Levon, exhaustedThe other day I asked on our Facebook page what people wanted us to write about. I like to ramble about electric fencing, guinea fowl, and so forth, but I have to imagine our readers would rather hear about something else. So my loving sister suggested I write an update about Levon, our lone feline friend (as opposed to our feline enemies, the bobcats).

Levon, as you may recall, is our house-cat. Or shall I say, our barn-cat. He's really a house-cat, converted to barn-cat, converted back to house-cat, converted back to barn-cat.

Originally, he came to us as a house-cat. But we didn't want a house-cat. We wanted a barn-cat. So we put him in the barn. Then one of our dogs chased him up a tree and almost killed him, so he reverted back to house-cat status. A few months ago he brought fleas into the house and was exiled. Back to barn-cat, dogs be damned. Luckily, he thrived in the outdoors and now he is a permanent barn-cat, and that’s not changing.

Upon his most recent disbarment from indoor privileges, he developed great skills in hunting, pouncing, prowling, and big white dog evasion. He is quite stealth and he loves to climb. He doesn’t like other animals (besides me), so he doesn’t waste any time socializing. If he’s not napping, it’s all business (I relate to Levon on many levels). I believe some of his skills came from the time he sat on the arm of the couch and wathced Braveheart with us. Thus, he briefly became known as "Levon Wallace". 

Levon, prior to excommunication

Thankfully, he doesn’t kill our poultry. He stalks the yard birds around the premises, but he doesn’t maim. The only thing he’s been known to kill are moths, mice and voles. For some reason he doesn’t kill frogs or birds. If a frog enters his space he kindly escorts it out of his way with a soft paw on the buttock (no, seriously). He is particular about keeping a reptilian/amphibian-free perimeter around the house. This includes lizards and apparently snakes (haven’t seen a skin in a long time).

Given his admirable prowess in pest-control, Levon was adorned the “Yard Tiger”.

His favorite treat is the leftovers from tuna cans. We eat a can of tuna with a box of macaroni on nights that we’re far too tired to cook anything else. Thus, long after the sun has set, when we’re both stinky and covered in dirt, we dine on the “Yard Tiger Special”. A can of tuna with some Annie’s mac and cheese. It also comes with a liberal dash of Louisiana Hot Sauce.