Tuesday, May 15, 2012

the November Hill Pride

Husband left a huge folder of photographs on my desktop earlier this evening and suddenly I have a treasure chest to explore!

Here are some updated photos of some of the November Hill crew that are not equine - although Dickens E. Wickens was surely a horse in a previous life.

Here's Osage, aka Muffine Eloise, resident princess:





She knows how to live the life of feline leisure, venturing out to the back deck to take a bit of sun before napping:



Here is Dickens E. Wickens, resident cowboy. He patrols the fence lines, herds horses and donkeys, does a little bit of equine training on the side, sits by campfires and thinks about women and glasses of beer, and takes care of the day to day running of the farm. He was convinced to pose for this somewhat formal portrait:



Here he is in a more normal pose - stretching on one of his favorite look-outs - on the side of the horse trailer in the big barnyard:



And here we have the handsome, mysterious, stealth-cat, Mystic:


 His domain tends to be the front porch, the front field and the driveway, and my daughter's room. He finds all kinds of sneaky ways to get in, which he has to do because of a certain Bear Corgi who can't resist chasing a cat that runs. And Mystic almost ALWAYS runs!


 
This is Apollo Moon, most affectionately known as Moomintroll. He has had a rough year but was just diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and is on a month-long homeopathic treatment. We'll recheck bloodwork and see if it's helped. If not, we'll proceed with the medication usually given to cats to help with this issue. Moomin sleeps by my head nearly every night. He snuggles up on my shoulder while I read and purrs in my ear. We don't know exactly how old he is because he arrived one day at the barn as thin as a rail and has been here ever since. We think he is somewhere in the 15-17 year old range. He's polydactyl, has no front claws, and packs a powerful smack with his big mittens. He's a sweetheart with spunk.


 Moomin goes on the front porch periodically and occasionally goes out into the front or back yard. Once in a very blue moon he goes out to the barn - but from the moment he arrived here he wanted to come into the house and that is where he mostly stays. Speaking of moons - he has a perfect white moon on his belly that makes rare appearances when he stretches out and lets his belly show - hence his name, Apollo Moon. Here he is on his favorite chair. He is often draped across my husband's chest as he sits here working on his laptop.



And finally, our black cat Keats, aka Weets-Anne.  She is a huntress and very sweet. She is also HUGE and could possibly stand a few weeks in a kit-meow weight-loss spa. She can be found anywhere on November Hill, although occasionally she gets chased by her brother Dickens who has been known to make both his sisters scream.



Keats in the arena, where she sometimes visits and watches the action:



And that's it! All the fabulous felines who keep us company here on the hill.

6 comments:

Calm, Forward, Straight said...

What a fine assortment of felines!!

billie said...

They are good friends and very present right now because we're switching them from their dry EVO to wet EVO in hopes that we can eventually get them onto a home-made diet. One too many pet food recalls and a few local folks had issues so we're trying to make the break.

Grey Horse Matters said...

Love all the kitties of November Hill. Seems they all have their own personalities and jobs to keep things running smoothly around the farm and house. Thank goodness you have all that help!

billie said...

Meant to say above wrt them being very present - because they are actively asking/demanding their dry food back!

A, they do all have very different personalities and jobs here - Dickens might say some have no job at all, LOL, but even the Princess helps keep things running in her own prissy way. :)

forever in blue jeans, Beth said...

If they are like my five, they all take their job of "Inspector" very seriously - LOL !! Love kitties !!! Your tuxedo kitty, Dickens E. Wickens, looks like one of my childhood cats, Oz, who was legend in his antics; his stories still get told around the family fireplace getting ROTFL by the new generation of allurophiles :)

billie said...

They all have really different personalities - Dickens is the most serious about his job as farm manager and horse whisperer, but each has his/her own thing. I miss Moomin and Keats terribly. There is a visceral hole when they move on.