Missing Oskar

 

I'm missing Oskar.

The weather has turned lovely and warm.  If Oskar were here, he would have spent all day in the yard, overseeing all activity, occasionally turning his big, black nose to the sky to inhale the smells of spring.

Ulani would be in and out, taking her lead from Oskar while outdoors.  They might run to the fence to bark at something in the brush.  She might follow Oskar to the street side of the fence to run with a passing pickup truck.  But she would lose interest and come back indoors.  

Oskar would stay outside.

This afternoon I looked at photos of the Briards at the Crufts dog show in England.  Some of them appeared to have soft, shiny coats, more like Afghans than Briards.  Briards are meant to have a "goat coat," coarse enough to keep itself untangled, with some waves.  Certainly not straight.

Oskar had a great coat.

Don't get me wrong.  I love Ulani.  But her personality is very different from Oskar's.  Where she is loving, cuddly, in my face, Oskar was independent.  He kept more to himself.  In that way, a cuddle from Oskar was a rare gift.

And today I'm missing Oskar.

Nap time

Dear Barnard has settled in to our weekend routine.  In the past couple of days she's grown quite bold, walking into the bedroom when Ulani and Luke are on the bed, defending her place on the recliner when Luke wants that seat, screaming at the top of her lungs if Luke walks under the dining table.

She's home!

Look how she uses Ulani's fur to warm her own feet!  Barnard was on the couch first, and Ulani had to squish herself into the available space.  This cat was not scooting over!

We're all adjusting to having a kitten around.

Well, two of us are.

Morning has Broken, 14

A quiet Sunday morning, watching Mr. Cardinal woo Miss Cardinal.

Someone's very comfortable!

 

This is your barn cat, first arrived.

 

This is your barn cat moved into the house.

Any questions?

 

Barnard's journey continues

Back on January 28, I shared that Barnard had dared to enter the house one morning as Ulani went out.  Since then, Barnard's brief visits have become more frequent.  But she only stayed a few minutes before growing uneasy and standing at the door to depart.

Well, this past week things changed.

It  began in the middle of the night in the middle of the week.  I was having trouble sleeping, tossing and turning and worrying about how tired I would be in the morning.  Around 1:30 I heard one of those awful sounds I always fear -- something was shaking a screen on one of my living room windows.  Was someone trying to break in?

I jumped out of bed, raced to the yard light switch and turned it on.

"Mew!  Mew!"  Barnard hopped right up on the back step and demanded entry.  So I let her in.  I was so relieved that it was not a burglar but Barnard! 

Ulani thought it might be a game for Barnard to be inside at night, and Luke was clearly disgusted.  But I just went back to bed and slept about three hours until once again I was awakened by "Mew!  Mew!"  Barnard wanted back out.  After I opened the door for her, I got one more hour of sleep.

The following night, around midnight I once again heard the screen sound.  Sure enough, there was my little princess.  This time she slept through until I got up in the morning, then went back to the barn.

Understand, I know a thing or two about training animals.  I realize that my opening the door is a tremendous reinforcement of Barnard's behavior.  And I am not about to be getting up in the middle of the night every night.

So on the third night, when it was bedtime I said to Ulani "let's go get Barnard."  I went into the barn, swooped up the barn cat and brought her back into the house.  Placing her in a comfy chair in the living room I explained "now it's bedtime.  We'll get up at six.  Sweet dreams!"

Worked like a charm.

And I think we've all turned a corner.  Today (Saturday) around 4:30 in the afternoon, I went to visit in the barn and when I left, she followed me back to the house.

Where she's made herself right at home on the spare room couch!