Slinky... (story from a "guest blogger")

Slinky

The other week we got a new cat named Dolly. It wasn’t my first choice of names, but now that this cat was ours we could rename it.

            Dolly is black on her back and legs and tail, but has little boots and white on her chest. She is sweet and sleek, very used to people. Her eyes are elephant sized, and have dark, dark pupils. When she arrived, we took her up into the upper part of the barn and she seemed to really enjoy the prickly texture of the hay on the wagon and made herself at home between two bales. She was very curious and of course managed to find her way to a rafter-high up from the ground-and sat there to stare down at us.  She would fit right in with the other cats that were enjoying life on the farm.

            One day over the weekend a friend came over to play. When we couldn’t find anything to do we found ourselves venturing up into the barn to see the cat. The friend petted Dolly and smiled as it rubbed against her legs and purred. “Dolly, we need to change your name,” she thought.  “How about Slinky? You just sort of slink around and slide out of my arms when I pick you up.” I liked it and so that became the new Tuxedo cat’s name.

            Slinky despises the dogs named Snickers and Murphy. As soon as she saw them when she got here, she clung to Kevin’s shirt. (Kevin is the previous owner) Whenever we go up in the barn, so do the dogs and that is where the cat is. She hisses and spits and runs to the best hiding spots and uses the best strategies to get rid of the dogs and to annoy them. Her hiding spots are: the top of the hay wagon where the dogs can’t touch her, on a flap under the elevator, or on the wagon, crouched  between three bales that provide a little house and a very comfortable sleeping area. The last spot is with her only cat friend on the top layer of the highest haymow. Her strategies are…ignore!  That’s it… and it drives the dogs BANANAS! Hopefully the dogs will learn to ignore Slinky more as they realize that they can’t get her …she’s WAY too good for them.

            Only a few days ago Dad was getting hay down from a 25-30 foot hay mow and after carefully looking where he was throwing, dropped one bale down to the floor of the barn. As the bale was midway through its journey down to the floor Slinky came TEARING out of nowhere and into the path of the falling bale.  The bale hit the ground-and Slinky too; now she was covered by this bale of hay! Soon dad was on the ground and releasing the cat from its dangerous predicament. When the pressure was released, Slinky ran from the bale and went to her perch on top of the wagon wheel. Fifteen minutes later, the previous owners pulled in the driveway in search of some straw. After telling the news of the cat, Kevin and Anna made their way to the barn to comfort Slinky.  She seemed to be doing fine. Kevin and Anna left with their straw, and everything returned back to normal.

            Slinky  is finding her way around the farm better now.  She is coming down from the upstairs of the barn and enjoys hanging out on the milkhouse roof and on top of the compressor.  She is my new favorite kitty.

                                                THE END

                                    By Jenna Denlinger