Up long Oxen Pond road there is an old cottage, named Thimble Cottage, which is a part of O’Brien’s Farm. It’s a beautiful little place and is a registered heritage structure. It’s quite old, very lovely and exquisitely situated. The folks in the neighbourhood are fiercely proud of it and rightfully so.

As I said in a previous post, I run down this lane pretty often, particularly in summer. Just uphill from the house stands the remains of an old barn. In 2009, a couple of kids set the place ablaze and not only destroyed an old barn, but killed a few cats in the process. It was pretty miserable, but at least one little kitten made it out okay. There were many others who survived as well, not having been in the barn at the time.

When I went by the other day, I was hoping to see the cats. You see, there are still cats all over the place up there, despite a few having perished in the fire. The population does not seem to have been severely diminished and cats have a way of replenishing.

Whenever I run down the road at around suppertime and slow down anywhere near the farm, the cats start coming out of the woodwork like magic. The appear in the windows of the burnt-out barn, they emerge from around the corners of the house and peer at me from the bushes at the edge of the road. I counted seven one day before giving up and continuing on my run.

I didn’t see any at all the other day, but then, it was broad daylight and not a good hunting time. I found evidence of their continued existence on the roof of a shed, though.

In fact, the area was riddled with cat tracks.

The entire property is just stunning, with big old trees everywhere and lovely little sheds of all sorts.

This little shed was tucked away up in the back of the lot. My zoom lens helped me out here. Note the cat tracks….

I’ll have to come back again, at dinnertime, be it dawn or dusk, and see if the felines might grace me with their presence.