Meet Our Critters

I would like to introduce you to the critters who live at our homestead. You've already met the chickens, so here are the rest.

Starting with Dottie Dog who is not looking too happy with the chick on her back (thanks to Quinn). She is our oldest critter, turning 12 years in June.

Next is Ashley Cat, who had three kittens eight weeks ago. The little one in this picture beside her is Princess with a gorgeous white belly and gray stripes running through it. Who I am happy to point out to you is not all black or all gray. Our previous litters of kittens have been solid black or gray, so I am tickled pink (a color of kittens that we don't have, yet) that we now have kittens that have markings and down below you'll see one that is even more colorful (for us, at least). In front of Princess, is Friskie whom you will meet next.

Here is a closer look at Princess and her stripes.

Here is Friskie. He has a sweet personality and is most seen with one of the kids toting him around. Of course, he looks just like his mother and is completely gray with no markings.

Our crown jewel, Tiger. Look, she has markings! The kids were having fun with her last night by placing a tiny hat on her head. Her look reminds me of Dottie in the picture at top. Do you think they are thinking "these darn kids?"

This is Scat. He is the big brother to these kittens, being born last year by Ashley. He is very skittish, unlike his mother who is very loving and gentle. I was worried how he would treat the kittens, but he has been great with them. Last night I enjoyed watching him play with Friskie, acting just like a big brother while wrestling around with him.


I mentioned in my profile that we have a raccoon who thinks he is part of our family, well here he is. He enjoys coming up on our back porch to eat the cat food and drink or wash his hands in the water bowl. The cats ignore him and will continue napping if he comes while they are snoozing on the porch. He also is not very scared of us when we go out while he is there. He will go up a tree that is right next to our porch and look down at us, waiting for us to leave so he can resume his supper.

Here is three more of our critters with Tiger. Last night Alex and Quinn brought Anna in on her "Princess Bed" as we like to call it while she was holding Tiger (right before Tiger got her picture taken with the hat on). You can see they are supposed to be getting ready for bed, since they do have PJ's on, but they decided to tote their sister around before brushing their teeth.

There is a story behind the Princess Bed. Last year while vacationing in upstate NY, we were in Walmart and Anna spied this Princess Bed. I was in another part of the store while Dom had Anna and a few other kids (don't recall which ones), so the story came from him. Anyway, Anna would grab this bed off the shelf and then Dom would proceed to put back the Princess Bed and Anna would then march back to get it again. This happened several times, until Daddy gave into his little Princess and bought her the bed. It really did say "Princess Bed" on the tag, except it is meant for a dog! But don't tell Anna, she loves her Princess Bed and her brothers tote her around on it like she is royalty.

Now I have shown you all our critters even the three child critters above. But I couldn't leave out our Ethan critter. Here he is on his 4th birthday (Nov. 11) last year. Isn't he a cutie?