Progress Made

Life on the farm has slowed down considerably as summer begins to wind down.  A 6-year-old, and a new kitty completely fill the hours between chore times.  

The weather has been oppressively hot, so we arranged a morning play date with our neighbor, Anna's, girls while the temperature was still comfortable.  Needless to say, Pete The Cat was the main attraction for that play-date!

With three little girls picking him up and loving on him, he spent much of the morning without any feet on the ground!

I intervened on occasion - asking if perhaps Pete could have his feet back so that he could explore his new territory.

He quickly found the cats' favorite sources of water... the bucket in the barn expressly filled for the cats,

and the horse troughs.

Plenty of water, here...  easily accessed by standing on the fence rail.

Yesterday was Pete's first day of relative freedom.  There is no doubt that he is completely attached to us and knows that the barn is home.   After leaving him alone for a short while, we returned to the barn to find him curled up on Hubbs' table saw cover.

 We left him alone there for a few hours again,  and, upon returning, found him resting peacefully in the aisle between the stalls... happy to see us once again.

He is most definitely a "people" cat!

I am a little nervous about letting him on his own overnight, so we will give him the shelter of the large dog kennel for nighttime.  

I noticed while he was out running around that he has a slight limp with one of his front legs.  We will keep an eye on that and hope it goes away with time.  Who knows what his life was like before ending up here on the farm.

With the current, oppressive heat, the animals pretty much seek the shade.

Grazing is still done in the early morning hours and the sunny hours are spent near fans.

I've got to say... I'll not be disappointed when everything Autumn arrives!

Nor will anyone else!!

And now, the day is done and I am back in the house.  Mackenzie is sleeping and I am sitting down to visit with you for a while - with my other trusty sidekick - Ivy.

I'll soon head to bed with her in tow, and as soon as I settle under the covers, she'll be lying on my stomach requesting a massage.  There, she'll stay until I roll over to sleep.  Then she heads to the foot of the bed and sleeps between my feet.  This is the routine... every single night.