I guess I worry about Mother more than any of my other animals. I see her crossing the road, moving through the pasture, creeping through the woods. We find coyote scat all over the road and the farm, and there are foxes and badgers and hawks as well, all predators for a barn cat. The only danger to the dogs is the road, and we are very careful about training them to stay off of it.

I see how cautious Mother is. When she eats, she constantly looks around. She looks up at the sky to watch for hawks. In the woods, she seems very alert, checking the trees, perhaps for owls and had accessible refuge spots everywhere – in each of the barns, up a tree on the path, underneath the cars in the driveway. Maria says Mother knows how to take care of herself. I think this is so. But if you have a barn cat, this is part of it. Barn cats rarely die around the house. They just disappear.