Life is Better on the Farm

SPIRIT...
He chose to relax in the sun on the ledge of the silo rather than take a late afternoon walk...

I headed on down the path to the back of the field, all the while thinking what it must be for him as he hunts and tangles with the other farm cats with only three legs....

And, does he really feel his missing foot as he scratches at this ear with his phantom appendage?

Spirit is the third in a line of white cats who have adopted us at the farm - -preceded by Dover, a mesmerizing feline who could sleep soundly on the floor while two dozen people danced around him, and Ghost, who also lost a leg in a trap and healed himself by lying on magnets. Dover lived a long and good life here; Ghost disappeared shortly after he went outside for the first time after losing his leg.

Forty-five minutes or so later, as I returned back up the path toward the barn, I heard Spirit, engaged in what I refer to as "cat opera"..... No longer was he perched on the silo ledge, but he stood just outside the barn door, head cocked, tail swishing, glaring at Loonis and daring her to take the next step, waiting to pounce on her when she did.

After several moments of stare-down, Spirit nonchalantly turned and hopped away, with a smug twinkle in his eyes that signaled he knew he was still alpha cat around the farm. I watched him return to the silo ledge, clean himself proudly for a couple of minutes, and again, stretch out in the afternoon sunlight on the silo ledge.