Gate post progress: painting done!

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After giving the second coat of paint 8 hours to cure – and making sure they weren’t tacky, like we were having problems with before – I put the hinge pins back up.

All of the painting is now complete!

The chain will be held just by the hinge pins for now; I don’t want to start scratching the new paint by wrapping the chain around the posts.

Though the paint was not tacky to the touched, I didn’t want to take a chance of the pins and their washers getting stuck once the nuts were tightened, so I applied spray lubricant, first.

As a bonus, while I was working on it, I met our neighbour, who was out jogging. As she was walking back, we introduced ourselves and had a nice chat. They live a mile away from us which is a pretty typical distance for neighbours around here. :-D I’ve seen them (well; their vehicle) pretty regularly, but we hadn’t had the chance to meet until today. :-)

The posts are now ready to have the gates mounted on the hinges, whenever my brother is ready to come by with the last pieces he has for them.

I’m really looking forward to seeing our freshly painted gate up again! :-)

The Re-Farmer

Mamas, kitties and comfort

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While the kitties were out and about yesterday, they were not about to turn down the comforts of a mom!

Beep Beep lay down and was immediately accosted. :-D

One of the aunties came by for food and was thoroughly confused by the mass of kittens, everywhere.

She kept going back and forth, moving away from one group of kittens, only to be blocked by another, and another. It was so funny to see!

This morning, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were slightly more relaxed about it. :-D

Now, it’s time to paint gate posts again, before it gets too hot. I decided to give them 24 hours to cure before a second coat, instead of doing it last night, just to be on the safe side!

The Re-Farmer

Critter of the Day: freedom is scary

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Yesterday, the kittens discovered they could get out of the sun room, so we let them all out.

After a couple of hours, one of them disappeared.

Mini-Doom Guy was nowhere to be seen.

After the kittens were all brought inside with one of the moms, still short one.

We searched the yard, over and over.

Still no little tuxedo.

We searched beyond the inner yard, into the garage, and anywhere else we could think of.

Still no little tuxedo.

Finally, as I went to do my evening rounds, there he was, hovering near the door to the sun room.

He was VERY happy to see us and be held!!!

I still have no idea where he was hiding, but I don’t think he’ll be wandering far again, for a while!

Escape – and reunited

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Well, the day has finally come.

The barrier in the sun room door could no longer keep the kittens in.

Once a couple of kittens discovered they could not get past the box flaps that had been in their way when we used them to increase the height of the barricade, there was no stopping them.

So we took out the box and moved the barricade enough for them to leave without having to jump (and potentially hurt themselves).

Soon, they were all over the place in the area in front of, and around, the sun room.

Butterscotch even started calling some of them to follow her! The ones that started to, soon doubled back to the house.

After a while, I took Dave and Keith over to the little bowls where I have been leaving food for their mom and sibling. She and her baby were in the old barrel planter, half hidden in the bushes. I saw her baby disappear, but she was watching me closely.

It took a little while, but she came to check things out, skirting around the other side of the lilacs from me, and soon she was reunited with her babies.

She eventually lead them to the barrel planter (she loves to lounge in there) and the last I saw, they were still together, and very excited to be reunited. I expect their sibling to join them, too.

I’m not sure how this will work out at night. Dave and Keith love their people attention, have two other moms they’ve gotten used to, and 8 cousins to play with. I’m hoping their comfort around us will help us to socialize their sibling and their mom.

We still plan to bring Dave indoors permanently, and will continue to wash his eyes regularly, but I’m glad they’ll get to spend time with their mom and sibling again. I had hoped she would come into the sun room to see them, but she is just too shy, and had another baby to care for.

Letting the kittens out is a risk for them, but the sun room has been their home for so long, with toys, food, water and soft beds to sleep on, so I do expect them to keep coming back. We will just have to be more careful about counting them when we close things up at night.

