I’m never great on dates, but it’s been about three years since Zip first came to live with us, a young Barn Cat who has never wanted to go inside of a house. Barns are his passion, along with wood sheds and the dark ground below the back porch.

Nothing has been the same since Zip arrived, he is King of the Kingdom, leader of Jon, and friend of every animal on the place. He is a happy charmer and absolutely loves being photographed, something he learned about me instantly. He loves Maria just as much or more than he lives me. Cats can be schizophrenic at times, incredibly affectionate or instantly murderous.

He  go in his cozy heated cat house in the barn in the winter but rarely does and never at night. Cold stormy night are when rats and mice and moles come out to eat and Zip has persuaded many of them to leave the earth. There are some of his happiest moments, we find rat remains after every storm. Bless him for getting them away from the house.

He is a champion barn cat, if there were a Nobel Prize for Barn Cats we would nominate him. Our vet says he is the healthiest cat she has ever seen.

Zip and I connected from the first. I still can’t stay why or how but he seems to be inside of my head and knows what I am doing it when and before. He brought with him a parade of deeply troubled Animal Rights People who don’t believe in heated cat barns or Barn Cats or me or Maria’s decision to not bring him inside on cold nights.

I call them the Passionate Army of Know Nothings, they call themselves Animals Rights people and some of them are sort of friends by now, we talk every once in a while when they aren’t calling me names, which is occasional. People like that are now part of our harsh national landscape.

I only had to block two or three of my e-mailers. I was afraid a couple of then might have a heart attack trying to convince me that Zip should come inside in the winter.

Sadly for animals, they have yet to understand that you don’t change people’s minds by calling them ugly names – in suggests insecurity – any more than Barn Cats don’t get cold in winter, not for thousands of years.  

Zip is just where he wants to be, and where we love and want him to be.  In our barn and in our harts.

Anyone who has ever lived on a farm gets  it.

One of my favorite Zip moments comes every morning just after dawn when Maria goes outside to meditate and Zip comes out of nowhere every day to sit on  her lap quietly and appear to meditate with here. I have no idea what he is thinking but it is one of the most beautiful sights of the day for me and her and I think, for him.

Zip is the happiest animal I know, even more than the rescued Simon the donkey (Zinnia is right up there, they are great friends).

Zip has simply taken over the farm as well as me. He has offices in every corner and makes every inch his kingdom. We all bow to that. He seems to be in my head.  He knows where I am going before I do.

Today I give special thanks for Zip, who has made me, Maria, the farm (my photos), his smartness, playfuness and charm astonishing. He must by now be one of the most loved cats in the world, if I don’t post a picture of him, I hear about it quickly.

I can assure you he is alright, better than that.

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