one winter baby..and a stranger in the barn

We are celebrating a long awaited winter birth.. Demelza the broody hen has been SITTING for 3 months on a nest with no luck at all. It generally takes 28 days for an egg to hatch...she is either very persistent or very silly.

 Her eggs would mysteriously disappear, or she'd knock them onto the floor where they'd splatter like water balloons. Still, being a broody hen, she would not stop sitting. There would be days, when I would find 4 eggs beneath her warm body, and the next day all the eggs had gone missing. 

      It was a real puzzle and I blamed it on a RAT. I could just imagine that sneaky villain climbing the ladder in the night, a burlap bag slung over his shoulder, sliding his bony, grasping fingers under the unsuspecting sleeping  hen, stealing all the "loot"and slinking back down the ladder. Or, worse still, an entire gang of Bandito rats carrying the bootie to their hideout.
 Nevertheless, I continued to  supply her with fertile eggs (from other hens) out of pity, although it seemed so futile. Then alas! She finally did it, she managed to hang onto ONE egg which produced this one little baby, ever so sweet...

  Congratulations Demelza! We have a wee winter baby.

And now, on to our stranger in the barn. This gorgeous cat appeared in our barn about 2 weeks ago. He/she is just stunning. I made him/her a bed in the loft and leave food each day. I can get close but cannot touch. This cat has obviously avoided the wrath of BORIS. Maybe Boris is steering clear because I clipped his sharp claws and he can't cause trouble.

Beside, Boris has become fat and lazy, thank goodness. I think this cat looks like a "Tallulah", if it's a female and a "Toulouse" if it's a boy. Perhaps this pussycat will keep those Bandito rats at bay!

 This kitty has inspired a few more cat "parts" and the latest is
 this little puss who definitely looks to me like a little pickpocket.

 I think I will name him the "Artful Dodger"

  Very mischievous, don't you think?