meow

the boys discovered a litter of kittens hidden in our barn this weekend.

 maxer was fearless when it came to extracting the kittens from their protective shelter and their hissing mama.

bear was a little more cautious in the kittens retrieval, but very aggressive in his love.
 
allow me to introduce jo, jerry, angelcake, weenie and brad alan. brad felt incredibley honored to be the namesake of a barn kitten.  these names change every time i ask the boys.  for a consdierable amount of time, bear called one kitten ass-ey.  i almost peed my pants.  he was really trying to say mazie, the name of his cousins' new kitten, but it always came out ass-ey. 

 the timing was impeccable for this joyous occasion as we were working hard to get the old garage down and burned.  the kittens provided an amazing distraction for the babes. 

 our intention is to try to keep them tame ish so they stay around the farm and become effective mousers.  so during the day we keep them in this humble home and then bring them back to their mom in the evenings.  the mama is named thumbs, a donation from the boeskool fam years ago.  we renamed her thumbs due to her extra paw finger.  now all the kittens have one.  which is kinda gross.

despite how presh my adorables are in loving and holding and caring for the kittens, they will under no circumstances be allowed in our house.  because they really gross me out.  they are super cute and i keep trying to say that sweet three little kittens who lost their mittens nursery rhyme, i just keep thinking of kitty germs and shudder.

so they play and i disinfect and everyone is happy.  except the kittens mostly.  good thing they have nine lives.

ayla jo is not exactly gentle in her cuddles. but she is enthusiastic. and beautiful in her joy.