The Pets

So, how do the pets like the Hinckley House? Beany and Henny were pretty much good to go from the start, but Birdy is… more sensitive to her environment (ie, she’s a literal scaredy cat). In the early days, she would only come out into the house after all the workermen had gone for the evening. She’s really just a one-person cat (fearful, not mean), but she warmed up to Rob while he was here, which was nice to see. And she helped catch a mouse several weeks ago, so she’s keeping herself busy.

Beany mostly enjoys all the new people who come and go — neighbors and our contractor, etc. She’s snuck outside twice and panicked both times, wanting to come immediately back inside rather than dashing off into the woods, which is my biggest fear. She’s a clever cat, but if she went a little wild in the great outdoors, who knows what would happen. Generally, though, she seems to like all the sun and room in the Hinckley House.

Henny is in heaven here. She’s been a champ in dealing with all the strangers who’ve been over to work on the house and so forth. Under her neuroses, she’s such a curious little dog. And she loves being outside here. The way she tears around the yard is hilarious — watching her gallop back and forth, you’d never in a million years guess she was the same chihuahua I started fostering a year and a half ago. It’s pure, doggy bliss. Sometimes I sit out in the hammock and watch her sniff around the yard (I’m always keeping an eye out for hawks or eagles that might swoop down to get her), and I realize that being at the Hinckley House is her perfection. How nice to make a little dog so happy.