Special Episode: Country Life & I was meant to be a dog person, how did I end up with 30 cats?

Today's episode is about Joyce Benning's & Kathy Mackison's chapters in our upcoming book Animal Prints On My Soul.Pre order here: https://absolutelovepublishing.com/animal-prints-on-my-soul/

For more Divas That Care Network Episodes visit www.divasthatcare.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's Divas That Care Radio. Stories, strategies, and ideas to inspire positive change. Welcome to Divas That Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone. This is a global movement for women, by women engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations. To find out more about the movement, visit divas that care.com after the show. Right now, though, stay tuned for another jolt of inspiration.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Hello, hello, good morning, everybody. I am so blessed and grateful to be on with my beautiful friend and sister, Joyce. And uh she lives on a farm and loves animals, she always has. And she and I are both part of an incredible project through the Divas That Care organization. And there's gonna be this really awesome book, Animal Prints on My Soul, that's releasing soon. We're hoping in December. And uh we've got 26 ladies that shared incredible stories, and Joyce and I are both part of that. I shared about cats, and Joyce shared just about all the animals on her farm. So I'm so excited to be on with you, Joyce. Thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Oh, thank you for having me. This is this is a real pleasure and a real honor to be on with you, Kat. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

So tell me a little bit about um what you wrote about. Share like your favorite part about being in this project and your favorite, maybe your favorite story. What can people expect when they get this book?

SPEAKER_01 1:40

They can expect really incredible animal stories from just amazing, amazing women from all over. It is it is just gonna be awesome. And my story, well, I've been around animals all my life. I say they're not just in my life, they are my life, and they always have been. I I just have a passion for animals and just absolutely love them. And my story kind of goes back to when I was growing, I grew up on a dairy farm and helping milk the cows and all the baby calves and all the kitty cats always in the barn ready waiting to get their milk, and and I've always had horses in my life, and they are so magical, they have taught me so much about just enjoy the moment and just take time and just love yourself because these horses are they're incredible animals, and then I also wrote about dogs. I mean, dogs, dogs have been in my life from I can't ever remember not having a dog, let's put it that way. And they are just they are awesome. I have three of them currently, and my little red healer, as I say in the book, he knows me better than anybody ever will. We can look into each other's eyes and we read each other's souls. We just we communicate very well with each other, and he has taught me so many life lessons. He's taught me to live life with faith and not fear, is probably one of the biggest ones he has taught me through life. So it's it's just been incredible. I I just have a like I said, I have a total passion and love for animals that it just bubbles from my heart when I start to talk about animals.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Oh, I can see it. I can see it. Like you get all excited, the emotions coming out, and you had a couple of really cool quotes. Animals are my life. I love that. And then to live with faith, not fear. So, how many animals do you and Craig have right now, currently?

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Oh man, we have numerous, numerous kitty cats, we have them everywhere, and we we're down on numbers on cattle. We run probably about 50 to 60 head of cattle, and we raise, have mama cows, and get the beautiful little baby calves that come in the spring and the fall. And oh man, they are truly God's miracle. Everyone that's on the ground, I'm like, oh my goodness. I've I've been around them all my life, and every time I see one, I'm like, oh man, there's another little bundle of joy. They are just so cute. And I have three horses, and like I said, I have three dogs, so that's that's my animal farm at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

I love it. Oh my goodness. Well, as you were talking about um all the animals, I was kind of like uh excited and also a little jealous because I want to put some more animals on my farm here. I think I'm leaning towards cattle, they are a pretty big ordeal. My cousin has some, but um I'm thinking about doing rabbits and chickens because I could do a really big fenced-in area and have them both together. But as you know, I have a lot of cats. I'm the I'm the community cat lady in our little town. And I've had so many show up.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, you you remind me of my husband. I always call him the cat magnet because wherever he is, you're gonna find a bunch of cats around him, whether he's working on something or just walking across the yard, they follow him like dogs. It's so cute. It's really neat. Go ahead. I was just gonna ask you, cat. Uh, you are an author in this book, also. What all did you well? I see one of your kidneys. That's awesome. I'm sorry, I just had to bring that out. That's not just timely.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

They're everywhere all the time.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Oh wow. So, what does your story all tell about your cats in your book? And what are some of the favorite things that uh you highlighted in there?

SPEAKER_02 6:05

I kind of talked about the personalities of the different kitty cats. Um, being a community cat lady, and we have, I think, about 27 right now. It's usually between 20 and 30 at any point in time. But I literally will, they'll just turn up. My neighbor brought one. There's one that's blind and one eye. I'm calling her Joe, one eyed Joe. Yeah, Jojo. She's so sweet. But my neighbor from next door brought her over because she was climbing in the trash and his roommates were not very happy, and she was gonna have an untimely demise if she didn't have a home. So now she lives with me. And I've got my sister-in-law is bringing one of her cats tonight. Uh, so people just kind of drop them off. But they all, even though, like some people may think a cat is a cat, they're not, they all have their different personality. Some connect more with you, some I won't want to snuggle more, they all have different coloring. They're just each like a little miracle, and they're so cute to watch when they grow from being itty bitty, and then so I'm I'm able, I I was trying to get them all fixed because I'm trying to be a responsible cat lady, right? Not just have like kids show up. But COVID caused a big problem. I had one cat, Matt Jane, that turned up, and from her, I ended up with 26 cats because she had four litters and one of her litters had litters. Actually, two of her babies had babies. So, and it because of COVID, I was taking them in to get them fixed, but they were like, We're closing down, so they closed down for nine months, and in that nine months, I'll that's all it takes for you to end up several batches of cats showing up, and you're like, Oh no, and then when you get behind, then you gotta go get them all fixed. It's just been a process, but they're all so sweet, and they follow me across the yard too. So when you were talking about Craig, it reminded me my grandfather loves when I whistle, like I can whistle this kind of little Pied Piper tune, and they will literally all come following me across the yard. It's and my grandmother just loves it, it's hilarious. They're so funny.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Oh, that is that is really special. Well, how do you feel they have impacted your life having cats around you?

