Min, was teaching you about our way of life. I guess I should try and pick up where she left off.
So, while I purred; Mom petted me, she told me about the Business of Farming.
Mom told me that ranches are mostly grasslands for cows and sheep and horses and mules and… and farms raise crops.
Ranchers raise animals for meat and farmers raise crops that feed and clothe animals, including human animals.
Dogs and Cats, (purr, hum, purr) are important parts of farms. And ranches, Mom explained.
Dogs help ‘work’ on the farm and help ranchers take care of the animals on a ranch. Here on our farm, when Mom and Dad had dogs (Mom stopped and sighed.) The dogs went everywhere with us and helped irrigate.
I CAN GO! I stopped purring and stood up; looking Mom right in the eye. I can help.
Mom smiled and turned me back around and sat me down so I could get more scratches and pets.
Kitties, of which you are one, Mom said, all the while petting me, as the keeper of the farmyard/ or if the kitty lives on a ranch, the ranch yard.
Kitties keep the mice away from the house, the barns the work sheds, the grain bins, everything.
Kitties are a very important part of making a farm or ranch run smooth.
I got up again and gave Mom a head butt and a lick on her cheek.
Then I jumped down, stretched, fluffed my tail, and strutted off.
We, Cats, ARE very important!
Mom is so right!
Now, I have ‘stuff’ to do, important Stuff!
TLC Cai-Cai
When I woke up one morning, I realized Mindy was missing.
She didn’t come in for her regular spend the night and eat some kitty candy
Nor was she anyplace I could find her on the farm.
I meowed out at the barn,
I called by the Grain Bins,
I meowed and called and squalled in the hay stackyard.
I looked in Dad’s collector ‘parts’ cars,
I looked in all the grain trucks (there are three of them)
I walked down the corral fence and hollered constantly.
Then I went over into the orchard and meowed,
When I got back into the farmyard,
Mom was outside looking for Mindy also.
So, we both called.
After all that I knew.
But Mom kept calling for her for days and days,
Even going out at night (which she would NOT let go with her)
and called for Mindy
Sigh!
It’s lonely here without Mindy.
TLC Cai-Cai
Another thing you need to pay attention to is the BIG, LOUD, STUFF!
Like the tractors
Corn choppers
Hay Swather
The baler
Old trucks
Mom and Dad’s four-wheelers,
The pick-ups
Mom’s Car
The Lawnmower,
All those things can KILL you! Smash you flatter than a smashed miller.
When you hear one start-up or
one coming into the farmyard
RUN!
Your life depends on it!
Mindy Lou-Sue, or as Mom calls me, Min-Min
I like to go for rides! In the Pick-Up with Mom and Dad.
I get to see lots and lots of stuff. I like learning about STUFF!
Mom makes me wear my harness; as soon as she puts it on, I KNOW! WHEEEEE! Off we get to go!
I don’t whine or meow or anything. When I get tired, I curl up on Mom’s lap and sleep.
I have, also, figured out MICE! I watched Mindy bring Mice to Mom and get lots and lots of pets for bringing Mom mice. So I got Mom a mouse also.
That Mouse was LOTS of FUN! I played with it here and there and, well, gosh everywhere.
No, I didn’t eat it. I only eat cereal and yummy stuff in a can. The eating mouse thing, Mindy does I just don’t get.
Anyway…I AM A BIG KID NOW!
TLC Cai-Cai
Well, since you don’t really listen to me, or take my advice—yes,
I have seen you clear out by the Butler Bins—-you need to get this through your fluffy head…
RUN! RUNNNN! GET OUT OF THERE!
TLC CAI-CAI!!!!!!
there is a fox out there!
Fox EAT CATS!!!!
Let that sink in…STAY. AT. The. Butler BINS!!!
Huff, huff.
Well, on with your lesson. We live on a farm. We don’t live in town, or in a clump of houses called a sub-division, or on a ranch.
We live where Dad works the land—plowing, planting, marking, watering, growing, and then harvesting.
Farms grow foodstuffs.
A Ranch grows Grass. Grass called Pasture. Pasture lands for animals.
