One of the many things I’ve learned since we’ve begun rescuing sheep is that wet straw and hay are extremely slippery ~ and if they freeze together, well, it’s just a sheet of ice. I know this because I fell a few times that first winter. I fell inside the barn on the frozen straw/hay mixture that was on the concrete. The ice was on the concrete because there was a hole in the roof. There were many holes in the roof, actually, so I became rather compulsive about sweeping up the barn, even in winter, which is why I never noticed that the number of holes was increasing.

 One morning, though, I walked in to say hi to the sheep, and the wool on Duchess’s  back was wet. Not just damp; wet. I looked up and could see wet spots on the ceiling over where she’d been laying. Yikes! So we called around and found an expert roofer, an Amish man who worked on barn roofs and had a crew. News was that the barn’s wooden roof under the steel roof was disintegrating, and the steel had holes in it. This clearly wasn’t an ideal situation, so we agreed to his price, and the crew showed up at dawn on a Monday morning. 

Because none of the sheep could be in the barn during the day when the crew was on the roof and things were falling off the disintegrating ceiling, I spent hours the weekend before they arrived fixing up a place outside for Mary, Bella, Cricket, and Duchess. That they never used it isn’t the point of this story, although I was a bit frustrated. The point of the story is that I never thought I’d have to make up a new, safe place for the cats. I just figured that there were two other barns, one of which is filled with old hay and straw bales, and a wood shed into which they could flee when the crew showed up. And for the most part, they did. Miracle, Tiger and Miles took off after breakfast and didn’t reappear until supper; Echo just left for all four days. Mittens and Steve, though…these two surprised me. 

The rhythm of the crew’s days gave them a lunch break from around noon to just before 1. They’d all leave the site, go into their construction trailer, shut all the doors, then come out when they had finished with lunch. During that time, silence reigned, so I would head out to check on the sheep, the day’s progress, the growing mess.  I was expecting to be totally alone in the barn, but as I walked in, whoosh! Mittens ran past me, her belly to the ground, her ears back. She stopped just where her food dish should have been, looked around, twitched her tail, glared at me, then darted away again.

 I got the message and dug her food dish out from under the tarp I’d draped over it and her bed. Back she darted and began to eat like she was starving.  Two seconds later, I saw why. Steve was in full panther cat mode just feet away. He was completely still, even his tail. His ears were perked toward Mittens, and his yellow eyes stared at her as a panther stares at his prey. Mittens twitched her tail, but kept eating. Slowly, I became aware of a very low growl coming from ….Mittens? Not Steve? Definitely Mittens. Steve stayed silent, just stared. Mittens continued to growl as she ate, then when she was done, she jumped down and sauntered away, tail straight up, not seeming to be bothered by Steve at all.

I expected Steve to move to the food dish and eat lunch, but he just turned and walked away, deeper into the Little Barn, silent as ever. I followed him to the cat area and watched as he sat down on a straw bale to clean his paws. He looked up at me once, then ignored me as I moved around the area, making sure the hay was adequately covered, that I could find no nails in the straw on the floor, and always looking for the other cats. 

I never found any of the others at lunch time, though, only Steve and Mittens stalking around the Little Barn as if to say, “This is MINE!” I suspect that they both found really tucked away spots to hide in while the crew worked because no matter what time I went into the barn, one or both of them would surface and in some way find me. 

I’ve got to admit that it was very disconcerting to walk into the barn that I love and have parts of the roof missing. Now that it’s all done, though, the place feels much more secure, much more stable and safe. Echo came home the morning after the crew finished, and just today (three days later), he felt safe enough to sleep in his bed during his afternoon nap. Miles and Tiger also tuck up in their respective beds, napping during the day. Miracle is back to sitting on bags of pine shavings, watching out the window at the snow fall. As for Steve and Mittens, well, they’re still staring and growling at each other, darting around the barn then disappearing for long stretches, hopefully napping.