It’s mostly dry enough now that this evening, I decided to check out the gravel pit and our seasonal “creek”.

The gravel pit is very full! I’m standing at the westernmost end of the marshy area that is still sort of part of the gravel pit.

Gooby followed me around until I finally picked him up, tucked him into my jacket, and walked around with him tucked in like a baby. Which would have been a lot more pleasant, if he didn’t keep trying to eat my chin!

I went over to where the road had washed out last year. There is a sort of lane over a culvert on our side of the fence that is in pretty bad shape still, from last year’s flooding, plus deep divots from cows walking through it while it was still wet. The water wasn’t quite high enough to overflow the lane, but higher than the culvert, creating a whirlpool of foamy water. Still muddier than I was willing to cross over, so I headed back around to check another pond, which is also very full, and the drainage into the field. We have a rather fast flowing little creek going under the fence there right now.

I wonder if the renter will try growing corn there again this year? Last year, it was a complete write off.

I also went through the car graveyard and went looking for this.

This is the roughly 90 – 100 yr old wagon that I’m hoping to salvage. The wooden sides have broken and fallen more since I last checked it. The wheels are deep in the ground, which is still too frozen to try and pry out. It looks like I’ll have to remove the rotted wood here – after removing the sheet metal someone put in it – before we can try prying it out of the ground. I really hope the metal parts are still solid enough to use. It would be great to salvage it for the mobile chicken coop I want to build.

Once I was back in the yard and looking around for the garlic and crocuses my daughters spotted, I saw a rare visitor. This is one of Broccoli’s two calico babies (her third kitten is a grey tabby). The long haired one is Brussel, which would make this one Sprout.

I have not been able to get a good picture of her face, though, so when I saw that black “mask” over her eye, I thought maybe this was the cat the girls referred to as The Phantom.

However, there is also Rosencrantz’s tortie.

Who also has a “mask”. She is the one that has been hanging out in the sun room a lot, and I’m actually able to pet every now and then. In fact, earlier this evening, I came into the sun room and saw her sleeping on the swing bench alone. Her back was to me as I went over and began to pet her. She started moving around and pushing against my hand and accepting ear skritches… right up until she turned, saw me, freaked out and jumped away! Clearly, she liked being pet, but didn’t realize who the pets were coming from.

I sent these pictures to the girls, asking them which is which. They confirmed that the tortie is The Phantom – but they didn’t recognize the other one! They described Sprout as being similar in colouration, but with a clearer face, and hangs around more often.

I have no idea what cat they are talking about. The only other calico, besides Broccoli, is Brussel, and Brussel is a long haired cat.

Maybe Broccoli is who they are talking about? I do see her more often.

With so many yard cats, it gets hard to keep track!

Well, I’m going to make the executive decision. The calico with the black over her eye, and the black spot under one side of her nose, is now officially Sprout.

I just wish she would stay close to the house more, so we could have a better chance of socializing her! But even Broccoli and Brussel, who do hang out closer, won’t let us near them.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer