Today turned out to be a decently warm day, with a slightly higher than forecast high of 4C/39F. Thankfully, most of where I needed to work was sheltered from the wind.
I decided it was a good day to start collecting material for the walls on the chain link fence garden bed, to replace the temporary walls we have right now, as well as cutting things away and clearing up at the same time. This is progress so far.
The first stack is maple suckers that are strong and straight enough to be used as vertical supports for the garden bed walls. For what I have in mind, and the space I’m working in, I’ll need a total of 48 stakes, with a quarter of them double the length of the others. The longer ones will be used to support a cover for the bed, to keep it from being choked out by Chinese elm seeds, or used as a litter box by the cats. They’ll be cut to length, sharpened at one end, and peeled of bark. For now, I am mostly aiming to do the wall against the chain link fence, so I need only 24 stakes to be able to get started.
The next picture in the slide show is a collection of poplar, maple and willow branches and suckers. I will need a LOT more of these, but it’s a start.
Some of the material came from maple and willow I needed to cut back to get branches away from the power lines. I wasn’t able to clear it completely, as I needed a ladder to reach. It was a bit too windy to safely use a ladder there and, by then, that wind was causing what promised to be a massive ear ache, if I didn’t get inside soon!
Meanwhile, we have been keeping an eye on the isolation shelter. Pinky is doing very well and seems quite content in there with the three littles.
One of my daughters was able to get a look at her incision and it’s all looking excellent. They are all quite enjoying their special isolation shelter treat of wet cat food. Hopefully, this means the little will start gaining weight and getting bigger!
The angry looking little fluffball tabby is so chill for a mostly feral kitten! Totally enjoying the shelter. None of the littles have shown any interest in leaving it!
I think we have a name for the angry looking kitty.
Furriosa.
😄🤣
That little tuxedo has the smallest, roundest eyes. They look huge because the kitten always has this stunned expression on its face. I’m able to pet him (her?) and the white and grey pretty regularly, but Furriosa allows touches only while s/he’s eating.
Speaking of pets, I was able to pet Frank today! She’s still very nervous and was very cautious about coming to my outstretched and, but I was able to give full back pets, and even got some purrs out of her. Which means our chances of getting her to the vet one of the two slots we have on the 28th just improved dramatically.
Now, if I could just get one of the other adult ladies friendlier! They just will not let it happen. *sigh*
The kittens in the isolation shelter are too small for spays or neuters, but we might be able to get one of the bigger kittens in the sun room. A couple of tabbies are getting okay with being pet and handled, though I think the bigger one is male and the smaller is female. If I’m right, neither are ready for spay or neuter. The smaller one is under 2 pounds, which is the minimum weight the vet will do a spay, and if the other is male, his balls haven’t dropped yet, so he can’t be done for a while yet. We do have older, bigger kittens that would be easy to grab, all male, and priority is much higher to get females done.
Well, we’ll see how it goes. We’ve got about a week to work on it.
As much as I am appreciating the mild November we are having, just to get stuff done outside, I also appreciate it for making life a lot easier on the furballs! Especially the tiniest ones.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 