I know you had a cat post yesterday, but this is our final week with the kittens before they head off to their forever homes, so this reluctant cat person is feeling a bit sentimental. For other not cat people out there, please bear with me as I share a few stories of our farm felines over the next several days.

Ralph’s favourite hangout is the flowerbed by the front door of the house.

Once the kittens worked up the courage to discover there was more to the world than just the barn and the ramp outside the barn door, they liked hanging out by the house too.

Ralph won’t come in the house. I can leave the door open, run in and out, and she’ll completely get in my way, but she won’t put more than her front paws over the threshold.

The other night heading out to the barn with Matt, I opened the front door to find Ralph and the kittens all right there. Immediately, one of the kittens scooted in the front door. I stood there for a minute, completely surprised. In my world, cats don’t come in the house. What was this one doing? Did she not know the rules?

I pulled myself together and turned around to pursue the kitten–who was darting this way and that, sniffing shoes and investigating her new territory. Apparently, this kitten has no problem with courage. When I made a grab for her, she ran into the closet.

It was at this point that I went outside, careful to close the door behind me, and called to Matt that I was going to be a minute, because “There’s a kitten in the closet.”

Back to the chase I went. It took a couple of tries, but eventually Marco Polo was captured. She received a lecture on Julia’s Rules for Proper Cat Conduct and was returned to mom and her siblings outside.