Would you believe this kitten is about 7 or 8 months old? It’s from the same litter as Walnut (who is now named Peanut!) At this age, it would be at pretty much adult size. That second litter of white and greys are all much smaller cats, but this little boy is the tiniest!
With the warmer temperatures, we’re seeing a lot less of the cats. When checking the sunroom through the bathroom window, we no longer see the swing bench covered in kittens. Now, we are seeing only two are three at a time, and none wandering around. I am seeing them inside the cat house more often, when I come out with the kibble. Head counts have been as low as “only” 14 cats at a time, and they are eating so much less kibbled, I’ve started to feed them only once a day instead of twice, and there’s still lots of kibble left in the trays and bowls in the morning.
On the one hand, this is a good thing. The milder temperatures are less dangerous for them, and we’re going through less kibble. On the other hand, if they’re wandering around more, they’re more at risk from predators, and the females are more likely to go into heat earlier. With the Cat Lady going through major health issues right now, trapping the more feral females for spaying might not happen as originally planned. 🙁 Ah, well. We’ll deal!
Yes, they’re all getting lysine. While it helps them fight off the respiratory infections and recover faster, it doesn’t stop them from still getting stuffy noses and coughing. They probably won’t recover fully until spring.
You know, I’m really glad we’re having such a relatively mild winter right now. The past two years, it got so cold, we had issues with the vehicles and were basically stuck at home. This year, I’ve had to do more unexpected running around than I’ve done in months!
But first… some cuteness!
Tissue’s recovery continues, and she is absolutely thrilled to no longer be in isolation in my office. She has been almost non stop cuddling my younger daughter, or sleeping on her bed, or both at the same time! About the only thing giving her issue right now is the dead skin coming off her frost bitten paw pads, which seem to be itching her a bit. No signs of any infection or other potential issues.
My daughter has been working on an interesting project of late. When my late brother was in his teens, or even just under his teens (being the youngest, my time-scale memory is a bit off!) he had carved a wooden ship. When we moved out here, it had been sitting on top of the closet in the entry for several decades, at least. When the cats started jumping up there, we took it down to protect it from damage.
There already was some damage, though. A piece broken here, other pieces missing there.
My daughter has spent the last while cleaning up years of dust and dirt, sanding it, and starting to repair it. Among the missing items is one of the small boats on the deck. She’s been using my wood carving kit and some maple we had in the basement to carve a new one.
Not an easy job, considering how tiny it is! It’s the same length as the others, but slightly wider.
Next, she’s going to carve a couple of cannons to replace the missing ones, and figure out how to repair/replace a couple of yards and topsails. She’s doing a really great job of it! I think her uncle would have been quite pleased. 😊
In other things, I ended up going to my mother’s today. She phoned me a couple of days ago to tell me her TV stopped working, but told me not to come over to check. Yesterday, my brother had called her and tried to talk her through finding the power button the the TV, so she would at least test to see if it was the TV that was the problem, or the remote. She couldn’t find any and kept saying it was too dark to see, etc., much to my brother’s frustration.
So this morning, I called and told her I’d be coming over to check the TV. I’d already offered to help her with groceries or whatever she needed, the first time she told me not to bother coming out. Today, she started telling me that she was okay with no TV, it was giving her more time to herself, and watching too much TV wasn’t a good thing. I told her, just because you have it, you don’t have to watch it (speaking as someone who completely forgets we even have a TV! 😄). Oh, but it’s a temptation! True enough, but I told her I was coming over, anyhow.
I was going to pick up lunch before getting there, but when I called, she was having a very late breakfast, so told her I wasn’t going to bother. I then got a lecture about how it was wasting money to be buying take out, and how it’s so much better and cheaper to cook our own food. I told her, I eat my own food all the time. This is a treat. I’m allowed to have a treat!
Then as we talked about her TV again, she started saying she could just buy a new, bigger one, because my brother had suggested she would enjoy a bigger TV. Or, as she put it, he told her she should get a bigger TV, which I know full well is not how he’d said it. He just thought it would be easier for her to see what’s on the TV from her chair with a larger screen. Her TV isn’t much bigger than my desktop monitor.
I told her that buying a new TV when the problem might be as simple as needing new batteries on the remote would be an unnecessary expense. Oh, I can do what I want, she tells me. I just had to laugh and pointed out that she was just lecturing me over “wasting money” for buying food, while buying a new TV over what might be just dead batteries in the remote would be an even bigger waste of money! Let me at least come and check it, first!
