Zip continues transforming life on Bedlam Farm; we were getting slightly serious about the farm. I was getting too many messages from demented animal rights zealots. I’m having some fun with them now; the only way to deal with insanity.

But I never imagined that Zip would be playing a game happily with Zinnia, Fate, and Maria all together. He has not only coopted me, but he has even had workaholic Fate stop by to join the game. I never thought this possible.

Zip seems to be irresistible. People say they’ve never seen a cat with this much personality.

Maria started it by pulling some skinny wood limbs and shaking them before Zip when he hides (or thinks he is hiding) beneath one of my garden beds.

Zip loves to hide there and spring out at Zinnia or Fate when they come by. If they charge back towards him, she swipes them on the nose with claws in, and they back away. At first, the dogs were astonished. They expected him to run away or hide. But he doesn’t. He sticks his head out and swipes at their noses.

At first, it startled both of them; Zinnia was the first to figure out it could be fun. It’s a game we all play together when we have time.

While Maria dangles the twig, Zip swipes at Zinnia (claws in), and Zinnia tries to grab the limb. Zip is quicker than Zinnia and grabs it first. They love this game: the dog jumping out, the cat hiding and popping his head out, beating the dogs at their own game.

 

Fate, ever severe and intense, started joining the game, and Maria pulled the twig up and down to engage Zip. Now, they all do it automatically and in fun. We end up laughing, and the dogs are having a blast. Zip does not fear two bigger dogs lunging at him and trying to grab his twig. He loves the game and plays it from the bottom of the barn door.

Fate is a severe dog, she rarely plays. But Zip is working his magic on her.

In my life with animals, I always stayed away from cats, and they usually stayed away from me, as I was almost always with dogs and didn’t think much about cats.

Zip refused to accept this and decided to adopt and show me the fun things about cats. I’m getting it, although he continuously surprises me. He is fearless, fun-loving, independent, ferocious, and affectionate in turns.

The only thing that seems to faze him is a good thing: he is afraid of the sound of truck engines and stays far away from the road.

Zip is wicked smart, and he also has a sense of humor. He pays no attention to my wariness or standoffishness.

We have a lot of fun together, a natural gift from any animal. In a few months, Zip has changed our farm in many ways. He has certainly changed me.