I am happy to report that I have a new photo companion in Zip and am surprised to say that I enjoy it. Photography is a solitary passion, just like writing. Zinnia has no interest in it; Zip always appears instantly when I go outside with the camera. I am alone most of my life; that is my comfort zone.

I enjoy having Zip around as long as he doesn’t distract me.

He rubs against my legs once or twice, backs off, gives me space, and leaves me to focus and take pictures. Zip seems to grasp the idea of boundaries as Zinnia does. He says hello and follows me around but also keeps his distance, and when I’m done with him, he seems to know it and vanishes in a garden or Lilac tree or garden. He is wicked smart.

Zip has mapped the farm well, and seems easier here by the day. He has lots of favorite places.

He loves getting attention but knows when he is not wanted and slips away. He comes out of nowhere and vanishes out of sight. I sit with him outside daily, rub his ears and neck, and he purrs and flirts. Once a day is lovely, perfect for me. I don’t need to do it all day.

Many messages assure me that Zip will live inside the farmhouse soon. Many people predict that and insist it is true, even if I disagree. I wonder if all these good people see something I can’t see. Or if they know more about me than I do.

Sometimes, they must think of me fooling myself or, more often, just that I am in the grip of something I don’t yet understand. Something is patronizing to that but also something realistic.

I got one such message this morning. “Jon,” wrote Skip, a longtime cat lover, “everyone but you know that the cat will be living in your house very soon.”

But, Skip, I’m afraid he won’t. And I want to explain why.

Maria and I talked about this again this morning, and neither of us wants Zip ever coming into the farmhouse until he is ancient and needs to get warm in the basement as Minnie and Flo did. Odds are,  I’ll be gone when that happens; Maria will sort it out. She and I are very much together on this.

I need to explain better why we feel pretty sure about this; if one doesn’t live with a barn cat,  as almost no city people do, it seems complicated for urban cat lovers to grasp. A writer should be able to make it more straightforward than I have.

I don’t find this assumption annoying. I find it fascinating and a creative challenge to explain.

First, Maria and I have lived with affectionate barn cats – Flo, Minnie, and Mother – for 15 years. Many of our farmer neighbors have barn cats; we’ve seen many of them, and I’ve written a lot about them.

Barn cats are not domestic pets, even though they can be affectionate to humans. The whole idea of the Barn Car is to live outside and independently. Barn cats are most active at night. The daytime is when they are most likely to sleep.

They are known to take care of themselves, and nighttime is when they do their work, keeping the barn, an inherently dirty place subject to infection, clear of rats and mice.

Zip is an active, curious, and dominant creature.

He would drive us crazy indoors, disturbing and arousing the dogs, hopping all over the furniture, taking food off counters, and moving around all night. She would also add more animal hair into a house with two people prone to allergies. She would drive Bud crazy, and he would drive us crazy trying to push her out. Bud makes a lot of noise around animals he doesn’t know well.

There is no reason for us to bring Zap indoors. First, there is no indication he wants to come. Zip is nearly a year old and has lived outdoors every day of that time. He’s never, to our knowledge, ever been inside a house and hasn’t shown the slightest interest in doing so.

I appreciate the discussion; it is thought-provoking and well worth-having. I’m happy to keep it going. It speaks to the very diverse ways in which we see our animals.

To us, there is little difference or concern about where he sleeps. Zip is already following me and Maria around when we go outside. We can sit with him, cuddle him, scratch him whenever we want. He also has already learned to leave us alone when we are busy. And we love him all the more for that.

Around the farm are many good and secure places for a savvy barn cat to go to be safe at night.

We love our animals, clearly, but they are not everything to us, and we don’t wish them to be. I value my work with the Army of Good and my blog and photography; Maria loves her art and deepening interest in nature and natural life. We are both interested in lots of things, including a deep interest in spirituality.

We get up early and work hard and late; much as we love Zip, we didn’t get him only for us; we got him to help the barn stay clean and safe for the sheep and donkeys and us.

His love and socializing are a bonus; we love him for it but don’t wish or need to do it 24/7. When we’ve finished dinner and sat down to read or watch a serious-minded British mystery, we are done. We usually fall asleep before the murderer is in jail. Neither of us wants to be brushing a cat off of our laps. It’s just not something we need.

What makes us want to love barn cats are the things that come up all the time on a farm:

I admire the idea of the Barn Cat. Yes, I understand he may kill some birds and many other animals. I know Barn Cats are more at risk than cats living indoors every night. But a Barn Cat who lives inside is not a Barn Cat at all. He’s a pet that gets to go outside, as so many cats do.

What does the farm need? What does the animal want and need? Then, always last, what do we need? An indoor Barn Cat is not on the list.

At least a dozen comments on Facebook and other media yesterday laughed at my insistence that Zip will spend his nights outdoors (the bird people are not happy with me). He has no idea; was the jist. That cat will get inside. This discussion will probably go on for years, longer, I’m not sure that I will be around to hear it. I just wanted to set the record straight. It’s a valuable conversation for me.

Zip will not be coming inside the farmhouse.

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Please keep the questions coming: [email protected] or my blog posts.