So that was arranged. I came over and the first thing I did was see if I could turn it one manually. My brother had even sent me an electronic copy of the user’s manual, so I had some idea of what to look for. The manual was for several models, so there could be anywhere from 4 to 7 buttons. For her TV, I was expecting four – input, volume up, volume down and power – and I first checked where my brother had been asking my mother to look.
No buttons.
The other corner?
No buttons.
The top? Underneath? The back?
No buttons.
I changed the batteries on the remote and tried that.
Nothing.
I kept looking for buttons. The closest I could find was a button in the recessed area next to the cables that was labeled “source” and had the power button icon beside it.
It did nothing.
I picked that thing up and was flipping it in all directions to look.
No other buttons!!
It’s so bizarre!
I ended up unplugging it, plugging it back in, and trying again with the remote.
Once that was done and I sent messages to update my brother, I again offered to go to the grocery store for her. Because she’d told me she didn’t need to go to the grocery store before, I’d gone over in our van, which still has the summer tires on the back and nothing else. It looks like we aren’t getting financing (still no word one way or the other), but we haven’t put our stuff back in the van yet, but I could still pick up some milk and bread or something for her.
She had a shopping list she’d made, since I was coming over anyhow.
She also decided she needed to do the shopping herself.
If I’d known that, I would have used her car!
We did remember to grab her little stool, so she could get into the van more easily. She also decided to just use a cane, not her walker, to get to and from the van, since at the grocery store she uses the shopping cart as a walker. I wasn’t too happy with that, and could have at least rearranged the tires to make room for her walker, but she insisted.
She did okay but, towards the end, her knee almost gave out. Next time, I need to insist on bringing that walker!
She ended up doing a rather large grocery shopping trip from her usual. So much for not needing groceries!!
Meanwhile, I heard back from my brother. He bought this TV from her not long ago, and it should still be under warranty, but since she wants a larger TV, he’s going to pick one up for her and bring it out, then take her current TV home to see if he can find what’s wrong with it – or return it.
He is such a good man. She treats him so horribly, and he still goes out of his way to do super nice things for her! He’s only been back in the province for a few days, too.
At least now we do know it wasn’t just the remote needing new batteries!
Meanwhile, I’m going to have more running around to do tomorrow. We’re going to have to get those tires out of the back of the van and make a much delayed trip to the dump.
I do wish we’d been able to get that Escape. Ah, well. We’ll manage.
Because I completely forgot I hadn’t made a post today!
I counted “only” nineteen outside, this morning.
It’s been an almost disorienting day today. The pain in my neck/shoulder area is actually making me feel kinda nauseous and a little bit dizzy. I wasn’t up to doing the third batch of lard. It can wait another day, in its semi-frozen state. Not much productivity for me today at all, and the day seemed to be gone before I knew it.
This morning, I was able to do a head count while feeding the outside cats.
Including this little Pointy Baby, who decided to climb up my back.
It’s a good thing my parka is so puffy, otherwise it would have been a very painful climb!
The first time I counted, I got 21, but when I counted again, I got 28!
Then I saw Sad Face skulking away in the distance.
I think I know why he’s skulking. He’s been a bad boy again.
I found a couple of spots like this one, filled with tufts of black fur and spots of blood. There were also blood trails up some of the paths, and more tufts of black fur.
Sad Face seems to be earning all those scars and scratches on his face – and it looks like he’s the winner of this battle!
I think the fur tufts are from The Distinguished Guest. I saw him briefly, yesterday. With the amount of fur and blood, I would not have been surprised to find a body somewhere. 😥
Thankfully, none of our own cats look at all injured. Sad Face seems to be leaving them alone. Including this handsome boy.
I forget what name the girls gave him, but he actually came over and allowed me to pet him! Of last summer’s long haired kittens, he has the most black, and he has no injuries at all.
I am not happy about this, but I am happy that Potato Beetle is inside. The visiting toms would always go after him, and he’s had more than a few injuries over his 4 years of life.
When we brought him in, he explored for a while, then disappeared. Yesterday evening, while I was walking back and forth in the hallway, working on something, I started tripping over a cat that decided it was a good time to start weaving around my feet. It turned out to be Potato Beetle! He was wanting attention, so my husband took him for a bit. Later on, he claimed one of my daughters and would not let her do anything but hold him and pet him! This morning, he was out and about while I got ready to head outside, and continued trying to kill me by weaving around my feet!
While some of the other cats have hissed at him, there have been no altercations. He’s completely accepting of all the other cats, and most of them are just curious about him.
Which really makes me wonder why they still won’t accept Butterscotch and Nosencrantz. They haven’t really been exposed to Marlee, who hisses at everyone, so there’s nothing to say there, yet. So bizarre!
