Punxsutawney has Phill, Four Sticks Farm has Fennel.
He’s a conscientious all-season barn cat, committed to keeping the place rid of rodents even in inclement conditions, but sticks to a skeleton schedule during the winter months, paring down the perimeter of his patrol, turning up the tempo of his trot, and using his vacation time to burrow in his cat bed. Just the basics ma’am.
But our little summoner of spring has started to emerge earlier and oftener from the confines of his cozy den in the heated barn shop.
As I make way to the barn in the pre-dawn hours, more days than not, I detect a shadowy block hunkered down near the end of the walkway. Fennel surveys my approach with his natural night-vision goggles, then advances toward me arched-back and fuzzed-fur, hopping in a sideways crab-like catwalk.
Proper identification presented, business stated, he turns toward the tack room and escorts me to my targeted destination for completion of my mission – breakfast.
The later I am, the closer to the house he is, sometimes jumping through the deck rails to bestow Rowdy with a good-morning chin rub, sometimes abruptly about-facing to lead me down the walk.
Based on the palpable pressure of 3 eyes piercing the diminishing darkness from the depths of the barn shelter, I suspect Moe and Chicago occasionally recruit Fennel for a reconnaissance mission, sending him to scout any activity around the house that would signal engagement of mealtime movements.
Like a couple others around here, Fennel is working to shed the seasonal excess, snacking on the shamrock in the tack room to supplement the chicken kibble, scratching the hayloft ladder to stretch his spine and bulk up his biceps, running wind sprints in the alley and high-jumping onto the trunk of a pasture elm tree, employing the pitons of his paws to pause long enough to make eye contact and elicit admiration for his exceptional climbing skills.
He’ll be fit for battle before the barn swallows return from wherever it is they spend their snowbird months.
We’ve still got a little winter to weather, but the brighter days are on the horizon. Pitchers and catchers have reported, Reese’s peanut butter hearts have been replaced by peanut butter eggs, and stalls are now clean before sunset.
And Fennel has re-upped, ready to return to the fulltime duty roster.
From Four Sticks Farm 