Here’s what we know about Zip so far, three days into his liberation:

I’m surprised and delighted by the impact Zip has had on me, my state of mind, the spirit of the farm, on my blog readers, and on Maria. Somehow, this is just what we both needed. Zip has awakened me to my love of the farm and snapped me out of a funk caused by my head injury. I’m not a cat person, but I love this cat already.

He is much more than a barn cat to me.

Animals are potent healers.

Zip has clearly chosen to remain here, and we are happy to have him.  He is the King of the barn. He’s already taught me a lot about cats.

He is here to stay; this is his home now. The next step is for him to come outside and explore the farm and the pastures.

He is a ferocious hunter, stalking, zeroing in on our messy pigeons, panicking them into flying right through the barn windows to escape.

He has a new place to eat; he’s fed in a bowl we put up on a hay bale.

He has a new place to sleep in one of the shelves to the rear (see photo below); the pillow shows signs of being slept on.

He’s still using the litter box. It’s being removed tomorrow.

He has yet to go more than a few feet outside the barn. He likes to sit outside the barn door but doesn’t go farther.

He loves being scratched and visited by both of us.

I sit with him every morning when I get up, holding his head while scratching his neck. He loves that. We feed him twice a day.

I sometimes wonder if he will ever leave the barn and wander around the farm and hunt mice.

He may be a barn cat in the word’s most literal sense and never leave it. He loves exploring it’s crevices and quiet spots.

 

(Zip’s new sleeping quarters)

Maria says he will come out when ready; it might take a few days or weeks. He is careful, taking stock of the hens, donkeys, and the dogs. He feels very safe in the barn, with holes, nooks and crannies. This is all obviously very new to him.

An awful lot of people are closely following Zip’s journey. Thanks for your good wishes and kind words.

The animal rights people have stopped whining about our deciding that Minnie should have a natural death; they are also still complaining to me about how the Amish treat their animals in Pennsylvania. They seem to hold me responsible because I wrote about my Amish neighbors last year. Or maybe they just like to be victims.

They seem pretty obnoxious and unhinged to me. I’m sure some Amish abuse their horses sometimes, just as many of all kinds of people abuse their horses. I can testify that my Amish neighbors don’t mistreat their horses, but as I’ve learned before, the AR people are not always too focused on truth or reality.

Maria and I are impressed with Zip. He is very warm with us and trusting. He seems very wary of all the other living things on the farm. He does love Zinnia and keeps rubbing up against her. She is delighted to be his friend. He’ll get used to it in his own time.

(Where is Zip?)

Zip is a bright, thoughtful, and cautious cat. He’s taking stock of the place and watching every part of the farm. Yesterday, he sat out by the pasture fence (he doesn’t do that when the donkeys are out) and scanned the pasture, looking for prey, I imagine. When I come into the barn (or Maria), he comes out to greet us. I often can’t find or see him when I come in.

He has locked onto the pigeons who have built two nests above Zip.

He managed to climb to the second floor, where most pigeons hang out. I believe he is driving them off and away from the barn. I think it’s a good idea. The pigeons have a lot of places to go; they are messing up the second floor and growing their block. It’s time for them to move on, and Zip is just the cat to get them to move. I think he spends much of the day waiting for them to appear.

 

Maria and I needed this cat for reasons that were not clear to me. Animals are a huge part of Bedlam Farm, and we found were listed up by his presence. This was all too easy in a way.  We got him here just a few days after Minnie died; we planned to wait a while. It just all came to be. The second we saw a photo of Zip, we both said out loud “this is our barn cat.” And so he is.

 

 

I think I’m often at my best when writing about animals; I sometimes shy away from that because I want the blog to be about so much more and my publishers kept me in a narrow hole. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t write about them or follow Zip regularly and every step of the way. Animals are fascinating.

Zip’s acclamation is still a work in progress. Step one – getting him to accept the farm as home – has been accomplished. Step two is being patient while he sheds his fear and gets comfortable. He looks a little schizophrenic sometimes – he looks fierce when he looks at the camera. But he is anything but fierce with us.

Check in tomorrow to follow Zip’s evolution into the life of a barn cat and a member of our peaceable kingdom.