Frieda is a lot of dog, a Rottweiler-Shepherd mix who roamed the Adirondacks for several years and who has a commanding presence. Red once lay down on her bed and her roar shook the house, and he has not tried that again. When Frieda plays, she likes to take Lenore’s head in her mouth and shake it a bit – Lenore goes along. Frieda has caught a deer, various  raccoons, baby rabbits, skunks and hedgehogs. One of our biggest worries for Minnie was what might happen if Frieda found her in the house – she has always taken off after the barn cats every chance she gets, and she once almost got Mother.

I am learning that cats are different from dogs, they have an imperious nature, a sense of entitlement, I saw this when Flo arrived and simply took over the place. Minnie has begun the same process inside, people in town get a big chuckle out of my insistence that Minnie will stay outside, they are not laughing at me, they are laughing with me. I was more than a bit surprised yesterday to see that Minnie had taken over Frieda’s bed, napping on it as comfortably as if she had been doing it all of her life.

Frieda was shocked, she stared her, her ears went up, she looked at  me and Maria for guidance, I didn’t have any. She has found another bed, and today she came over and  lay down next to Minnie and her bed and then went to sleep herself. I do not pretend to know what is going on her, I think Frieda is very protective of things once she knows they are part of the household. Maybe that’s what’s happening, or maybe she just met her match finally, a scrappy barn cat with three legs. Life is a wonder and a mystery, animals are not like us.