Josie the Satellite Kitty

Our poor little kitty, Josie, at the ripe old age of 4 1/2 months was found to have a tumor.   Fortunately our wonderful vet, Dr. Geoff Gregg, removed it and deemed it to be benign.   Unfortunately convincing a kitten to leave a big boo-boo on their belly  alone is not the easiest thing in the world, so for the last two weeks Josie has been known as the Satellite Kitty.   Stitches came out today.   The dish has to stay on for another week to make sure the incision is well healed.    In the meantime Ian claims to be getting two new TV stations.

Two adorable kittens, Josie and Duke

We’re looking for a very special home for two little sweethearts.    Two of our barn cats surprised us in early May with litters of kittens.   The moms are now spayed so it can’t happen again.    We’ve found homes for all of the kittens except these special two.   Josey got a serious eye infection at 5 weeks of age, so we brought her indoors and on antibiotics.   She has made a complete recovery.   Then a couple of weeks later, Bonnie, the little runt of the litter  managed to get into the sheep pen and get stepped on.   She ended up with two broken back legs.   The vet said with rest and good nutrition she should make a complete recovery, although the legs would always be a bit crooked.   That was three weeks ago and she has proved him right.    Due to the fact she now has a gait resembling that of John Wayne, Ian decided to re-name her Duke.    And it has stuck.

The two are inseparable.   Although we love them very much, we don’t really want to have three adult cats in the inn.    So we’re hoping somebody has room in their heart and home for two little sweethearts.    We have the grandmother and mother of these kittens and both have wonderful dispositions.     So if  anyone has room in their heart and home for two special creatures, give us a call.   740-599-6107.

We decided we needed a video of the inn for our website.    The problem with still photographs is that you can only see the room from one angle.   But with a video we can give people a sense of what they’d experience standing in the room and looking around.    The videographer came today.     He started the taping by interviewing us, asking questions about the inn, how we came to be here,  what fun things there are for guests to do during their stay.   All the basic stuff we’ve answered hundreds of times over the years.   But just sitting and blabbing to a camera is really disconcerting.   We’re going to come off looking like goofs.    And our animals will probably steal the show.   Bijoux our orange cat saw us sitting outside on the bench and climbed right up between us.    We went to film the sheep and Butterfly ran over and tried to eat the camera.     All the kittens came tumbling out of the barn to see what the excitement was about and get in the pictures.   They’re all much cuter than we are anyway.

And me, I’m glad it’s over and I can get back in comfortable clothes, and sit here and plan menus for the weekend.    Local strawberries are in season so you can bet we’ll have plenty of dishes using those over the next couple of weeks.

A peaceful fall day at White Oak Inn

The title of this first post for our website blog was already created in the blog program.   How appropriate.     We’re ready to say hello and welcome the whole world to our inn.     If you’re a former guest, thanks for keeping in touch.   If you’ve never visited we hope you’ll find this part of the inn website entertains you and gives some ideas of things you could enjoy during a stay with us.

Buster and Butterfly are our two resident pet sheep.     They live in what innkeeper Ian refers to as “the lamb Hilton” in our barn across the road from the inn.    They love to eat crackers and be scratched on the cheeks or behind the ears.    If you visit them you’ll find they’re quite amenable to posing for photographs so be sure to bring your camera.   They also share their home with four barn cats, Eenie, Meenie, Miney and Mo.

The barn itself is an interesting structure.   We’ve been told it’s one of the county’s oldest pole barns, although we can’t verify its age.    The upright supports are whole tree trunks.     Two years ago we had an Amish barn builder straighten the supports and replace the metal roof, so it should be good to go for another 100 years!

If you’re ever in the area, stop in and meet our menagerie and check out the barn.    The cookie jar is always full!