Saturday, April 20, 2013

Spring Babies

You'd think I'd write more about cows, right? Wrong! Let's talk about sweet, frisky, adorable KITTENS!!!

Last month, I (kind of) introduced you to Mama Swirly's babies. On March 30, after morning chores, I stopped by the mowing machine and called for baby kitties. Surprisingly, three poked their heads out, and I actually got to hold one. That evening, before chores, Swirly had all four of them out, exploring the ups and downs of the mower and the surrounding leaves and weeds. Oh, they make me laugh!

On Easter Day, I gave them names. The male is Paas (as in the Easter egg dye, pronounced Paws), the "pink" one is Babette, and the two orange tabbies are Elsie and Lisa (Leesa or Liza ... whatever comes out of my mouth first). You can watch some of their silly antics on this video I made.
 
Here is granddaughter Haylee holding Elsie or Lisa - we couldn't yet tell them apart. It's still not easy, but Elsie is the larger of the two. Maybe there will be more distinguishing marks as they get older.
Today, these kitties are wide open. They still "live" near the mower, but they cross the barn yard to climb into the hay barn and they'll play with anyone and anything that moves. The only way I could get all four of them in one picture was to give them some food. So I'm not a photographer ... but I have fun giving it my best shot.

In mid-March, Daisy May had 3 babies in the back of the hay barn. Just six or eight inches from a straight drop to the concrete floor below, we knew we would have to move them before they started walking about. It took a few tries, but Pat and I finally got the babies settled in a location that suited both Daisy May and us.

Weldon named them Larry, Moe, and Curly. Yes, three males! Here they are, just over one month old. Moe is eating beside mom, Larry (the smallest) is just behind mom's tail, and Curly (the long hair) is back there playing with a piece of tin roofing. Not much of a picture, but they didn't have any intention of standing around looking pretty.

Marmalade had babies shortly after Daisy May had hers, perhaps under the hay barn, we thought. Just a few days ago, I was standing on the ground, talking to Pat in the hay barn, when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? KITTIES!! Under the hay barn.

It's no easy feat to concentrate on little ones when there are lots of other cats looking for your attention. Did you hear my "ouch"es on the video? Older cats were vying for my attention, trying to climb up my legs. In this instance, I was crouched down on the ground, looking under the hay barn, and the cats started crawling all over me.

Baby Lucky climbed right up the wall. Do you see him there, under the floor? I named him Lucky because he's lucky to have three sisters - who don't have names yet. Gustave and Rosemary wanted to see him, and Seth stood on my back to get a better view.

In the picture below, it seems Gustave and Rosemary wanted my undivided attention, so they both came in for head butts :)
Marmalade with her babies
the babies
That about wraps up the kitty-kat news from the farm. We do know that Slappy had babies on the 16th of April, but we don't know where they are. Rita had babies in the hay barn, probably on the 17th, but they're in a corner behind/under piles of "stuff", so we won't see them until they're able to waddle out on their own little legs. Gretchen is ready to "pop" any day now.

Need a kitty to love and to hold? They'll wiggle into your heart in no time flat. Let me know.

... BREAKING NEWS ...
While I was feeding the cats and kittens before chores tonight, Weldon got hold of Marmalade's babies and put them up on the hay barn floor. They walked around and sniffed & sniffed and even whined a bit. Weldon said, "I think they're hungry." So, I grabbed each of them, put their noses in the food, and, let me tell you, they went at it! I guess Marmalade doesn't have enough milk for the four of them. Poor dears. Glad we found out now, before they started to lose weight. Ahhhh, life is never boring on the dairy farm.