Not us…yes, I know we are animals.
Big animals, cows, horses, sheep, goats, those sorts of animals.
Oh! Just so you know. Come winter, after the crops are gone from the farm, then cows come. They eat up all the dried-up grasses and weeds and alfalfa, and left-over corn stalks.
“Are we a ranch then?”
“No, we are a guest hotel for a rancher and all his cows” I replied.
So, now you know, we live on a farm. We grow pasture grasses, alfalfa; three big fields of alfalfa, which Dad and Mom turn into hay, and corn. The corn is field corn, not sweet corn. Although, the cows think it is pretty sweet and yummy.
Our corn is the kind of corn that goes for food like cereal, and food for animals; like chickens, cows, goats, etc.”
Okay, so now you know…we live on a farm.
Next time I will teach you more about the farm.
Until then you stay out of the cornfield, there are foxes in there!
Mindy Lou-Sue, or as Mom calls me, Min-Min
Okay.
Since you are going to be outside with me—sigh.
You need to learn some things:
We, that means, you, me, Mom and Dad, live on a farm.
You live in the house…. where I wish you would stay 24-7.
But since YOU don’t WANT to stay inside, I guess I can say you live in the house and outside just like Mom, Dad, and Me.
We live and work on several acres of ground that belong to Mom and Dad and You and I.
Mostly you and I will hang around the Farm House and the Farm Yard. That means you and I take care of the house and yards, the chicken pen, and the two tractor sheds, plus the equipment building, and Dad’s shop.
I (I NOT YOU) will take care of the equipment parking area and the hay stackyard. (And go on walks with Mom and Dad, but I won’t let you know that.)
You need to stay at the house and take care of the lawn. I’ll handle the rest.
Oh, yes, you can go as far as the Butler Bins (grain bins) and the fuel tanks, but that’s far enough.
You can also go into the corrals but STAY OFF the canal banks. That water can get you.
Okay, you got all that?
Good. That’s how it’s going to be.
Lesson One. We live on a farm.
Mindy Lou-Sue, or as Mom calls me, Min-Min
I begged.
I whined.
I raced out the door.
Until Mom and Dad said I could go outside!
YAY!
So out I went. It lasted for three days. Then I pounced on a stray cat someone dropped off.
No, the stray cat wasn’t Mindy. We touch noses lots. And if I get too pouncy Mindy TELLS me to knock it off. She never BITES me!
(To tell the truth, I just wanted to play. I understand differently now.)
That stray cat bit my leg…bad. It swelled up and up and up. I wouldn’t let Mom touch it to see what was going on, If Mom tried to I bit MOM!
So, Off We Went to the Vets.
Yep…money, money, money later…I came home with a chicken leg instead of a cat leg. And guess what!
I have to stay inside until the scab falls off!
Sigh!
But – don’t let it fool you—I AM going BACK outside. And THAT is THAT!
TLC Cai-Cai
“Well, this is a fine thing,” Mom said, getting out of the car with her hand in a massive pink thing. “I looks like I actually fractured my joint in my right hand, in the little finger.”
“Six weeks of PINK and metal on my hand” Mom explained as she bent down to pet me.
What is a six weeks, I wondered to myself; what is that heavy thing on Mom’s hand?
O………….purrrr………..turn over on my tummy……………..purrrr…keep petting Mom this feels good.
Mom scratches me under the chin. Then gets up. “Well, it’s going to slow down some things, but not going for walk with you, Mindy Lou Sue. Let me put my stuff down inside, then you and I can go for a walk. I think my mind NEEDS a walk.”
I jumped up on the lawn chair and waited.
Soon Mom was back outside—off we went.
Out to the chicken house
Over to the shed
Behind the woodpile
We took a small walk-about. I don’t get why Mom is worried, she can still pet me and do walkabouts. Life is still Good.
Mindy Lou Sue, Min-Min
Our Blade (that is what Mom called Bladen—Our Blade, so I do too.) came to visit.
He was just the perfect visitor for me
Always, always, always he let me play with his sock
And FOOT!
TLC Cai-Cai
