Odd Friendships

So the other day while I was filling and hauling umpteen buckets of water to the mares and Junior, I noticed something very odd.


I'd fed our one remaining barn cat, Stocky. He was happily eating his cat food when out popped a mouse. It was an odd looking mouse but whatever. He scurried out but not in the normal mouse scurrying way. I thought it a bit odd and a bit brazen for a mouse to be out with a cat in the area. I didn't want to move because I thought Stocky might see him and go after him. Nope.


So while I was waiting for more buckets to fill and Stocky was still eating, out popped the  mouse. I was able to move over far enough to pull Stocky down near the mouse, but the mouse scurried away and Stocky just sat there looking indignant. Instead of hunting the mouse, he wandered off to act insulted.


While I stood there waiting for more water to fill, I watched that damned mouse scurry back out and steal a piece of cat food. Seriously?!!? Now I'm starting to think that Stocky is SHARING his cat food with the mouse rather than being a good barn cat and killing the mice.


Luckily all the grain is in steel barrels so I don't have to worry about mice getting in. I DO  need to worry about the horses' blankets. I have two steel barrels for blankets and I thought for some reason that they were full and that's why they were taking up space in the barn. I looked in them while waiting for water buckets to fill (are you seeing a trend?) and realized they were EMPTY! I was so mad at myself. Here I have TWO barrels taking up precious space in my barn and they weren't even being used for what they were intended.  I did move all of my blankets from the garage into the tack room and I KNOW there are mice in there. So I need to do some serious organizing and at the very least get those blankets packed safely away from mice.


But I digress. So, I came to the realization (while waiting for yet more water), that I think Stocky and this mouse (or whatever it was because it didn't act or look exactly like a mouse) are probably friends. Why else would this mouse steal food right under Stocky's nose? It was pretty brazen and yet he did it anyway. So maybe that's why Stocky acted so disinterested. Maybe they really are friends and I just caught a glimpse of their interactions while I'm not around.


Well, the Sanctuary DOES have some odd friendships. I guess Stocky and this mouse are yet another odd combination of friendships.