ONE NEVER KNOWS where one may find a garden. Some are planted, some are not. On an old wood-splitting log, for instance, home to lichens and mosses and young spruce trees. Or on an old tool shed roof. And of course every garden needs someone to tend it. Like a lively green-eyed Forest Kitten, perhaps. Named Koda.
TRANSITIONS: Spring is a time of transitions. Wonderful transitions, as long nights give way to longer days. As the rising sun spreads butter on the pines a little bit earlier each day. As our old friends the spring ephemeral wildflowers raise their heads and smile. As geese holler from the river and their new little yellow fluffballs begin to figure
OUR PET/WILD THING Koda the Forest Kitten has a secret friend. His/her name is Bunny Rabbit. Bunny Rabbit lives under the deck. B-rab is not really secret, because we know about him. We sometimes see him hopping around the cabin at night, and this time of year find the familiar tracks in the snow. But what transpires between Koda and
IT IS THE TIME OF YEAR, as temperatures cool, when itinerant woodland mice begin dreaming of warm cabins and changes of address. This means that Koda the Forest Kitten is on the job. Unfortunately, many of these illicit homesteading operations take place at night, under cover of darkness. That being the nature of mice. So Koda must also be abroad
KODA (originally Koda-the-Forest-Kitten after coming out of the woods as a tiny black ball of fluff one wintry night) was VERY glad to see me on my return from our Road Scholar adventure. Much hugging and purring. Kathy says we are kindred spirits, alter-egos, best buds, etc… Can’t argue. Here is Koda trying to settle in for his mid-morning nap
IT IS NOT an easy job being an Island Panther. There are outhouses to scale, trees to climb, mice to catch, dragonflies to chase, docks to monitor—with boats coming and going and all needing official greetings and send-offs, fish-cleaning operations to supervise, red squirrels to annoy, kids to play with, and all manner of chores and adventures that humans may
AS THE LINGERING FALL gradually eases into winter, Koda the Forest Kitten is at a bit of a loss. It grows dark by 5pm, not 9pm. So curfew has been moved up considerably. And the same cold that has frozen the river also freezes his nose. And his toes. And his tail. And his ears. And although he is an
OUR ERSTWHILE WILD KITTEN Koda, who came to us out of the forest one freezing night last March, continues to delight, amaze and entertain us. Black as midnight, confident, curious, playful, he is, Kathy says, an ‘opportunist,’ which she says he learned by surviving in the woods. He is always alert for an opportunity and siezes it unapologetically. He loves