Critters

Kitten therapy

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Last night, as I was finishing up my rounds, I spotted Butterscotch and her babies, lounging in the old barrel planter.

So, of course, I went over to say hello.

I wasn’t able to touch any of them, but they are willing to come closer!

Then I spotted a surprise at the other end of the yard. I zoomed in with my phone’s camera as much as I could, because I knew they’d run hide, once I started moving closer.

Junk Pile cat and all THREE of her kittens were playing on the log and among the flowers. Junk Pile is to the right of centre, sitting by the log. Tabby is in the grass on the far left. Little Braveheart is near the end of the log, looking up at the Shy One.

This was the best I could get of Shy One!

This morning, though, when I came out to refill their food bowls, I found all three kittens by the old doghouse my brother brought for the cats. I keep a dish of kibble either in front of, or just inside, the opening. This time, it was inside, and it was the only container that still had food in it, and the kittens were quite interested!

This evening, I made a twisted rope of yarn and attached it to a stick, for a simply toy for Butterscotch’s kittens.

They quite like it!

Even Creamsicle liked it. :-)

One of the kittens wasn’t too sure about Creamsicle, though…

It was quite funny to hear the tiny little hiss when Creamsicle tried to sniff the kitten’s nose!

I have to admit, today I rather needed some kitten therapy. I don’t know why, but today was one of those “down” days, right from the start. Part of it is, I’m feeling the year slip by so quickly, and so little of what I had hoped to accomplish this year was done. Granted, we had the garden this year, but really, once it was in, it wasn’t a lot of work. Spring had so much wonderful rain, so I don’t mind that delaying some things, but then the heat hit, and that was pretty relentless. In my younger days, I would have been out there in the heat, anyhow, but this old body just can’t tolerate heat like it used to. Then there were all the things breaking down, and the expenses coming with it.

Now, it’s almost September, and it feels like I’ve accomplished so little. There were so many things on the list to work on, with many of them being “do this; but if you can’t, do this other thing instead”, rather than being a checklist. Yet, as summer winds to an end, what did we manage? We painted a picnic table. Got the fire pit cleaned out and set up. Mowed the lawn a lot, until the heat hit and the grass stopped growing. Very little clean up in the spruce grove has been done – and only part of that can be blamed on wasps! Even keeping up on the areas we cleaned out previously slacked off this year, mostly because of the heat.

Anyhow.

Normally, I just plug away and don’t really think about it. Every now and then, though, I just have one of “those” days. Today was one of them.

Kitten therapy helps. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Butterscotch baby – progress!

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Last night, I was able to spend some time on the log seat near the junk pile, and work on getting Butterscotch’s kittens used to human interaction.

I saw all four were out when I was heading to the nearby garden beds, so I left the garden for later. They all ran off, but after I sat down, Butterscotch came over for pets. After a while, she started making some comforting noises, and the kittens emerged.

I had a twig to wiggle at them, and one orange kitten in particular really likes that. Mostly, they just sort of wandered around me, then hid, then tried to sneak around behind me.

I could hardly see the kitten in the above picture, from where I was sitting, but was able to reach my arm around to get the photo.

They really love the collapsed barrel!

Now that I’ve cleared away some of the undergrowth, I realize I was wrong about it. It is a half-barrel, not a full barrel like I’d thought, and I can now see the dirt inside, so it was, indeed, another barrel planter that got knocked over.

The kittens are using the dirt as a litter box! :-D

The one kitten that really likes to play with the stick is also the one that is willing to come the closest.

Yes, I got to touch him. I was even able to pick him up for a few moments! He wasn’t too sure about that and wanted down very quickly, but he also came back again, quickly. Mostly, as long as Mom was around, they were willing to play with me there. So that is some major progress!

Now, if only we could do that Junk Pile’s babies! It’s much harder when the Mom isn’t willing to come near us, herself.

The Re-Farmer

Follow up: bug hotel

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Last spring, we picked up a bug hotel, to encourage the local pollinators. The top has slots for butterflies, the sides have bamboo tubes, and the middle has pieces of wood cut in such a way that, stacked together, they create holes. These were for native bees, such as mason bees, which do not build nests.

It did not get used at all that summer, so when winter came, I just left it hanging on the tree I’d put it on.

This year, it’s being used!

I can’t tell if the openings at the top are being used by butterflies, but the bamboo on both sides have quite a few tubes used. The middle section doesn’t look like it’s been used by anything at all.

