Flo was probably living in the woodshed before Maria and I moved in in October, and kept herself out of sight for several months. In late December she showed herself to Maria, and the two of them began communicating a bit. It is a foolish animal thta doesn’t cozy up to Maria. But Maria rarely saw her. Just after Christmas, Flo started appearing in the studio windows where Maria was working, looking up at her. Maria and I both saw here moving across the sheep pasture, running under the front porch. We just assumed she was somebody else’s cat or that she was coming and going. Then, early in January, Maria left her some food and after that she began to emerge.

Red came up to sniff her and she swatted him on the nose. Lenore also. Frieda barked and lunged at her across the fence but Flo just hissed at her. After she put the dogs in here place, she started working on me. When my daughter Emma was her, Flo sat on the porch in her lap for an hour.

Now, we realize her lair has been up in the woodshed rafters the whole time. We put a bed up there, some hay and blankets.  Now, when I come in for firewood I call her name and she appears from up in the roof and climbs down onto the logs for some attention. She will come out and sit by the back porch. Sometimes she hangs out with Minnie, but rarely. The woodshed is a great lair for a barn cat, it is dry and sheltered and enclosed. We flirted with letting her in the basement during the bitter cold, she was not in any way interested. Our guess is that she was once somebody’s cat. We know that Florence fed her from time to time. She’s found her home now.