Nora's Barn

I wish I could show you a picture of our barn. * Yes, we have an actual barn. The owner's before us kept horses in it. The main resident, and Princess of the barn, is Nora the cat, whom I inherited from my daughter. Nora does not know she is a cat. I'm not sure just what she thinks she is but whatever it is, is pretty darn special.

Nora, although clawless, has decimated any mice that would dare to trod in her domain. She must have some kind of truce with the scorpions and black widow spiders though. I am not merciful if I find them. They are sent to their end swiftly. They may live in the barn, but I own the barn.

The truth of the matter is that I love the barn. It used to be horribly hot but now that it has been re-roofed and is in the shade nearly the entire day, it holds a temperature that is always pleasant. Gary hates the way it smells, but I love it. It smells like wood, dirt, cat, dust, bugs, paper, and lots of old junk. We used to have a fair collection of deceased vacuum cleaners out there, too. I have no idea why Gary put them in the barn because I told him directly that the barn would not heal them and make them new and young and frisky.

The barn is never moldy either because we are so dry here. It doesn't have the creepy dampness of a basement or attic. It has an aliveness. It is patiently waiting to be cleaned. Right now I could probably toss most everything, except Nora, the Barn Princess and it could be a work area, except that I like that it is my place.

I like taking Nora's breakfast and dinner to her and we talk about her day. She has quite a vocabulary and is never bored, or boring. I brush her, which she likes sometimes, and other times not at all. That is her prerogative. Lately she goes nose-to-nose with the beagles as they watch her through the baby gate that is at the door. They are not allowed in the barn. They accept the rule philosophically, as dogs do. Nora, does not mock them which makes the no-dog rule at least tolerable.

As Robert Frost said, I will be telling this with a sigh, but I know I will clean the junk out of the barn and perhaps have to share the barn with Gary, and that would only be fair. I will still love my barn, only a little differently.

Barns are ancient structures and maybe their specialness is that they are homes for animals, in this case, Nora's barn. Nora has made the barn unique in her own way.




*I can't because I am still using Gary's computer and can't download my pictures to it. My computer should be up and running within a week in it's shiny new office.