family time

Not quite what I expected

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After I finished my last post (just before midnight! :-D ), I tried once again to see if I could close up the sun room for the night.  The last I saw, all the kittens were outside eating, and the skunk was settling into the corner of the sun room.

I came in to find this.

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Do not let the little furry heads fool you.  This is not a pile of six kittens.

It is a pile of seven kittens!

As I went in and the pile broke up, the seventh kitten emerged, having been completely buried by the others!

Bob is really filling out and looking so much healthier, now!  Glad to see that.  Also, the markings on one of the calico/torties is looking more and more like a grey tabby!  Much less orange than her sibling.

As I was persuading them to go outside, I saw the skunk was already out and eating, so I was finally able to close up the outside doors, then start heading in through the Old Kitchen.

Then I went back to let out Jim, who had been hiding and accidentally got closed in.  !!

So that worked out in the end, and no turd bombs that I could find.

Today, I was slated to go to my mother’s to help her with some errands.  I used her car, so that it would be easier for her to get in and out, but it doesn’t really fit her walker in the back, so she used a cane.  I must say, she is recovering really well, has grown noticeably stronger since I last saw her, and quite mobile.  She still tired quickly, of course, but did fantastic.  Not bad for someone who’s 87 and just had major abdominal surgery!

We had an excellent visit as well, and while we were talking, I mentioned that we were letting the kittens into the sun room.  I wasn’t sure how she would take that, since she vacillates from telling me we shouldn’t have cats because of the litter box, to happy about the outside cats, because they keep the rodent population under control, and loving how cute the kittens are.

I showed her the above photo, and she was loving it.  She questioned about them being all from one mom, but I reminded her that there were two from one mom, four from another – and that another kitten showed up from somewhere and has moved right in.  She loved that!

Then she commented that we might have a problem with them pooping in the sun room.  I wasn’t sure how she would take it, but I told her that it’s not the cats we have problems with pooping in the sun room, but…

Then I showed her a picture of the skunk I’d taken last night.

It took her a moment to realize what she was seeing and where, but when she did, she was so excited!  I showed her some more photos and the short video I took of the skunk sharing cat food with one of the kittens, and she loved it!  She thought he was so cute, and how great it was that it comes regularly.

I had thought she might be upset about the skunk coming inside the sun room, to be honest, so this was awesome!

She also suggested that we might end up with more of them showing up.  I figure it might depend of whether we have a he or a she.  Who knows; by next spring, the skunk might show up with a row of little ones, following along!

Meanwhile, my darling husband did a bit of research.  Apparently, cat kibble is not good for skunks.  Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables is recommended.  Well, this skunk seems to be doing just fine with the kibble, along with whatever else it finds on its own.  It’s not like the cat kibble is the only source of food it has.  I think it’ll be just fine.

I’m just happy my mom is happy about our stinky kitty, too!

Also, I think I will make a point of shutting up the sun room now, before our smelly friend returns!

The Re-Farmer

A kitten let me pet it!!

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It’s just one, so far; the tuxedo.  My daughter tells me he let her pet him yesterday, too.

Progress!!! :-D

I was out for much of the morning, taking my mother to the hospital she will be going for surgery at, tomorrow, for her pre-op blood work.  We took her car, since it’s easier to get in and out of for her.  When we needed to replace our old van, I very specifically chose a vehicle that would meet my husband’s mobility needs, which are pretty much the opposite of my mothers. :-D  The trip went really well, and we got back early enough that we could go to church together, too.

When I got home, I noticed branches in the yard, so after lunch I went out to pick them up.

I got distracted by a Beep Beep, who really wanted attention!  So I sat on the side of the concrete landing at the door and started petting her. Her tuxedo kitten was out and, at first, he didn’t want to go near me.  Then, much to my surprise, he came over to snuzzle his mom as I pet her – and let me pet him, too!

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Then they both went behind my back and rolled around on the concrete.  I reached around to pet Beep Beep, and a kitten head pushed itself under my hand!  It was so awesome.

I tried reaching my phone over my shoulder to get some pictures of them behind my back and actually got a good one of the tuxedo. :-D

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I’m hoping, as the other kittens see him enjoying human attention, they’ll relax and start letting us pet them, too.

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The grey tabby, however, still won’t go near me.  I moved to a chair we have by the sun room, and he wouldn’t even go past to get to the food bowls.

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The teeny tabby used to come close and even let me touch, sometimes, but these days, he is acting more skittish for some reason.  He will, at least, go past me to get to the food.

His big brother, on the other hand, almost did, but when he heard me shift on the chair, he ran off again.

He has such a lion-like appearance doesn’t he? :-D

I even caught a glimpse of one of the calicos, dashing away.

