from rural West Tenn.
Category Archives: Animals
Cuddly and curious
they are
Alma, Tab and Gordy (L-R front) with Gray Momma and Audrey
Shoes and strings offer fun for Mel’s offspring
‘That’s no cat’
vulpes vulpes
While carrying five gallon buckets of water out to the pasture a visitor crossed from the Brahma Sonny’s space, traversed the horses’ wide open area and exited through the pine trees. (With stormy weather predicted the horses, Jack and Bebe, had been moved for the night to a place adjoining the farmhouse.)
Mel now 10 months old
At first the visitor’s color—yellow with reddish highlights—looked like it could have been Mel’s papa. (As you may recall Mel is one of three kittens rescued with Gray Momma last autumn.)
On second glance the stride was longer, more deliberate and the tail bushy. In fact that bush extended from the hindquarter in a perfect diagonal to the ground.
With all the rodents around the barn the farm is an ideal hunting ground for some critters. And we often have deer, yearlings mostly with flitting tails, grazing in the pasture beside bovines or jumping fences going to and coming from the pond.
At 6:00 a.m. this morning after sighting the stranger I said to myself: “That’s no cat. That’s a fox!”
Early morning on the farm
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- Bebe waits patiently
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- Sonny catches scent of Bebe
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- Jack heard Sam outside, stops to watch him
Siddhartha–a wanderer of another sort
Any grain pellets Jack left behind earlier Sid helps him find
and definitely not the Siddhartha of Hermann Hesse
Sid, the wanderer, just appeared one day with tail wagging at a gated area beside the house. Asking around, I was not able to find his owner. Sid has the build, the color and the markings of an Australian cattle dog which seems appropriate for our farm.
Friendly and eager to please, he has one annoying habit that could be the reason he ended up fending for himself out in the country. Sid thinks jumping up on people and horses will endear him. To the contrary, this is a habit we have been working to dissuade for the better part of a year.
Jack, the Palomino paint who shares space with the canines when they come out for their constitutional, has taken an interest in Sid and one other canine named Sam. To my surprise Sid will lie on his back in complete surrender or sit perfectly still while Jack sniffs or licks him.
Fed grain directly on the back porch since he tips over his dish, Jack usually misses some pellets before beginning to consume hay. Once Sid hits the back yard his first stop is the porch. Leaving the hay Jack returns alongside his pal to find a few more morsels.
The Brahma and me 