A Cat Named Tore

Several months ago one of our neighbours moved away.  It was really upsetting to everyone in the community, but probably most of all a pair or semi-feral cats that she had living in her barn.  Turns out she would feed them on occasion in order to keep them around to help keep the rodent population down.  Since she left there has been no occasional bowl of cat food and so they seemed to have made out way to our house! Well our shop, to be precise.

Our shop is mouse and pack rat riddled.  It's disgusting and freaky because you can hear them, but you can't see them... But I don't blame them at all.  We happen to keep a lot of feed in the shop.  It's like rodent heaven.  So the arrival of cats is awesome! Even more awesome for me because I actually like cats and a change from the constant presence of dogs (we're at 14 now) is kind of nice!

There is one really tiny little black one that you only ever see if he doesn't realize you're there.  If he sees you he bolts.  I have no idea if he is getting any of the food we put out for them  but he hangs around the chicken coop a lot...

The other is only partly wild.  More tame then wild I'd say, as in  he'll let you pet him, but don't try to pick him up.  I was watering the sheep the other day and he came and hung out with me.  He looks kind of like a Siamese cross with these really weird eyes and one torn up ear.  Hence his new name, Tore.

So now in addition to the cows, horses, sheep, donkeys, lama, guinea fowl, chickens, ducks, and dogs (!!), we now "have" two cats!

Although, similar to Little Orphan Lamby, Tore likes to hang around on our deck and beg for food.  Super annoying, but also super stupid!  We have 14 dogs, Cat!  What are you doing hanging around the house?!  He might not be the smartest cat in the shop... Though Little Orphan Lamby is still kicking around, so maybe it's alright...  I guess he didn't get his torn up ear for nothing though...

No, that's not a heart lying on the floor...

I just witnessed probably the third most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life.  And of coarse it happened right here on the ranch.

So I am in the mudroom of our house, putting on my boots to go outside when I see what almost looks like a heart, just sitting there in the middle of the floor, all wet and slimy.  It even had tubes sticking out of it.  I even called Partner #2 downstairs to see if she could figure it out and she thought it was a heart too. Against my better judgement, I even touched it to flip it over.  A move that is at this very moment inducing my gag-reflex...

Now, let me throw a little ranch know-how at you: one of the most common methods for castrating young animals is called "banding".  That is when you put a very small elastic band around the scrotum with an almost reverse set of pliers.  Almost immediately the animal loses blood supply to the area and over time the sack shrivels up and falls off.  Except for the initial elastic placement, it is almost entirely painless for the animal.

So, yep... you guessed it.  The thing that was lying on the floor in my house was not a heart (which is bad enough), but a juicy pair of calf nuts.  And no sooner had I realized what it was, did a dog snatch it up and proceed to noisily and hastily munch on this rotting, stinking treat...

Commence scouring hands.

There has been one other occasion where I witnessed something similar, but it was a pair of fluffy little lamb nuts.  So not nearly as gag-inducing.

This was utterly disgusting.

Now our mudroom stinks like rotten testicles and our dog is happier then heck with a belly full of calf nuts...

This is my life.