While in isolation, Tissue would hiss at the other cats whenever she saw them. Sometimes, even Cheddar and Leyendecker, when they came in. If Nosencrantz – who seemed to actually want to make friends! – came closer, Tissue would start spitting, and even lash out.
Yesterday, we gave Tissue one last doze of pain medication, which she took so very well. Soon after, I let her out of isolation. Since she’s been out, there has been zero hissing or lashing out from her. She made her way upstairs and reclaimed her favourite place on my daughter’s bed!
My office/bedroom is much quieter now.😊
Tissue still has some recovering to do. Her tongue looks healed up, and she’s been eating dry kibble, so her jaw must be healing up well, too. She gets a bit snorky at times, and walks a bit oddly. I can’t blame her for that at all! She had some frost bite on her foot pads. As it heals, her pink foot pads have all gotten a very dark red in patches, and the dead skin is starting to slough off. I can’t tell if her feet actually hurt, or if the healing/sloughing is just really uncomfortable to walk on.
Now that Tissue is back, Marlee has joined us and Potato Beetle has been brought inside, we’re back up to 16 cats in the house.
*sigh*
Sixteen inside, at least 28 (not counting the visiting toms) outside, and I didn’t see Rosencrantz this morning. This is after we’ve adopted out a total of nine kittens from outside.
The dash of our vehicles is decorated with faux jewels and tiny plastic animals, set up in amusing poses. At least it did until we prepped it for trade in (it’s going to be scrapped if that happens, so we left the faux jewels. 😁) Across the top of my monitor, I’ve got a row of tiny Kinder Egg dinosaurs and a couple of tiny chickens. As we cleared the house of my parents’ stuff, we found other tiny objects that we kept, ranging from toys they had for the grandkids, to miniature decorative plates and so on and I also kept.
Under my monitor, I had a number of tiny objects, such as a miniature treadle sewing machine, unique little rocks and pebbles, and tiny toy animals.
Note I said “had”.
Nosencrantz discovered them.
I keep finding them on the floor, so I started to hide them under my keyboard.
I am now regularly awakened by the sound of her scratching under my keyboard, trying to get at them!
This morning, she got my goat.
She even chewed off a leg!
We just got them a bunch of new toys, but nooooo…. she had to go and get my goat!
Why is she so determined to get these tiny animals???
Before I headed out to do my rounds this morning, I checked on the sun room kitties though the bathroom window.
I saw this, looking back at me.
That’s Sad Face, aka Shop Towel, on the bottom.
His face is looking rough and even more beat up than usual!
I want to feel sympathy for him, but yesterday I had to chase him off from attacking Junk Pile, repeatedly. Even when I managed to come in between them enough that Junk Pile ran off towards the house, he actually ran past me to try and get at her, and attacked her again, near the kibble house!
He doesn’t seem to have a problem with the kittens. Does he recognise that many of them (there are more, outside the photo) are clearly his progeny?
I really want to love on this cat, but he can be so aggressive towards some of the other cats! He’s one of the reasons I was worried about Potato Beetle being outside after he got fixed. He’d be more of a target and less prone to defend himself.
I can’t say how Potato Beetle is doing inside right now. Once we let him out of the carrier, he explored the house… and then disappeared. He found some hidey hole to sleep in, and I’ve yet to see him. I’ll have to ask the girls if he came out when they did the evening feeding in the basement.
While I was doing my rounds and coming back from switching out the memory card in the driveway trail cam, Pointy Baby came running up the driveway towards me, as if he hasn’t seen me in ages and was excited by my return from beyond. 😂
Then he gave me nose kisses when I picked him up!
Such a sweet little baby he is!
Once back inside, I started putting the solidified lard into the jar box for storage, remembering to get a picture, first.
I find it interesting that the darker coloured cracklings lard became so much lighter as it solidified, while the pale yellow fat became darker. I think if I’d taken the fat off earlier, it would have been more white than yellow. The solidified fat on the spoon rest I used when stirring the crock pot was certainly much lighter in colour. It should still be pretty neutral in flavour, though, compared to the cracklings’ lard.
Or, as my daughters call it, the pure, sweet fat of the hog.
Which is apparently something that became quite the viral meme on reddit and Tumblr. You can even get T-shirts with it.
I don’t recommend looking it up, though. Some of the people who ran with it went a bit… creepy on the theme. One of the t-shirt designs is funny, though.
Anyhow…
While putting the jars with canning lids on them away, I took the rings off and tested the lids. All of them are sealed tightly. I’m still keeping the one with the plastic lid, and the not-quite-full one aside to use right away.