So this fall, when the insects are done with it, we’ll clean it out and take it inside for the winter, as the instructions that came with the packages said to do.

Mostly, it needs to be cleared of spider webs. The roof is just covered with them!

I’m glad to see it being used, and we’ll likely pick up more of them, over time. The native pollinators come out at times more in tune with the local plant life, and that will be important as we plant more food trees and berry bushes over the next few years.

The Re-Farmer

Follow up: ground wasps

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While doing my rounds this morning, I made sure to check where I’d found wasps while trying to clean up yesterday.

I was surprised by what I saw.

First, there was the hole in the ground. I didn’t expect to see an actual hole like that.

Also, do you see the light brown stuff scattered around? Particularly in the grass to the left?

Those are pieces of nest cells.

When I was spraying the area with the hose, I couldn’t see any of this. I’m not sure if it was because I was so focused on the wasps, themselves, or if some critter came through during the night and dug things up even more.

I also zoomed in to the root or stick across the hole in the ground.

The wasps on the stick/root itself were quite still and just sitting there. Like they were sleeping or something. The other wasps were more active.

I don’t know what kind of wasps these are. They are smaller than the yellow jackets I’m used to seeing, and have more black to yellow on their bodies.

Well, whatever they are, we have to get rid of them.

I used the hose again, filling the hole. I saw a lot fewer wasps flying around than before, so I hope that means they are moving on to somewhere else. Until they do, we’re going to have to be careful. Especially when trying to interact with Butterscotch’s babies.

Which one of my daughters was able to do, last night!

I saw through the window that all 4 of them were out and playing, so my younger daughter went out, sat on the ground and wiggled a stalk of wheat (self-sown from the straw we’ve been using as mulch this year) at them.

Two of them even came close enough to sniff her sandal, and when one of them turned away to start eating, she was able to pet its back – until it noticed that she was touching it! *L*

Progress!!! :-)

The Re-Farmer

Come a little bit closer…

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It was worth getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Little Braveheart was willing to come closer for a wiggling flag, than a wiggling stick. :-D

The bit of fur visible at the bottom of the picture is Potato Beetle, who really, really wanted cuddles!

I didn’t stay too long, though. Tabby was hanging around, and I spotted their even more elusive sibling making several attempts to get to the freshly refilled food container. I didn’t want to keep any cats from being able to eat!

The Re-Farmer

Yard bebbies

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While doing this morning’s rounds, I got to see all of Butterscotch’s babies!

My apologies for the terrible picture. :-(

I was zoomed in from the far side of the lilacs in the flower garden to get this. Thankfully, after clearing out the spreading cherry saplings, I had a perfectly positioned window to watch them through. As soon as I moved, however, they were gone!

I was just finishing up and starting to go into the house when I saw Little Braveheart was out, so I sat on the steps and tried to lure her closer.

This was as close as she would get. She was curious enough to come out, but content enough to just sit there!

After I while, I did see a little Tabby face peering at me through the spirea, too. :-) Not quite as brave as Little Braveheart!

I really hope we can get these bebbies socialized, at a little bit!

The Re-Farmer

Get a little bit closer, and a follow up

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I headed out to water things this evening, but got distracted.

Junk Pile and two of her babies were out!

I ended up lying right on the ground, in hopes that would make them less intimidated by the tall(ish) human.

Creamsicle took full advantage of the situation.

What a silly boy!

Tabby didn’t come any closer than this, but did spend some time rolling around under the grapes, in between watching me.

Little Braveheart did come a bit closer to the stick I was wiggling, but not close enough to actually touch it.

It was funny to watch Little Braveheart and her mother. They share many of the same mannerisms, and often mimicked each other’s movements.

They also have the same eyes! Even though the markings in their fur are different, they have the same facial structure and many other similarities.

The grapes, meanwhile, did eventually get watered, and are looking really good.

The more shaded ones at the back of the trellis are noticeably darker than the ones that are more exposed.

While tending the rest of the garden, I found this.

The tallest of our sunflowers is starting to open up its seed head! So far, it’s the only one at this stage.

Awesome!!! I can’t wait to see how big the seed head gets.

Meanwhile…

My husband and I had our medical appointments today. Heading out two days in a row was really hard on him. Thankfully, we got in quickly, and didn’t have long to wait.

I learned one thing today that my husband forgot to mention after yesterday’s appointment at the pain clinic. The doctor there was going to phone our doctor here to discuss recommended pain medications.

