Two of our hens
Since the dawn of time, humankind has had to hunt and gather. The same goes with animals, including our four cats, four hens and me.
It occurred to me the other day that every time I head out to the grocery store, it’s another exercise in foraging. I must have a bright outlook because I usually find every item for which I’m looking. It wasn’t always so-- I can’t imagine what it would have been like to hunt and pick berries for survival. I also know I would if I had to.
Mystery chair
The other day while cleaning the floor under the chair where my husband tosses his clothes, I noticed one of his heavy duty shoelaces there. It is a dark and mysterious spot and as I reached in to gingerly pick it up I had a feeling of dread. Of course, since we have four cats you never know what will turn up. Well, this was a fresh kill, a sweet and very dead baby snake. It felt like rubber. I try to love all animals but snakes are a bit trickier species to love. Needless to say, the cats were just hunting and doing what comes naturally. Why or which one would feel the need to bring me a gift, I can’t fathom, but I try to be grateful yet discouraging.. I think they are catching on because whenever I see them outside being bad to their fellow creatures I step in and break up this unwanted behavior. Which leads me to believe it’s Mickey, our smallest black and white kitty who is none too bright.
Mickey, our baby
Sad to say, he thinks Cleo, the Old Lady Dowager cat is his mommy. Not the sharpest blade in the drawer, I had to watch out for him when we first rescued him because this is the kind of cat that will drown in the canal, or get trapped under an
appliance or have a door close on him. To encourage his sense of place in the family hierarchy I often pick him up, throw him over my shoulder and whisper sweet nothings about how much I love him and he’s my baby and all kinds of dithering nonsense. He still pops in the room and greets the dowager and never even peeks at me while he is supplicating himself all over her. It’s just disgusting and once the pathetic performance has ended he feels he then has permission to eat. I am the one who foraged for that darn expensive cat food, not Cleo!
Washing & drying
One of my hobbies is hunting and gathering for an item that might spark my attention. While I was in high school, I would ride my bike to the Goodwill store on the other side of town so I could pore over old books, clothes and jewelry. I often came home with the prize that my hard earned babysitting money allowed me to purchase. Once, I brought bed bug eggs home hiding in a fabulous shawl. Oh, I was sorry when my mother; who had a minimalist style to her décor, told me that the fumigator was going to be terribly expensive. Now, I always make a point to wash every second hand item I find. By the way, it’s also tricky to love a bed bug!
Our niece
Lately, my husband and I have been hunting and gathering furniture for my niece who is entering into her sophomore year at a university. She is moving into an attic bedroom and sharing a house with two other young women. We live closer than her parents and volunteered for the duty. There is nothing I love more than filling a room with furniture,art, books, pillows and bedding to make a space feel cozy. If it were cave dwelling times, I would have surely been drawing on the walls with a reserved piece of charcoal and creating designs with rocks, bones and sticks around my fluffed-up fur skin.
.....But, then, there were probably snakes and bed bugs too!
