I am so

so

tired.

This whole, “go to bed early to wake up early” thing seems to be backfiring. I didn’t finally fall asleep until past 6am, which was when I was intending to be outside and working! Then my daughter came in for Leyendecker’s 8am medicine and all round cat feeding. After he got his meds, she stayed with him in the bathroom to make sure he ate his new UTI food. I fed the rest of the cats inside, then went to feed the other cats, but skipped my morning rounds, going back to bed to try for another hour or two of sleep. So here is a picture from yesterday!

The mystery squash in our compost pile are doing amazing! There are at least two varieties in there; one can be distinguished by the whitish patterning on the leaves.

I did manage to get about an hour of sleep when my daughter came in at the time I asked her to, because we needed to go to the dump. Thankfully, today the dump is open long hours, so I got another hour or so of sleep, if sleep it could be called, before finally giving up and getting up.

Mind you, only part of it can be blamed on simply not being able to fall asleep. I can’t actually say how much of it is because of that. Last night in particular, it had more to do with being turned into a jungle gym! A couple of times during the night, the kittens got very playful, and decided my legs were the perfect place to play. It was a hot night, so I wasn’t under the covers, which made my toes fair game for nibbling and nuzzling. I had at least three kittens wrestling on my left leg and my ankle ended up completely covered with the tiniest of scratches from the tiniest of feet. Just enough to start itching!

The kittens did sleep most of the night, though, so they can’t be entirely to blame, either.

Then there was Decimus, who wanted in and out a couple of times. She’ll come in long enough to nurse the babies, then leaves. At least she is very polite when she asks to be let out. Especially at night. She knows that when the motion sensor light turns on, I will check to see why it turned on and let her out. Only if I’m asleep does she actually scratch at the door.

Then, once the kittens quiet down, Nosencrantz creeps over to try and have her nightly snuggles and face rubs.

Marlee is quite unhappy with the kittens, so I often hear her snarling and growling, night and day, even if she just sees them and they’re ignoring her. Kittens being kittens, however, they are starting to want to go over and play with her, and she’s not having that! Her solace has been to go to the door and scratch at it as if she wants out. But she doesn’t want out. She wants attention. So when I sit up to see who is scratching at the door, she jumps up on the bed for attention. Given her abandonment by previous owners, and 2 years surviving harsh conditions, I’m not about to turn her away. She’s gotten comfortable enough with me that she will actually curl up on the backs of my top leg, using my bottom leg as a bed and go to sleep!

The only one that’s not keeping me up at night is Butterscotch. Retired Grandma has no interest in such things. She has, however, gotten to the point that if a kitten comes near her, she not longer hisses in alarm, but will actually give them kisses, and let them share a food bowl with her.

Almost the entire time I’ve been trying to write the above, I’ve also been fighting off Question, who would climb up my leg, then try to climb onto the keyboard!

Or do this.

Believe it or not, we do wash her face often!

I am finally get a break from her, as she tries to nurse on Decimus while she is at the food bowls. Oh! She managed to twist around and get nip! 😄

When my older daughter finished her work for the night, she came down and we chatted for a while. She suggested I try sleeping in the cat-free living room. That couch is quite comfortable to sleep on. I might just try that.

Anyhow.

After a few disjointed hours of sleep, my younger daughter and I loaded up the car and did a dump run, then continued on to town. We picked up some cranberry juice to try Leyendecker with. I’m still not sure how to give it to him. There were no supplements that we could mix into his food, instead. We also swung by the vet clinic to see if they had puppy pads. I need to put some under my desk, because at least a couple of kittens have decided right up against the wall is THE place to make a mess. They actually seem to wait until I’m out of the room to do it. I’ve caught them going for the spot and repeatedly put them in the litter box, and they still managed to sneak in and make a mess. Cleaning it up requires lying down on the floor and reaching, which is incredibly painful. My daughters both have damaged knees and joints, so it’s not like it’ll be any easier for them to clean it up. I want to lay puppy pads down. The clinic turns out to not sell them. Which means a trip to the nearest Walmart, I guess. Not something I’m up to, today. I did have some disposable diapers, though. We got them to have on hand for a friend with a baby and a less than ideal home situation, who would sometimes need them. Her children are much older now, but we just left them, and even brought them along when we moved. I had intended to open them up to collect the liquid absorbent crystals they contain, to try mixing them into potting soil, but never got around to it. So, I just cut off the elastic parts so the absorbent part could lay flat, and spread them out under my desk where the kittens go. It did make clean up MUCH easier, but I didn’t have that many to begin with. They will do for now, I hope (as I look under my desk and dread using a flashlight to check if there’s a mess on one of them or not).

Oh, my goodness. Everything has been quiet behind me, so I turned around to look. Decimus is lying on the floor with all 6 kittens contentedly nursing. What a good little mama she is!

Well, it’s time to do the afternoon feeding of the cats, with Leyendecker being fed separately in the bathroom. At least this time, we don’t have to try and shove meds down his throat! It’s too early for them to be making a difference, yet, which means we’re still finding and cleaning up big puddles.

*sigh*

It’s a good thing we’re such sucks for the cats!

I still need to go outside and check the garden beds. I was intending to set up the sprinklers and soaker hoses, but when I fed the cats outside, it did seem like we got rain at some point. I don’t think it was enough, though. Still, after yesterday’s heat, and today being just as hot, the garden could use a good watering! At least we’re only slightly above average temperature for this time of year. The 30 year record high was 32C/88F in 2007, while the record low was 10C/50F in 2004. I’m okay with what we have now! I just can’t tolerate the heat as much, as I get older.

Okay, Re-Farmer. Time to stop procrastinating and get something useful done!

What I really want to do is go for a nap, though!

The Re-Farmer