My life with animals is a continuum, a yin and yang, an up and down, in and out. Many people struggle with idea, refusing to accept that animals do not have perfect lives and that there are limits to what we can do for them. The farm teaches me limits, as does my own life. We move, Mother is gone for good, Rocky is struggling with his new life.  There are rays of light and disappointments for me, one follows the other. It is the way of the world, of life. We can’t give ourselves eternal life, and we can’t give it to them either. I knew Mother wasn’t coming back the day she left. Mother is the captain of her ship.  She sails where she will. Sweet Minnie is a happy story. I wonder sometimes if she is too sweet to be a barn cat, so she is half-pet. She is very happy here, Queen of the Barn, nightstalker in the pasture.

We feed her twice a day, and she loves to walk with us, hang around with us, sit on the porch, sleep on a hay bale in the big barn, hang around with us, rub against Simon (he is grumpy with her) cuddle with Red, he is easy with her. I think Minnie thinks she is a chicken. She is always hanging out with them, sunning herself with them. We are happy to have her here, she is a Bedlam creature.