A farm in the vicinity had barn kittens to give away. I phoned and spoke for three, and Scott brought home six on the weekend. They are young adolescents, and one of them is enamoured of the dog, Sara. It follows her around, plays with her, sleeps with her. Sweet. I especially get a kick out of the baffled look the dog gets sometimes, when the kitten is directly underneath her body, walking along with her.

Everett feeds the cats out in the barn every morning, but there has been a dwindling population of them over the past couple years. We are not sure why; perhaps it's the roaming nature of outdoor cats and the cat-eating nature of coyotes and foxes.