Tradition!

Fred was teaching Hoss Cartwright the finer points of mole hunting yesterday.

GingerFred Boy * was one of the original Kibble Kids, and Hoss is one of the Kibble Kids v.2. Really nice to see the older cats making sure the fine tradition of mole hunting, which was developed into an art by Ira and Abishag, being continued.

I should read Abishag’s little book on hunting moles aloud to them, I suppose.

*Fred’s name is a complicated pun. He seemed to dance as a kitten instead of simply walking, so of course his name honors one of Hollywood’s best known dance teams, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. And the Brits call all orange cats ‘gingers,’ so that adds to the pun. (They all know and come to their names, BTW.)

At three years old, Fred isn’t that much older than Hoss at two, but he’s got hours and hours already logged watching mole holes and digging in the same. I believe he’s caught more moles than any of the other cats. And he’s also Pete’s Apprentice Yard Guard and Watch Cat, so you can see he has quite a bit of responsibility in his work. Mole hunting has to be just a hobby.

It’s going to take a really talented cat or two to replace the legendary Abishag and Ira, and then Pete and Fred when they’ve both retired. Mighty big paws to fill there.

But they’ve got time – they should each have at least six or maybe seven of their nine lives left. Hope I get to bring you many stories about all of them in future years. Thanks for reading!

#Abishag