Welcome Winter. Welcome New Friends

 

Today Winter arrives, and with it the influx of stray animals.  I feel so badly for them; abandoned at this time of year.  We have a huge barn and a shed converted into a "Man Cave.  Both have easy access via "cat doors" cut into the walls.  Both have either straw or furniture to keep the animals warm.  I have two large, heated water bowls and put out plenty of food.  Our regular outdoor visitor, the very shy grey and white cat still comes around every day.  Now two new ones have arrived.  A super friendly little black cat who I've named Simon. He's been around for about a week.  Male, relatively young and I think he is fixed.  The other cat I k new about before.  The same idiot former neighbors who abandoned a lovely donkey also left behind their Himalayan cat.   Jinxy is female, fixed and is about 6 years old.  They claim she was a barn cat who would not have gone with them when they moved to Florida.  Well "barn cat" makes every effort to get into my house.  She is very loving.  The first time I reached out to pet her she ran up my arm and perched on my shoulder, purring.

Our not-so-new guy Deuce is still the terror of the house.  The others just don't want to accept him as a friend, nor does he make much of an effort to be kind to them.  They have all become more tolerant of each other and will sleep on the bed all at the same time, separated by various parts of my body or stacks of blankets and pillows.

A selection of old friends here at the annual Gymnastics Team Christmas Party last weekend. After a crazy long Saturday at an equally crazy competition where I got to be a JUDGE and a COACH at various times during the day, we had our Team party on Sunday afternoon.

 

We are "officially" on break until 5 January, but somehow my boss managed to schedule a Staff Meeting for 5:30 pm tomorrow evening.  Yes, THREE DAYS before Christmas.  And it's a dinner at her house so SHE avoids going out and missing time with family and this also can be labeled as a "social event"  and therefore she doesn't have to pay us.  



 

Well, it really is a happy time of year for me when I can help out some animals in need.  Apparently Jinxy and Simon have met before and they share the space on the porch without incident.  If I could get the others to behave so well toward each other.....