SPEAKER_02 8:19

It's taught me, I think, a little bit more patience and just going with the flow because they, you know, they're gonna have their own personality, and there's no way you're gonna convince a cat to do anything they don't want to do. So you just have to be patient and they, you know, win them over a little at a time, and then they start to trust you. It's it's fun when there's that one that's completely afraid of you, Booger. Oh my goodness, she is such a scardy cat. Um, but she got hurt, she hurt her leg, and I was the even though she doesn't want me to pick her up and she's kind of skittish when I feed her, she'll let me pet her every once in a while. As soon as she got hurt, she came right to me because she knew I was gonna fix it.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

So it's just funny how they they know where to go. And they bring their kittens to me, like the ones that are kind of feral, they'll have their kittens outside next door, and I don't know where they are, but as soon as they get big enough to walk, then they bring them over here to my barn and they're like, Okay, now it's time for you to be part of the herd. It's so funny. Oh, they crack me up.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Oh that is that is just awesome, and I love how you said they've taught you patience and that, and they do have, I agree with you, they have so many different personalities. Every one of our kitties is just different. Some of them mean pick up and they just love to snuggle, like you said, and others, they're like, nah, you can pet me, but I don't want to snuggle with you.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

I've got one I call it Jonah because he's afraid of everything. And he'll show up and he kind of sits on the edge of the deck and he waits for me to put the food out and he'll come and eat, but he does not want me to pet him at all. And I tried to hold him when I was a when he was a kitten, but the thing is, if the mom's kept him away so long, and then they it's really difficult once you get past and see here comes Eli. Elijah's just this one loves me. Come on, Elijah. Well, say hi. My friend Joyce wants to meet you. This is Eli. Oh my little my shoulder snuggler.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Oh, absolutely beautiful. Oh my goodness. Oh, I love him. He's a sweetie. He's a sweetie. He can tell, you can tell he loves you. You're his mommy.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Oh, yeah. Every time I come down in the barn, they're like, hey, mom's here. Let's crawl all over her in her desk and her chair.

unknown 10:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Oh well, that's part of uh the ambiance of bird farm.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Oh well, have you always loved cats growing up? Was that the animal that you always really took to?

SPEAKER_02 10:54

When we were little, we lived on a farm, and I remember going to the animal shelter to get a dog. And we got a German shepherd, Greta, and I loved Greta. But when we moved from the farm to the city, we couldn't have dog take her with us. It just wouldn't be fair. So we left her with the farmer next door, and that's when we got a cat named Boots, and we all loved we had Tigger and Boots, and they were really awesome. But I didn't really like I used to travel so much for work, I didn't really want cats. But my friend Grace, my Scott Evan friend, she was like, I think you need a cat. And I was like, Uh, you don't know how much I travel. She told me this story about the first Nat Jane. She was such a sweetie and she was so skittish and afraid. And um, I don't know, the story got into my heart. So I take this cat to my house and she hated humans and she didn't want anything to do with me. But I literally would go under my bed and feed her, and she would let me pet her while I fed her. It took six months until she came up on my bed, but then if I would turn too quickly, she would jump, and it got to where by the end I had a couple of periods where I had really bad vertigo and I couldn't get out of the bed. She would literally lie loyally beside me all day long and would be on top of me, and I could roll, and she would just stay. So I totally she was my big big win over story. She was a good kitty.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

That is quite a story, and they are. They they connect with you and they know they know your feelings before you even get to them, is how I always say. They just like with the horses and my dogs, the cats, they know what they know your mood, they know how you're feeling, they just sense it, they have that special sense that they can just read you before you're even there. And I that's animals are just incredible. There's just not any other way to describe them. God made them very, very special. Oh, I'm loving this. I love how Kitty is just loving you. You can see the love in their eyes.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Yeah, they rely on us. You can tell when God created it and that we were the head of the kingdom and to take care of his creatures. You can tell when we're good to them, they're good to us. Oh so tell everybody out there they need to get a copy so they can hear the stories. Yes, you're in there, you can hear all about Elijah. Elijah.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Elijah's in the book, and now our listeners get to see Elijah Live on this interview. That is just incredible. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Well, this has been so fun. We're gonna when we have the order, the pre-order link. There'll be a pre-order link coming out soon, and when we have that, I'll attach that and I'll make sure that I tag you, Joyce, and Divas, so you can follow us, follow the Divas That Care Network. It's a really amazing group of ladies. We just it's full of love and support, and and just I don't know, you just feel the love in the group. So join us and hear all about the book and make sure you get your copy.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Definitely, I agree a hundred percent. And then I wanted to ask you, in case some of the listeners want to contact you, Kat, what is the best way for them to get in contact with you?

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Oh, yeah, sure. On Facebook, uh Kathy Lynn Mackison, or uh I'm at the awkwardly beautiful.vis is my company because we're all created. Sometimes it feels awkward, but God created us perfect just as we are, and we're all beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Oh, I love it. And then I have to also add, we have the pleasure that Kat is also a host on divas that care. So you can go to divasetcare.com and check out all her awesome shows that she has done of interviewing amazing women around the world. So be sure and check out divas at care.com and you can find her. And I'm a host on there also under Robust Lifestyles. So that is where you can connect with both of us in one way. Thank you so much, Kat. This was so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

It was. Thank you, Joyce. Have a great day. Thanks, you do the same.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Thanks for listening. This show was brought to you by Divas That Care. Connect with us on Facebook, on Instagram, and of course on divas that care.com, where you can subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss a thing.