Yoder Cat

This photo is in the Library of Congress royalty-free collection. It is credited to: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946- Carol M. Highsmith Archive.

The caption reads:

   A contented cat at Yoder's Amish Home, an authentic Amish farm that began accepting visitors in 1983 near Walnut Creek in central Ohio, along the "Amish Country Byway." 

   A wide assortment of farm animals and pets roam freely here. The Amish are a simple-living, plain-dressing, mostly rural people, originating in Central Europe, whose society spread from Pennsylvania and other eastern American states into rural areas to the west, beginning in Ohio.

Mario In Memoriam

Last summer, Nick Adam Lawes shared a collection of garden cat photos with us -- you can see them here. Here is another feline from that collection:

"Found in a box by a field on the outskirts of Milan in northern Italy in 2003, Mario came into my life at precisely the right time. I shared some of my best and worst moments with him. We lived in the centre of Milan and Mario was quite a society boy, but after some holidays together to north Bohemia, he longed to go back to his roots and become a full time country boy!

"2010 we moved to the Czech Republic where Mario insisted on turning the run down patch of grass surrounding our neglected holiday home into an Arts and Crafts style garden.

"Mario was extremely close to me and would sleep under the covers with me at night. He had no time for other people and wasn’t shy in letting them know it! He liked other animals and was always very fair, but wouldn’t put up with arguments amongst the other cats.

"During his life, he spent time in Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, and he’s the only individual other than me I know who’s been to Lichtenstein!

"Over the years being here we’d started renovating the house DIY and building the garden, which Mario oversaw. We also took in a German Shepherd puppy and an ever increasing family of unwanted kittens.

"Mario passed away in my arms earlier this year. Leading up to his death I began to wash him and help him to the toilet... he became sick very quickly and I knew it wasn’t good.

"At the end, I got it. All this time I thought that I had been the one who had loved this grumpy beige cat who just put up with me... moments before he died he reached out to me and I lay nose to nose with my boy - eye to eye with this beige cat who meant the world to me...and when he took his last breath I felt nothing but love and gratitude for having had him in my life.

"We love our cats for a reason. Like all animals, they’re not just animals or pets... they’re individuals with characters and needs and they love, hurt and get jealous... they’re just like us.

."

Dexter the Garden Answer Cat

I have featured social media cat stars before, but most of them were famous cats first, with the gardening connection being secondary. This cat was part of a famous online gardening family and became recognizable online as "the garden cat."

He was owned by Laura LeBoutillier, and her husband Aaron, of Ontario, Oregon, who are known to many as "Garden Answer" and you have likely watched some of Laura's how-to videos on Youtube or Facebook.

Here is what she had to say about Dexter, "Dexter is just the best cat! He showed up at our house about a week or two before we moved in. He's super-friendly and took to us quickly (the feeling was and is mutual). We never try to stage him in videos - he just seems to always wander in (he follows us all around the yard - even if we go on walks)."

Dexter passed away in 2017. Here is his farewell video. Laura and Aaron now have a "new" orange cat, Russell. You can meet Russell in this video.

Photos are courtesy of Spring Meadow Nursery.

A Snowball's Chance

Tony Sarmiento of Silver Spring, MD, USA, shared pics of this black and white cat named Snowball, who lives a few blocks away, but regularly visits Tony's garlic plantings.

Tony previously shared pics of his calico Cali and his late cat, Doris, who was a polydactyl.

The Adventures of #Sidneyragdoll

If you haven't watched the TikTok video of the garden cat, Sidney yet, you need to do yourself a favor and watch this charming ragdoll right now!

Go to: https://www.tiktok.com/amp/tag/sidneyragdoll

Sidney is in a neighbor's garden, just chilling, when the owner spies him and Sidney knows that nap-time is over and it is time to come home. Sidney's cool-cat attitude and the captions really make this video a stand out.

I have watched this about 10 times now and it never gets old!