To this ...

In the time it takes for the earth make one full revolution, welcome to Ohio and welcome winter. The only entertaining thing about this year's first snow is that it is also Kali's first snow.  It was fun to watch her try to figure out if she should run in it or eat the magical white stuff all over the ground.
 

I am not forgetting that we have horses on the property. But, however the latest news seems to be gravitating toward the non-equines that live here. The latest bit of drama is 5-Toe. To remind you in May we evicted Fry from the house leaving us with just two house cats, Rugby and Cricket, and had three barn cats, 5-Toe, 6-Toe and Fry.

A few weeks ago we had a cold snap and after the horses were all blanketed and put away for the night, Kali and I entered the garage. I found 5-Toe lying in the middle of my path. I picked him up and noticed that he was very limp. I looked at is gums to see if anything was wrong and they were very pail. We brought him in to the house, spoiled him with some warm can food and made him comfortable for the night. I was hoping that he was just really really cold, but my gut told me something else was going on.
The next day we went to the vet and discovered, through some blood tests, that 5-Toe has an auto-immune disease. With proper medication he will live a long and happy life. So Carl and I decided that because 5-Toe now needs pills everyday and a careful eye watching him, he can move into the house. My first thought was great, not many cats can go from an outdoor cat to indoor cat with ease.  I had pictures running in my head of destroyed carpets, things falling from shelves and midnight yowling. But nature just had to prove me wrong. 5-Toe has learned the house rules, like not jumping on the counters, and spends most of his time in a lap of some sort. I guess is that nature is balancing itself out. One cat moves out so one in need can move in. That or 5-Toe planned it all along.
 

As you can see, 5-Toe and Kali often sleep near each other for company.
And always at my feet!