Life on the Ranch Barn Cats

 

Life on the Ranch

Barn Cats

Growing up on the ranch, I only knew of two types of cats – barn/outside cats and house cats. My Grandma Red had a Siamese cat named Yum Yum who, being quite finicky only ate chicken gizzards! He had a black, crooked tipped tail. Although I can’t recall who said it, one of my brothers or cousins told me that Yum Yum’s tail had a snake in it and that was why it moved so oddly when he twitched it back and forth.  After that I was half afraid of him! I wasn’t so sad when he crossed over the Rainbow Bridge!

The first cat I can remember is Thumper. She was a thin, gray Manx who was half wild. I loved her despite her aloofness. I was thrilled when she had a batch of kittens on our bottom bunk while living in the cabin in the middle of the night! What a great surprise at 5 years old to wake up to the sound of baby kittens mewing… Like the great herd of wildebeest that travel their migration routes on instinct, our female cats seemed to have inherited the same migratory birthing pattern as Thumper, straight to my bed!  I woke again, years later to find Squiqqy with her newborn kittens! Peggy Sue, Garbage Gut and Sammy Siger also called our place home throughout the years.

When I was around 12, I took a picture of my mom Penny and Sammy Siger as they both lay sleeping on the couch … Unknown to her, I entered it in the Madison County Fair and it won a Grand Champion ribbon! She worked at McAlear’s Pharmacy in Twin Bridges and couldn’t figure out why so many people congratulated her on the picture…. until she made the trek across the river and into the fairground building. There, she saw herself in all her and Sammy Siger’s glory! She wasn’t incredibly happy with me… I, on the other hand was quite pleased because I had earned an extra $5 bill that was paid out for such a grand award!

My Aunt Jeannette and Uncle Bud won the prize for having the most cats…at one time we counted over 35 barn cats! I don’t think there was a mouse, rat or other small critter within a 2-mile radius of their place! While some stayed in the barn, the majority hung out by the ranch house front door, waiting for scraps of food. I can still picture them after all these years, laying on the cement steps, sunning themselves. They all had remarkably similar markings, mostly white with calico patches on the top of their heads and around their ears. I imagine it was caused by the inbreeding that took place. Often, new kittens showed up! Oh! The Joy!  We were able to catch and domesticate some while others were content to remain feral.

One evening, my cousins and I discovered a new batch of kittens near the barn! We were so excited and couldn’t wait to show our parents, who were visiting with one another around Aunt Jeannette’s kitchen table! What was so unique about this litter was their coloring! We assumed that a tom cat from the neighboring ranch had slipped into the barn and had his way with one of the females! We grabbed a box along with some hay and gently place the kittens inside, reassuring the mama cat, wherever she was hiding, that her babies would soon be returned. Entering the house, our parents couldn’t help but feel our excitement as one by one, we each took the newly found kittens out and held them up for all to see! They were as surprised as we were by their coloring…all black with a white stripe running from their heads to their tails! As we laid them back in the box, my Uncle Bud volunteered to take them back, which was odd we thought. That was the last time we saw that particular batch of kittens…

Today, I see more and more the following Bible verse played out in the world today.

 1 Timohy 4:3-4

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

In the excitement of discovering these new babies, in my mind they weren’t anything else but kittens! It wasn’t until I was told the truth - that our kittens were actually skunks, did I understand the difference. Evil has a way of mimicking good to a point. With the truth of God’s Word, we can discover for ourselves that deviation that makes it what it is – a scheme of the devil to pull us away from Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. God’s Word is our compass and road map. I encourage you to learn what Godly truth is, so you won’t find yourself being deceived.