I made a cast iron skillet corn bread with breakfast this morning. I added some of the cracklings to the dry ingredients. They want to clump together, of course, but I broke up the clumps while stirring them into the dry ingredients. They tasted really good in the corn bread!
Later today, I’ll start cutting up more of the leaf lard so I can run the slow cooker overnight. It should be interesting to see what the final tally is, when all the fat has been rendered.
So my progress on rendering lard has seen a few delays. Thankfully, using the slow cooker means I can leave it on warm for quite a while, if I need to. I did add several more hours on low, too.
The first delay was while I was preparing the soft cat food before my daughter came to help medicate Tissue. While I was doing that, I heard a strange sound coming from my bed.
Tissue was digging around my pajamas, near my pillow.
Yup. She’s just peed on my pajamas!
I guess that confirms it really was her that did it last time.
So I had to strip the bed and start another load of laundry, use paper towels to soak up as much pee as I could (thankfully, it was much smaller than last time! Or maybe it just didn’t have time to spread, yet.), and set up a fan, then help my daughter with the meds.
Tissue is very good about taking her meds, at least. When the syringe comes close, she opens her mouth and lunges at it! She does try to bite it a bit, but mostly, she just happily takes her medication.
Today is supposed to be her last dose, but it looks like there’s one dose left. Based on her behaviour, I am thinking we’ll keep her isolated a bit longer and give her that last dose tomorrow. It’s a pain killer, and while she is clearly doing very well, all things considered, she does still seem to have some pain issues at times. She’s also still not eating as much as I would like, so her tongue and jaw may still need a bit more time to heal up.
That done, my daughter stayed to cuddle Tissue while I headed outside.
While doing my rounds this morning, I was very happy to see a furry face that’s been missing for at least a month, now!
Rosencrantz is back! Rolando Moon was around, too, though she’s been disappearing for only a few days at a time, lately.
Seeing Rosencrantz gave me some hope that Potato Beetle would show up.
I was wrong.
After doing my rounds, I headed out to finally get that Purolator package. I was just backing out of the garage when I started getting messages from the Cat Lady. The local vet was trying to reach us, but they were trying to use my cell phone number, so I wasn’t getting anything. Instead of trying the land line, they contacted the Cat Lady, whose information is on file as the emergency back up number. From what little information she could give me, it sounded like the needed another update on Potato Beetle, the last cat they neutered for us through the rescue. I mentioned my daughter was near a phone, so the land line would be the most reliable option, then continued on my way.
I was able to confirm the new Purolator drop off depot, got the package and had an excellent chat with the guy that runs the place. After a quick stop at the grocery store, and then the post office, I got home and was able to finally start prepping space to sanitize jars for the lard.
I didn’t get very far, when the phone rang.
It was the local vet.
They were, indeed, calling about Potato Beetle.
Someone had found him and they matched his tattoo on file!
They gave me the name and phone number of the person who had Potato Beetle, so I called him up right away. After getting directions to his place (gotta love country directions: “go down the road that says “no through road” until you see a driveway….”) I grabbed a cat carrier and headed over.
My goodness, they are so nice and far from the road! We may be in the boonies, but the house is right near a surprisingly busy intersection. It does mean less driveway to clear, but I’d rather have less traffic!
Just look at me, complaining about traffic, after living downtown in a major city for so many years! 😂
After finding the house and managing to turn the van around, the guy came out and we started chatting. They’d seen this new cat for quite a while, but couldn’t get near him at first. When they finally did, he was incredibly friendly, and they could finally check for a tattoo.
Turns out, he’s been inside with them for some time, and would actually sleep with the guy! They already have nine cats, though.
The cat had gone outside again, though, so we went around to look for him. They built a cat shelter against the back of the house, and sure enough, up popped a familiar face! It was, indeed, Potato Beetle. Once he recognized me, he came right over for cuddles!
We spoke for a while, while one of his cats kept jumping in and out of the cat carrier, which was open from the top. Aside from their own cats, they get others that show up from the neighbours. Potato was a new one to them, though. While relatively close for driving, it’s quite far for a cat to wander beyond their own territory.
When he mentioned growing up in the area, I had to ask his last name. It was a very familiar one. It turns out I went to high school with his aunt! We were very good friends!
Small world!
Potato Beetle is now back again, though not at all the way I expected.
He’s inside the house now.
We figure if we let him out, he’d just disappear again, and since he did so well indoors at out neighbour’s place, we’re trying him indoors.
Yeah. We’re sucks.
We left him in the carrier for a while, as other cats sniffed at him, then let him out to explore.
So far, so good.
Maybe now, I can finally get back to finishing with that first batch of lard!
After I make lunch… It would be a very good idea to actually eat something today!
The Re-Farmer 