After farmer Joe finished his morning chores around the farm, he went back into the house. A few minutes later, he walked out carrying a couple of boxes and set them down on the back porch. Shrimp and Tiger just finished their breakfast and were running around near the barn when they saw him. They watched as Joe pulled out bundles of something out of one of the boxes. Shrimp and Tiger ran over to the porch to get a closer look at what they were.
“Oh, good morning Shrimp and Tiger. Are you here to help me decorate?” Farmed Joe smiled.
Being a little more curious, Shrimp jumped up the two bottom porch steps to see what Joe had. Carefully Joe started to unwind the bundle, letting the wires and lights lie on the porch floor. Shrimp tried to see by stretching her neck but she knew that she had to get closer.
“It’s okay Shrimp, these aren’t going to hurt you. At least when they aren’t plugged in they won’t,” Joe said.
Tiger watched from the ground as Shrimp jumped all the way up onto the porch. She saw the green wires lying there with colorful things sticking out of them. She slowly crept up to them and sniffed.
“What is it?” Tiger meowed.
When Joe got the bundle unwound all the way, he picked up one end, “you want to see what they do? I’ll show you.”
Shrimp watched Joe as he took one end of the wires and plugged it into the outlet on the outside of the house. Shrimp hopped back when she saw all the colorful things light up. Shrimp's eyes widened when she saw how pretty the wires looked.
“See, they’re Christmas lights that I’m going to hang on the house,” Joe said while he observed Shrimp's reaction.
“Tiger, you have to see this. It’s so pretty,” Shrimp meowed.
Tiger was more curious now but jumped up one step at a time. Before he jumped up onto the porch, he peeked and saw all the lights lying there.
“Wow, it is pretty,” Tiger meowed.
Tiger jumped up onto the porch and carefully sniffed the wires.
Farmer Joe just stood and watched as the two kittens sniffed and walked amongst the lit-up wires. The small bulbs were colors of red, blue, green, and yellow, and they sort of twinkled a little with the sun now shining on them.
“Wait until you see them at night, they will be even prettier,” Joe said.
Joe let the Shrimp and Tiger look at the lights for a minute and then unplugged them.
“I got to hang them up on the house now,” Joe said as he gathered the lights up.
Shrimp hopped out of the way as the wires moved across the floor of the porch. Tiger walked over and sniffed at the other box that Joe brought out.
“I wonder what’s in this box?” Tiger hopped up on top of it.
“Maybe it’s more of the pretty lights,” Shrimp hopped around.
“No, I think I see more lights in that box,” Tiger looked across the porch.
Farmer Joe had carried the first set of lights down the steps and over to the bushes. Then he went into the barn and brought out a big step ladder. He set the ladder up by the porch roof and carried the strand of lights up the ladder. Shrimp trotted down the steps and watched Joe as he hung the lights across the porch roof.
“This is going to look so pretty,” Shrimp meowed.
“What do you think Shrimp?” Joe turned and looked at Shrimp as she watched him.
She looked at him and meowed as if she was giving him her approval. It took Joe quite a while to hang all of the lights on the front and back of the house, but Shrimp hung around him the whole time. Tiger fell asleep on top of the other box while waiting to see what is in it. After farmer Joe got done with the lights, he sat down with another cup of coffee. He didn’t want to disturb Tiger just yet and open the other box, but Shrimp did.
“Tiger, wake up,” Shrimp walked up to the box.
Tiger lifted his head, “what?
“Farmer Joe is done with the lights. Don’t you want to see what’s in this box?” Shrimp looked at Tiger.
“Oh, yes I do,” Tiger sat up.
About five minutes passed and Joe finished his coffee. He walked over to the kittens and the unopened box.
“Do you want to see what’s in here now?” Joe asked.
Tiger hopped down off the box and rubbed on Joe’s leg. As Joe opened the box, the kitten’s watched him pull some realistic-looking green garland out. Joe started to wrap some of it around the porch posts. Shrimp and Tiger weren’t sure why Joe was wrapping it around the posts but they had fun playing with the ones he had left lying on the porch floor.
Tiger bit onto the plastic bristles, “it doesn’t taste very good.”
“Well, you’re not supposed to eat it silly,” Shrimp hopped back and forth over it.
As farmer Joe picked up the last of the garland off of the porch, Shrimp jumped into one of the empty boxes. She scratched on the cardboard flaps a few times and then lay down. Tiger thought that that was a good idea and hopped into the other empty box. When Joe was done hanging up all the garland and walked up onto the porch, he saw Shrimp and Tiger were both sleeping in the boxes. Joe smiled and let them be. After all, they were up early too.
Please join me again for another adventure with Shrimp and Tiger. If you are enjoying these stories, please subscribe and share them with your friends. Thank you and God bless.
Such a sweet read! :)