New babies on the farm!

We knew Barb the mummy cat was expecting, the big tummy was a dead give away, plus the fact that she always has a litter this time of the year. The day came that she know longer her her cute kitten bump, but where were the kittens? The year before she had them fairly openly in the barn, and seemed to even call us when she felt happy for us to see them, however this year was different. We tried watching her carefully over the next few days, checking out where she was going, and hunting around areas of chopped wood, the barn, the stable, and other places that she tends to move her kittens to, when she feels ready. In fact we were very worried that they may not be alive, she certainly was n't spending much time with them! It took us days to find them, and that was mainly due to Arthur the Spanish Mastin. He would bark uncontrollably at her as she walked passed his territory, otherwise known as the big terrace, were he and the other dogs, hang out! Nothing new there though. There is a funny little out building near his big gates, where he likes to stand and bark at stars, full moon, or anyone working on the olive trees. Alan and I had even climbed in to this precarious little building and could n't see them.

I guess it was about a week later when Alan came in with the news I was hoping for. He had found them, there were two, and they were both alive. I shot round there with a camera, I was so pleased.

The little out building

They were living in this hole in the wall!!!

Cuddled up together

Barb really kept these kittens well hidden, but it is great to see nature at it's best, without any interference from us. From the beginning Barb was bringing them up to be independent as she could, and not depend her her too much. She would go to them every few hours, and then return to do her own thing, laze in the sun or hunt, without the fuss and bother of new born kittens constantly by her side. As I am so late keeping you all up to date with the blog, I can however let you know about 3 months down the line, the kittens are beautiful and pretty independent. Still extremely nervous but that is fine with us. I have shared some up to date photos below. I'm sure you will agree they are little stunners. After a particularly good football match we saw on the television recently, we can now introduce you properly to Messi and Xavi! Who knows what sex they are, but they join last years litter of Andres (Iniesta) Sergio (Ramos), who sadly seemed to get a transfer somewhere else, and Fernando (Torres) who know appears to be just Fern, if you know what I mean! Enjoy our new arrivals!

Mummy Barb at dinner time with her babies

The stunning Messi

And cute little Xavi