Understanding my (departed) Mom's belief that cats belong in the barn.

Very true, but not everyone is a Celtic Eagle you know! You've have to be patient while the rest of us catch up.

I suppose so. I am just very sensitive to animals.

I hope it comes back, I bet what you were thinking was interesting. Yes, a cat too close to open flames. My cats have stayed away from the wood stove pretty well, so far.

Wow! Urinated on socket holes. Mine liked solid objects when I first got him like the stove and the dryer. Well cats helped out in the old days and now, too. They kill the mice that eat the grain. When one of my cats was younger, a person who owned a horse rode by and said, "so that's who owns the cat that kills the mice in our barn so you (meaning the horse) have some grain." Baby used to hunt for miles. When I introduced him to our barn he was meowing up a storm. I would let him out and he would go to the bathroom in the barn and hunt there. We can't really leave them out because it's sub-zero here and baby is a short hair. Creamy is a medium hair, but he seems to have arthritis in a paw. That's a funny saying your Grandmother had. I was 42 when I got married. We always used to sing when cooking when my Mom was alive.

I didn't raise them from kittens. I rescued them from outdoors when they were 5 years old after I moved up here. I've trained them not to bite, scratch me, or claw the furniture. They normally don't knock things over, but I have a ton of stuff everywhere right now and they get very excited when I put food out and run like crazy. I'm doing recycled Christmas so lots of stuff everywhere. Esp. places where they used to be able to be without anything there. I think when things change, then they have to be retrained. I have them trained to eat and go outside to go to the bathroom afterward. I've trained one to say, "mil" for "milk" and "ou" for "out." I think you'd better look at history. Cows have knocked over lanterns and made barns burn down and even parts of or entire towns. So lanterns being knocked over has happened many times. Not just by animals either, sometimes by people. Accidents do happen. I've trained my cats more than most people. I go to their homes and they still bite or scratch. This last cat panicked when I used to pick him up, now as long as all for paws are supported, he's relaxed. That took a long time. I think someone used to get angry and throw him. This new cat did not wash himself. I mimicked licking my hands and rewarded him when the licked his paws. His fur was so matted when he sat on our porch crying to be taken in that I brought him to a vet and the vet washed him. I brought him home and he still didn't wash himself, most cats like that are just too tired from hunting and survival to wash. But he didn't know how. So I kept on teaching him. He also is a copy cat, so he would watch the other cat and learn things and I would reward him. Also I was in another state for months getting cancer treatments and other people were taking care of my cats. 1 I didn't have kids, I rescued cats. They're begging people to rescue 200 per shelter. Cats take months to train, kids take 18 years. 2. You don't know me so don't judge me. Your attitude is not very nice. The cats find me, I don't find them. Cats have found me since I was 10 years old. They're usually older and can't survive in the wild any more or they are abandonned when someone leaves their home because they lost their jobs and the next place won't let them have pets. There was a really, really long-haried cat that was not happy that I went to work and I wasn't happy that it had long hair. I found it a new home. One where the people like combing the cat three times a day. But the cat still wasn't happy because they got jobs. So the neighbors who had children and someone home all the time and liked to brush cats took it. I have tried to find a home for the latest cat. But other than a veteranary training facility, I don't know where he would live. I get him cured of one thing and he comes down with another. Baby got old. Creamy was abandonned. Baby has tons of skills and was a fast learner. Creamy knew how to do nothing and took a long time to learn how to do things. He was all fur and bones. The last time I checked, barns qualified as outside in my area, it certainly isn't inside my house. Barn cats come and go as they please inside and out of the barn. They kill mice that get into grain. My cats liked the barn, but last winter it fell in. They were in our house. My cats have a cat door and are free to come and go as they please. Baby loves to go in and out and is approximately 20 years old now. Creamy is approximately 7 years old and hates the outdoors. I can understand why, he gets cold in his eyes. He seems to have arthritis in one pay. I've always had the ones that found me because they're too old to hunt. I've never had an abandonned one before. The Vet seemed to think this cat was bathed by the previous owner because he had no trouble taking a bath. I had to break him of a bad habbit, too. He used to wrap his paws around my ankles. Cute in winter when you're wearing boots. Not cute in summer with shoes and he hasn't learned to retract his claws yet. But he retracts his claws nicely for his Mommy and has quit going for a drag, too.