I’m so happy.  I got some kitten therapy! :-D

The Re-Farmer

A win for modern technology

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What a night it was last night!  A night when we really appreciated what we can accomplish with our modern communications technology!

world.techLate last night, I drove my mother to meet a family member that was supposed to arrive shortly after midnight.

Earlier in the day, I had been in contact with his daughter through a messenger app, where she had informed me that his flight left 2 hours late.  We even exchanged photos, so he would know what I looked like, and we would know what he looked like.

Before leaving for the airport, I checked his connecting flight to see that it was running on time.  Not hearing from his daughter to let me know if he missed his connection, we figured he caught his flight and off we went.

Shortly after arriving, she and I started messaging each other.  More photos were shared.

My older brother started texting me.  He and his wife were at the airport as a surprise, and looking for us.

We took a group selfie to send out.

Then I get another message, this time from my sister, who lives in the boonies, much like I do.  She had just received a phone call from our relative.  He had missed his connecting flight, and the airline got him set up for another flight, but not until 8am.  Once we realized he would not be on the flight we were waiting for, we found a place to have some drinks.  My brother started looking up flight information on his phone, while I continued to communicate with both the daughter in Europe, and my sister out of town.

In no time at all, we had all the information we needed, were assured our relative was spending the night in a hotel, and since the new arrival time conflicted with my schedule, arranged alternative transportation.  While all this was going on, I got another message from my husband; unsure if she would reach me, my sister had phoned the land line and let him know about the missed connection and new times, and he was passing it on to me.

Six people.  Two continents.  Two provinces.  Seven time zones.

Gosh, I love technology!

To top it all off, though we missed picking up our family last night, the four of us had a great visit with each other at the airport, and my drive in and out with my mother was absolutely amazing.  She was having one of her good days, which was so wonderful! During the drive back, at 2am, she started telling me things she remembered from her childhood, including a couple of stories from WWII, when her village was taken control of by the Nazis, as part of a strategic route to Russia, the border of which was just a few kilometers from her village at the time.  She was only about 10 yrs old at the time, but she still remembers quite a bit.  She has lived through some pretty amazing experiences, and it was good to hear about some of them.

The Re-Farmer

Bog Princess

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I have learned many things from my daughters.  They have very eclectic interests, and happily share them with me.

Sometimes, I get treated like a princess because of it, too.

Somewhere on the vastness of the internet (I have not been able to find a link), they read about a bog mummy that had an intricate twisted hair style.  Basically, it was the oldest known hair style in the world.  Those studying her apparently couldn’t figure it out.  Then photos were released and stylists said, “oh, this is how it was done.”

Since I am the only person with long enough hair in the household, I then got to be experimented on.

When heading into the city today to visit their grandpapa, my younger daughter was sweet enough to do my hair up like she read about, adding in a lovely peacock hair/shawl pin to make it look really special.

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I doubt the bog mummy was a princess, but I sure felt like one. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Dramatic skies, and apple tree down

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Yesterday, after picking my daughter up from work, the girls and I went straight to visit my awesome, amazing older brother and his wife for the evening.

The storm warnings had returned, but the skies were clear at the time, if incredibly windy all day.  The winds died down enough that we were able to eat outside, then have a fire going to toast marshmallows.  It was so wonderful to just sit outside together, talking and enjoying each others’ company.  I just wish my husband had been able to come out, too, but if he had, he would never have been able to handle the length of the visit.

Chronic pain really sucks.

While we were outside, we did see some pretty dramatic skies!

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The clouds were moving fast, so we saw all sorts of interesting shapes passing by.  When it first started to rain, though, the sky above us was clear! :-D  After a while, though, it started to come down a bit harder, so we packed up and went in.  By then it was late enough to start heading home, which was about an hour and a half’s drive.

While we were away, my husband sent us some updates to let us know it was coming down pretty hard at home.  It was all done by the time we made the drive, but as soon as we turned off the highway onto the gravel road, we drove through a bit patch where the road was covered with twigs and branches from someone’s willow.  Some smaller trees along the road were downed.  (Interestingly, I later found out the my husband’s dead CPAP machine, which he has left plugged in, actually flickered to life during the storm.  Just a flicker.  Odd.)

When we got home, we decided to park in the yard by the house, instead of the garage.  As I drove in, the first thing I saw in my headlights was a branch on the ground.  So while the girls brought things into the house, I grabbed a flashlight and did a circuit around the house.  Nothing major, but it was clear it was going to be another day needing a wheelbarrow to clear up everything that came down.

Then this morning, as I glance out the north facing bedroom window, I see this.

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One of the apple trees had come down, too.

