HILLSPEAKING
from The Anglican Digest 

TRANSFIGURATION A.D. 2004

  
BARN CATS!  To most of us this evokes the image of a lean and hungry-looking old black tomcat charged with keeping the rodent population under control in his barn in exchange for a warm place to sleep and a few squirts of freshly drawn milk early in the morning.

      The Hillspeak cats, Gray, Minie, Ptolemy, and Mo, don't fit that mold.  Three of them are barn cats right enough, but they are far from lean and hungry-looking (rotund and well-fed might better describe them), and they expect their milk in a saucer freshly poured from the bottle or carton, and as far as Gray is concerned if it isn't half-and-half, forget about it.

      The Barn Trio earn their name simply by being there. They come to the Barn in the morning, leave in the evening. Between their coming and leaving they mostly eat and sleep and present a pretty picture for visitors.  Gray has a pen-chant for cardboard boxes, any cardboard box.  As soon as UPS or FedEx or the postman delivers a box she climbs on, or in it if it is open, and goes to sleep.  If there is no box handy a file tray will do nicely, thank you.

      Ptolemy and Minie are window-sill perchers.  Ptolemy favors the picture window in the General Manager's office overlooking the Lower Meadow with its mice and other goodies, while Minie prefers the window in the library office on the third level of the Barn overlooking the driveway so he can see if anybody is bringing in something to eat.  They can also be found in a chair in the Board Room, on the vesting table, behind a door, in a wastepaper basket, or smack dab in the middle of the floor so that everybody has to walk around them.

      Gray is the matriarch and as such enjoys and insists on pride of place.  If the other two occasionally forget that and usurp, she is quite ready to box their ears to correct the matter even though either tom outweighs her two to one.

      All three occasionally go to chapel but I have not noticed that such attendance particularly improves their behavior.

      Ptolemy has developed a taste for distilled water (although as far as other distilled liquids are concerned he is a tee-totaler) and enjoys drinking out of the little self-contained fountain on my desk.

      Mo is the odd man out, or odd cat out.  When she was young (she is one of Gray's offspring) she ventured into the Barn and Gray chased her all the way up beyond the hayloft to the rafters.  She has not been back.  She sleeps on my bed and spends much of her time in the Wash House which appears to be her domain.  However, unlike Gray in the Barn, she does permit an occasional feline visitor.

      Whether Barn Cats or Wash House Cats or, as one of our neighbors affectionately calls them, "lazy bums," they are a joy to have around.  Come see for yourself.


©SPEAK, INC
805 CR 102 - EUREKA SPRINGS AR 72632-9705
PHONE: 479-253-9701    FAX: 479-253-1277       E-MAIL: speak@speakinc.org


Back to TAD Menu                                                                                Back to Hillspeaking Menu

The Anglican Bookstore                                                                                   Anglican Book Club