Queen Amelia

One day several years ago, when we first moved to this farm I lay down for a short afternoon nap. It was a warm summer day and the kids were plenty old enough to look after each other I reasoned as I snuggled into my comforter. Our little farm is an older one and we have 4 weathered outbuildings as well as a large shop/garage that all needed treasure mapped. We have 3 acres, and at that time no horses so there was room enough to explore and build forts in the tall grass and weeds.

Just as I drifted off, all 6 of the kids came running into the house, "Mom! Mom! We have kittens! Josh is out there in the garage catching them right now!!"

"What? When did we get a cat?" I answered groggily.

"No Mom, we don't have a cat! These are wild kittens! You should hear them hiss! There are four of them!" They all clamored to be the first to tell me the vital information about their newfound treasure in the garage.

Okay, I was awake now. Josh walks in with a big grin on his face and an angry growling kitten in his outstretched hands. The kitten bites him and he drops it onto the bed. All seven of us scramble to recapture the little lion cub without further injury. I was the one who finally caught her, and I have a scar on my finger to prove it.

All in all the kids captured 6 kittens that day in the garage. They were beautiful. Some were peachy cream color, some smoky grey, some calico. They lived in the dog crate until the kids were able to handle them. Then we gave them away to unsuspecting friends and advertised them in the paper.

There were two left over. One was the first kitten that Josh caught. I think the kids hid her every time someone came to look for a kitten to take home. She had long hair and had a few patches of orange, if you looked hard enough. Josh had taken to carrying her around on his shoulder. The kids had taken to calling her "Queen Amelia".

The second was one that took the longest to tame and was still quite wild. She was named "Tiger", not because of her coloring which was a short haired smoky calico with a few orange patches, but because she was ferocious.

The kids talked us into keeping the two leftover kittens and they are now our chief mousers, and keepers of the chicken house along with Tommy who is Ameilia's son.

Amelia loves to follow us around outside, meowing for attention, to be picked up and for a ride on our shoulders. I took some pictures of her with my camera and my cell phone the other day as she followed me around as I was doing chores.

"Okay, I see we are ready to do chores. You set your coffee down right here, so that your hands will be free to carry me, all right?














"Oh alright. I will just watch you feed the pig then. You are lucky I have such great balance!"

"Can you see me now?
Yes, yes, I think this bale will do for the horse's breakfast this morning."




"Look deep into my eyes... You cannot resist picking me up... You can...not... re...si....sssssst..."