Fw: August 19th Animals

                                   Animals

First there's MiMi the wild cat who sometimes is waiting at the door to the door of my kitchen in the

morning when I come down.  She is wild.  Let's NO ONE pet her except while she's eating and it can only

be me or Miriam.  She likes to just hang around us when we're outside-always at least 5-10 feet away.  Then

there's the times when she'll come and get me.  She'll come to the door of the kitchen, look at me, cry and

call me to go up the stairs to the next level where her dishes are.  Sometimes she'll have food in the dish

but she wants to get petted.  So I follow her.  She looks back every few feet to make sure I'm coming.  And

if she needs food I'll give some to her from the can next to her dish.  But sometimes she just wants me to sit

and pet her while she eats.  Then she purrs and kneads the stone under her feet.

Then there's the rooster.  He lost his best friend-the hen.  We don't know what happened to her but wild

dogs could be the enemy.  Now he has reluctantly bonded with the 2nd hen.  She resisted at first-always

in the woods away from him.  But now they're ok.  He's very beautiful and crows ALOT!!  He comes when

I call him expecting some cracked corn which I will reward him with for coming to me.  The hen hasn't laid

an egg in her little house for a while.  I think it's just too hot.  Miriam wants to get more chickens but because

of the heat, no one will transport them because IT'S TOO HOT.  Some people in Casaletto have chickens

but do not want to sell some to us because they are too attached.  They said we could 'borrow' a few but

in time would have to return them.  We say said no.

Then there's the sheep.  We have 2 adult females and 1 baby female.  By the looks of one of the adults, I

say she's pregnant.  They all stick together no matter what.  They also come when I call-also expecting

food.  It's all about the food.  GiGi said he'd leave Carla if she wasn't such a good cook.  Again, it's all about the food.

One of the sheep stands up on its' hind legs to get at the squash/pumpkin plants hanging over the

first terrace.  Miriam doesn't care.  We both say she's just too cute doing that.  All the sheep like

to invade the small chicken coop because at one time we were putting come corn there and they learned that

real fast.  It's all about the food!