The Re-Farmer

Gate posts: progress – first coat of paint done

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Yesterday, we went into the city for the last of our Costco shopping. In the process, I swung by a Canadian Tire and picked up the cleaner my brother recommended to get rid of all the lubricant used to get the old hing pins off.

Gotta love all those warnings.

EXTREME DANGER
VERY FLAMMABLE, POISON, IRRITANT

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Ready for Tea

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I got some early birthday presents in the mail today!

My dear friend didn’t listen when I told her not to buy be a birthday present. :-D The white one is from her. We’ve been using a stainless steel tea pot that has been here for many years, for every day use. We have other tea pots, but they’re sized for one person. Before the move, we threw out my huge teapot, as it was starting to show cracks and the edges of the lid were starting to crumble.

I’ve been looking for replacements for both since the move. I could find 4-6 cups ones, easily enough, but I wanted something slightly bigger. The rare times I found them, I couldn’t justify spending the money. The white one is a 6-8 cup size, which is perfect for regular use.

The big one is a 75 oz, with is just over 2L. I love the extra handle above the spout; my old pot didn’t have one, which made it difficult to pour when it was really full. Bracing it from below meant burnt fingers! It actually is smaller than the one we had to throw out; 75 oz is about 7 1/2 cups, but I thought our old one was a 14 cup size. I could be remembering wrong. Maybe it was a 10 cup size, because the old one was definitely not twice as big as this one.

Not that I’m complaining! It’ll be perfect for when we have company over for tea. :-)

I am very happy with my new teapots!!!

The Re-Farmer

Kitten Heaven

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I went out earlier than usual to feed the critters, making a point of opening the outside door to the sun room, first. This is what I found!

All 10 kittens, in one big sleepy pile!

That creamsicle one at the top left looks so displeased. :-D

Yesterday evening, I spent some time sitting in the sun room with them.

When they realized I was going to stay on the swing bench for a while, I got attacked by the wild beasts! This is about the only decent picture I was able to get, they were moving so much. They would climb up onto my lap and viciously attack each other, the draw string on my waist band, my thumbs, my knee, race up and over my shoulders… It was insane!

In the middle of it all, Doom Guy decided he wanted cuddles and kept trying to lie across my chest, but kittens kept running over him. Meanwhile, Dave wanted that spot, but ended up stuck in my hand, with a whirlwind of kittens and Doom Guy around him. He finally gave up and joined the fray. His brother, however, made his way up to my shoulder and just stayed there, looking out the window behind my head. :-D

What a wild bunch they are!

Before bed, I had to wash all the bleeding scratches they left on my legs, then slather the wounds with antibiotic ointment.

That is one down side of all these active little buggers! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Wild

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While doing my rounds this morning, I found some of my mother’s wild flowers suddenly blooming.

I remember seeing this splash of red in one area, last year. Now that I’ve cleared around it, I can actually get to them. Every time I walked past the area, I would look and wonder which of the plants had those bright red flowers. Yesterday, I didn’t even notice flower buds on these, yet this morning, they’re blooming!

The buds for these flowers have been visible for some time, but this is the first one to really start opening up. They are all over the area. I don’t know when my mother planted here, but they’ve been seeding themselves and spreading on their own, ever since. :-)

While going through the maple grove, I checked on the wild strawberries.

I found 4 ripe berries. :-D

They are so incredibly tiny!

The teeniest of strawberries. :-D

Wild!

The Re-Farmer

Transplants done, and keeping an eye out!

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Happy Canada Day!

My daughter and I headed out a bit earlier than usual for her shift, but we probably should have left even earlier. Roads around her work were already being closed off to traffic, and people were setting up their chairs to watch the parade. Some were even already setting up in the cross roads! So it was a quick drop off, then I headed home. I ended up bypassing town and taking a different route to another highway, then back tracking, just to get out of town!

Which gave me the opportunity to finally do the transplanting I’ve had on my to-do list for a while.

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