Winter Barn Games

When the temperatures dip, the animals' world gets smaller.

The sheep and horses spend more time at the barn eating hay rather than grazing. Without their smorgasbord of bugs and weeds, the chickens retreat to the hen house. I, too, spend more time in the house rather than around the barn and yard.

That leads to one bored barn cat. Luckily, he has the lambs.

The lambs, now nine months old, like to stick their nose between the slats when I'm in the barn.

For Trick the Cat, this means a game of Cat and Lamb Nose. Standing at the base of the wall, he crouches and waits for a lamb nose. When one pokes through the slats, he jumps up and grabs it with his front paws. Sometimes, he'll gnaw on it for good measure. After a few seconds the lamb retreats.

A minute later, the lamb sticks her nose through the slats again, and again is pounced by the cat. The lambs and cat play this game for several minutes before Trick goes hunting for another game.