Another reason I’m unhappy I wasn’t allowed to go in with him yesterday. He forgets things more often, these days. At least he remembered this while with our doctor!

The doctor had a couple of concerns. For one, he will be referring my husband to an endocrinologist, so we’ll be getting a phone call about that. He also wants to adjust my husband’s prescriptions, but will wait until he talks to the pain clinic doctor, go through his current medications, and think about it. Once he’s done that, he will fax any new/changed prescriptions directly to the pharmacy.

As for the rest of my husband’s bloodwork, it was all fine.

Then it was my turn. My bloodwork was fine, across the board. During the physical, we did get a laugh. After testing my reflexes, he did the usual putting his hand on my knee while flexing the joint, as he started to ask if I had any issues with pain, etc. When he lifted my lower leg, he cut himself off in mid sentence with a startled “Oh!!”

To which I responded to his half-finished question, “yes. Arthritis. You felt that, did you?” :-D

Yeah, both my knees do some interesting things when they’re flexed!!

One thing with both my husband and I was, what we thought were heat rashes turned out to be fungal infections. !! So we both got prescriptions for creams to treat that. When we were done, I dropped my husband off at home, picked up a daughter, then headed into town to get the prescriptions filled before the pharmacy closed. A stop at the mail on the way out found a letter from the heart clinic, with my husband’s rescheduled appointment, early next month.

I’ll have to remind him to phone them about it right away, to arrange some sort of accommodations, like having a stretcher available for him, for an appointment they say might take up to 2 hours.

So while nothing much changed at today’s appointment, steps were taken and others are being put in place, for the near future.

We shall see what comes of it.

The Re-Farmer

Close, closer and gone

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Last night, Little Braveheart was willing to come close to me.

But not as close as this little guy I found on the rain barrel, when I lifted off the screen cover.

He even came closer and posed for a picture, with the phone just inches away!

Then he went down the outside of the barrel, much to my relief. The screen cover did its job in keeping critters out, as well as debris, but it only works while it’s on! :-D

I remembered to check on the caterpillar last night, too.

Alas.

It is gone!

So are the berries that were left on the tree, next to it. Stripped clean!

I am thinking a deer had a snack of berries, and knocked the caterpillar off in the process.

Dang.

I was really hoping to be able to see its transformation!

The Re-Farmer

Following up on things

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I got to follow up on a couple of things this evening.

We hit 32C/89F today, so once things got cooler, I headed out to water the garden beds.

Yesterday evening, after letting the silicon sealant cure for more than 24 hours, I filled the rain barrel by the garden, so today was the litmus test. I’m happy to report, there were no leaks at all at the cracks in the barrel.

With the barrel set up in the shade of a tree, the water in it was actually still cool! But not cold, which I’m sure the squash pants appreciated. Some of the leaves look like they got shocked by the cold, the last time I used a hose to water them.

While watering the beets and carrot beds, I startled a little friend.

It even gave me a chance to get pretty close with my phone to take pictures, before disappearing. This is the first time I’ve seen one of the green tree frogs jumping out of these beds. Gosh, they’re pretty!

While there, I decided to check on my other green friend, in the chokecherry tree by the junk pile.

The caterpillar is still there – and noticeably bigger! If you look at the veins in the leaf to compare between the two dates, you can see he’s quite a bit longer. The colouring has smoothed out, too. I’ll have to check again over the next while; he might get as big as the ones I found when I was a kid!

I’m happy to add that I saw flashes if kittens while making my way between the garden beds. While I was checking on the caterpillar, Butterscotch even emerged from the spirea to say hello and let me pet her. :-)

I’m glad she didn’t move her kittens.

The next thing I’ll be following up on is how things go tomorrow! We’re headed to the city for my husband’s first appointment with the pain clinic. I’m glad it’s finally happening, though to be honest, I don’t have much confidence in how it’ll go. After all these years, I think I’ve gotten way too jaded, but between the 2 years it took for my husband to get a 14 page form to fill out, and what was in the form itself, I am already not impressed with this place.

Mind you, I don’t think I’ll even be able to go in with him. They said he’ll have to wear a mask to go in, without anything about medical exemptions – and he has several conditions that would apply! I already know wearing a mask triggers my chronic cough, so maybe we’ll both be able to get exemptions, but I doubt it. Another reason for my expectations to be very low.

Hopefully, I will be proven wrong.

The Re-Farmer