I wrote all afternoon and then went to the back porch to meditate. I found I had company. Zip loves to meditate with me, and I enjoy meditating with him. We connect somehow in that way. Cats have a mystical site that I am only just beginning to understand.

Zip seems somehow to read my mind and anticipate me, as Zinnia sometimes does. I think animals—the donkeys come to mind—often have that quality, at least with me. Zip doesn’t bother me; he curls up, goes to sleep, and is still.

When I wake up, he wakes up and goes on looking for prayer. I am pleased to say he caught a rat out in the barn, killed it, and left it out by the water tank for us to find. I was grateful for this; this is the reason people with farms look for skilled Barn Cats. Zip has been very faithful about that.

The rats plaguing us and the barn are gone, and the pigeons are leaving their droppings on the hay we need for winter.

Meditating with a cat is a new experience, and I am surprised at how easily he fits in. I could never persuade the animal rights police that this is the point of the stories barn cat, something they should have known. Zip keeps our farm clean and healthy. If he slept inside, that would stop, and why not?

We leave food out for him twice daily, but he rarely eats it. He loves to hunt. Zip, like my border collies, lives to work for a living.

Zip is a great addition to my life. He keeps me company, shares my farm life with me, and now he meditates as well. How sweet