Kitten head count, and my turts

June 16, 2019June 16, 2019 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

I just had to share some adorable kitten pictures I got today, while doing a head count to make sure they were all there.

They are all snoozy in these pictures, but they were wild beasts, this morning! LOL I tried to go into the sun room quickly, so as not to let any kittens into the old kitchen, but Beep Beep got in my way, slowing me down enough that one kitten snuck through while I was closing the door. I had to open it again to grab, but three more dashed in.

I gave up at that point.

Once in the old kitchen, they went nuts, climbing and running and jumping.

They look so calm and peaceful in the pictures below.

The pictures lie! LOL

Click on the pictures to see them full size.

While taking the pictures, I noticed the 2 kittens eyes were stuck shut again. :-( I thought they were doing better for a while, but they’re still all leaky. So I came back with the supplies to wash them. I’d done it this morning, and found the top of our freezer is the perfect height to work on their eyes, so with the help of my daughter, we got Dave into the old kitchen to wash his eyes. Then I went to put Dave with his cousins and get Keith, but had to quickly hand him through the door to my daughter to take care of, because I was trapped by kittens already.

Especially Dave. Who wanted cuddles.

How could I say no to those sad, leaky, eyes surrounded by water flattened fur?

Dave is growing on us. Big time!

Beyond our kitten fix, it was a quiet Father’s Day, which we celebrated after my daughter got home from work. My daughter had a short shift, so I stayed in town. It’s a good time for me to recharge and relax, though depending on the weather, that often means parking different places, sitting in my van and playing Pokemon Go, under the watchful eyes of my turts.

I used to spend a lot of time in our van, before the move. In our previous van, I was able to cover most of the dash with self-adhesive pearls and beads, glow in the dark “rocks”, and lots and lots of little critters, held in place with Fun Tack. At Christmas, I added tiny trees with itsy bitsy LED lights in them. It was one of those things where people would do double takes and start smiling – or take photos as they drove past. :-D I figured, if I was going to spend so much time in my van, it may as well be my happy place!

When we got this van, I tried to do the same, but the vinyl is different, and the adhesive wouldn’t stick as well. So I have a much smaller display.

I just love that bobble headed turtle, with the wiggly, wiggly legs.

The Re-Farmer

Critter(s) of the Day: make way!

June 16, 2019June 10, 2019 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Putting that brick in the bird bath turned out to be a really good idea.

Clean up: south fence path progress, and finding flowers

June 15, 2019 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Today, I finally had both the time and the weather conditions to work on the south fence line of the spruce grove (there there aren’t actually any spruces left…).

So, while waiting for the freshly washed gates to dry, I brought out the weed trimmer, my new reciprocating saw, and a whole lot of extension cord!

Here is my first progress shot.

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Gates, take two, and getting wired… less

June 15, 2019 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

So today has been an odd mix of productive and not so productive.

First up, we set up the wifi booster in the garage. There was some doubt as to whether it would work, as the outlets are against a metal clad wall.

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Critter of the Day: are you my mother?

June 15, 2019June 10, 2019 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

This picture reminds me of the children’s book I used to read to my daughters, long ago, in which a lost little bird kept asking different things if they were its mother.

Things that are, and are not

June 14, 2019 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

It’s been quite interesting, as I work around the yard, in areas I worked on last year, and seeing the differences.

One of the differences is, I am seeing all sorts of things popping up, in areas that used to be choked with years of dead grass, fallen branches and garbage, or hidden away by low hanging branches.

While mowing past the north side of the spruce grove, where I am now able to mow right up to the tree line, I was observing some of the wild roses I’d pruned down, but didn’t pull their roots, coming back up. For the most part, I will be leaving those. I also passed what looked for all the world like carrots, growing in the moss!

This is the largest of several I could see. I came back later and poked around the base, just to be sure.

No, they are not carrots.

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Critter of the Day: Grosbeaks

June 14, 2019June 10, 2019 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

What a difference between these male and female rose breasted grosbeaks!

(Click on the images to see them at full size)

I couldn’t help myself – again!

June 13, 2019 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

My goal of the day was to finish using the weed trimmer around the yard, then hopefully starting part of the lawn.

Then I read the forecast for the day.

There were thunderstorms predicted for the evening.

On doing my rounds and finding the grass was already dry of dew, I skipped everything else and started mowing. Aside from a couple of short breaks to eat and hydrate, I’ve been outside all day.

The forecast ended up changing to rain, and now even that seems to be off the radar, but the job is done.

The last section I work on is the path to the back gate. As usual, I’ve been making the mowed area slightly wider then before, but in that area, sections are just too rough, and I know there are rocks and logs hidden in the grass somewhere, so I’m very careful about that right now.

While going past the back gate, I found myself looking at the other side each time. It hasn’t had new gravel on there in decades, so it’s grown over. Grass is one thing, but I was seeing saplings start to grow, right under the gate we rebuilt last year.

Then I remembered I still had the gate key in my pocket.

That looks much better!

On the list of things to eventually get done it to add gravel to our driveway. I’ve talked to my brother about it, and he says our little gravel pit is mostly out of gravel and wouldn’t have enough to do the driveway. What I would really like to do is extend the driveway from one gate to the other, so that this entrance can also be used without lurching over the rough areas. At least part of it is from someone driving through the area when it was muddy; a pair of tire tracks cut through, deep enough that I figure the driver was doing a lot of spinning to not get stuck.

This would be pretty low on the priority list, compared to things like a new roof. When the time comes to get estimates, I hope to get 3; a shorter term goal to do the main driveway, a mid-term goal to do the parking areas and up to the old pump shack, and a long term to extend the rest of the way to the back gate.

Until then, I’ll just keep it mowed, so the trees don’t take it over.

The Re-Farmer