I looked out of the house the other day and saw our barn cat Smoke perched on the side of a stock tank, lapping at the water. Now, this is the kind of thing barn cats do that can give you a heart attack, because your immediate thought is, oh my, what if he falls in? Smoke is definitely what I would call a "professional" at the barn cat business, having been with us for almost twelve years now and having flourished at both the Montana ranch and here at the New Hampshire farm. He's a smart boy, has never been hurt, and generally always has his wits about him.
Notice how he's propped on the edge of the tank, balanced so most of his weight is on the rim or below on the other side. He's hooked his back legs around the edge to hold himself secure. I can't remember seeing him do this before, but obviously if he has, he's learned how to do it safely. Well, as safely as he can, I suppose!
Nevertheless, the barn cat daddy in me had me running outside to shoo him away, though not before grabbing the camera on the way!
Now, he has access to plenty of water around the farm, including a bowl of fresh water at his feeding station in the barn (which I had just refilled, along with the food bowl, the previous evening), not to mention the pond, puddles, goat buckets and more. But we've seen our cats always seem to enjoy getting water in unusual ways over the years, and this was another.
Here's the look I got when he heard me yelling at him:
"Who, me?"
And then, deciding to appease the barn cat daddy, he jumped down and walked off rather nonchalantly:
Since then the tanks have been emptied, and next year we'll add some "ladders" made out of metal mesh so he and the others can climb out if they do manage to go overboard.
Final Contest of The Year — Please Vote for the Farm!
The latest Shelter Challenge started Monday, October 8 and ends at midnight on December 16. Grand prize in this round is $5,000, plus $1,000 for weekly winners and $1,000 for state winners. There are also other categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.
*** You will find us listed as Rolling Dog Farm. The state is NH for New Hampshire. ***
Please remember, you can vote every day … consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.
We just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last contest, and thousands more in the previous contests. The Shelter Challenge really does bring in a lot of money for the animals here!
You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.
Thank you for your votes!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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