It’s that time of year. The does are glaring across the yard at the buck pen, wishing the boys had at least bought them some tasty roses to eat. Let’s face it, the girls are feeling their pregnancies BIG TIME. They would love to have a nice neck rub from their bucks, some roses, or even just acknowledgement. But the bucks aren’t interested anymore. It’s no longer the season for romance in their eyes. It’s cold out, time to eat more hay! That’s all that matters to those stinky boys these days.
Meanwhile, the does are growing bigger…and bigger…and bigger!
We are waiting, sometimes impatiently (babies, BABIES!!!) and sometimes very patiently (Oh no, what kind of midwife will I make??? Make time stand still!!!).
In the meantime I’ve been keeping busy with another type of animal…a simple cat! With me nothing is ever simple, no no, so it’s actually that I’ve thrown myself into the world of cat shows. This isn’t a random thing; over two years ago I wanted to start showing cats and I chatted with several local breeders over the phone for hours (breeders LOVE to talk, whether it’s about their goats, dogs, or cats!). In the end with renting, financial strain, and difficulty traveling, I had to put this dream on the back burner.
Now that we own our house, I’ve been thinking…hmm…shall I look into cat showing again? And then, boom, up pops this fabulous Canadian documentary on Netflix. I had had doubts that continued after this documentary…the one woman was a bit intimidating, was she not? Would cat show people be as catty as dog show people (couldn’t help myself there with the pun)? Would I find friends or are people just wanting to get ahead themselves?
I looked up cat shows in my area and voila, an international cat show was happening the next weekend. Next thing Christine knows I’ve booked a room at this hotel 3 hours away and then away I go with my teenager, leaving the farm and little kiddo to Christine for the weekend. (In reality I did ask, it was just for one night, and I did have her blessing).
First of all, let me say that I had not been away from the farm except one other night since we moved here last April. It was blissful, I tell you! I’ve lost the ability to sleep in; I always want to and then 6am rolls around and I’m wide awake ready to start my day. But it felt like a much needed vacation; the posh hotel right on the water, the people were absolutely WONDERFUL, and room service…delicious!
So back to the cat people, first of all, the hotel had been out of rooms for the cat show discount price. Christine mentioned I should email the person in charge, who happened to be one of the judges, and he had booked extra rooms and offered me one of them. There was a mix-up at the front desk with this when I arrived and he was absolutely wonderful in coming downstairs and clearing it all up! Once there, I told the person selling tickets that I was new and not one but two people jumped from their seats to help me. They showed me where everything would happen, what I should do in the meantime while things were still getting set up, and gave me many tips. I had brought a notebook with me so I took lots of notes!
I met so many nice people! Only ONE person out of probably 15 that I talked with was not nice to me. And who knows why that was, I’ll blame it on the fact that she was from Oklahoma and didn’t have Texas manners. It was unfortunate she wasn’t nice to me because she had one of my top three favorite breeds and her cat was winning in every ring (do they call them rings? I don’t know!). I had been told that if I saw a cat I liked that I was to wait for the owner to come back for it and then beeline back to their main seats with them so I could chat with them. That’s what I did with these Oklahoma peeps and it did not go well, LOL! I can laugh now but at the time I was so offended I almost left. Luckily I held out because the next day I saw my absolute favorite breed, finally, because there was only ONE of them at the whole cat show.
So you can bet I followed the person back who came to get him from the judging area, as I had done with the other not-so-nice person, but this time my interest was well-received and the owner even offered to let me hold the cat! This is almost unheard of…and at cat shows you are not supposed to touch anyone’s cats. So I had been two days with my hands on my notebook at all times, no petting cats, no breaking rules for me! And then a nice warm Devon Rex was placed into my arms. What a good ending to the weekend there!
And one more piece of news…after being on this farm and with all the pictures I take, I’ve thrown out my old cheapie phone with a terrible camera (sorry for all these blurry pictures! Anything not blurry is taken with Christine’s iPhone). My new phone has the best camera on the market. Look forward to better, clearer photos coming soon!