I don’t think this one was doing very well this year.   It never really bloomed, and I couldn’t see any apples on it when I checked it out.  Most of it had already been pruned away, before we moved out here.  I’m not surprised that this one came down.  I’m more surprised it was the only one.

Thanks to my brother, though, I have chain oil for my birthday gift – summer and winter oil, even, and enough to last a very long time! – so later today I will break it down and haul away the pieces.  When making plans to visit, I’d asked about what stores were near their place, after entertaining them about why I needed more oil so quickly (see link above), and my brother was sweet enough to pick some up before we got out there. :-)  That meant we didn’t have to rush to any stores before they closed, and could go straight to visiting.

I have awesome family!

Since it’s an apple tree, I will keep the pieces separate, so I can use the wood for crafting purposes. :-)

I will be sticking to just the necessary clean up for today, though, since I do try to keep Sunday as a day of rest, even if we haven’t found a church yet out here.  There will be more than enough to catch up on, later!  Things are supposed to cool down for the next week, so I’m hoping to be able to continue clearing out the rest of the maple grove and not risk heat stroke! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Dead Wood Down, and cat models

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With yesterday’s heat, I did not head out until the evening, to clean up the piles of wood I’d cleared out the day before.  We had caught just the edge of the storm that night, with some rain and high winds, but nothing near as bad as the areas to the south of us.  Some places got tennis ball sized hail, and there were power outages in places.

When I got to where I’d left the cut wood, I noticed a branch, just off by itself, but still near the pile of deadwood.  Had I missed it, somehow how?

Then I looked up.

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The big maple tree reaches out over this area, and it has a lot of dead branches.  One of them was broken in the high winds we got, and the bigger part of it got hung up on other dead branches.

Lovely.

After I clearer away the piles of wood, I added another length to the extended pruning saw.  I was able to pull down the dangling branch, then with the extra length, was able to cut down two dead branches.

The first one was the one at the bottom of the dangling branch you can see in the picture above.  The other was a larger one, that you can see part of, above the big, thick main branch.  That one was being partly held up by the main branch.

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You can see all three branches, here.  The big one, as it got hung up on the main branch on the way down, basically exploded, sending side branches and twigs all over the place! (That would be Rolando Moon, in the background. :-D )

After taking out the big branches, I filled two wheelbarrows with small branches and twigs, just from here!

We had a wiener roast shortly after, and when we were done eating, I stayed longer to clear both wheelbarrows. :-)

While we were having our cook out, we got visited by Nasty Crime Boy, who decided that one of the folding chairs we brought out would be a great place to hang out.

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When my daughter came closer with her phone to take pictures, he was very curious about the whole thing, sticking his face up to the phone, then reaching out to grab her with his paws!

Too adorable. :-D

I ended up staying out several hours, tending the fire and watching the sun setting behind the trees while listening to the renter’s cows mooing, with frogs and cranes, croaking in the distance.  By the time the girls came out to check on me, it was fully dark except for the glowing coals in the fire pit.

Life is good.

The Re-Farmer

First Wiener Roast of the year!

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Last night, we decided to take advantage of the lovely evening, and have our first wiener 20180603.wierner.roast.fire3roast of the year! :-D

When I was a kid, we used to have these quite often.  I would go into the bush with a machete-type knife (we even found it while packing away my parents’ stuff!) and cut dogwood branches for roasting sticks.  They were perfect for it, naturally growing long, straight and supple.  Sometimes, I could get ones with a perfect Y shape.  The bark came off easily, and I would strip off the top several inches, then sharpen them to points.

At the end of the day, we’d get a fire going, roast wieners and stuff our faces with hot dogs, then finish off with marshmallows.  When we were done eating, it would be quite dark, and we would start burning our roasting sticks until the tips were glowing, then wave them around in the dark, using the red tips to create shapes of light in the air.

Sometimes, my parents hosted parties, and their friends from the city would come out with their kids, and there would be dozens of people all over.  Most of the time, though, it was just us kids.  We had a blast!

20180603.wierner.roast.tableThanks to the burning my daughter and I did earlier, when I cleared the yard to mow the lawn, I had a nice pile of sticks ready to set up for a fire.  We brought the hose (of course) and chairs.  We were thinking of moving the picnic table over, but it’s in serious need of cleaning, so the girls brought out one of our small folding tables, instead.

We’re going to have to invest in metal roasting forks soon.  I picked up a package of wooden roasting sticks along with the S’mores kit, and they are a bit too flammable and bouncy! :-D

I had hoped my husband could join us, even if just to sit on his walker while we roasted wieners for him, but he had to lie down for the night, before we even started. :-(

It got to watch a beautiful sunset while we set up and got the fire going.

 

I’m going to have to get out there with the weed trimmer. *L*

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The outside cats were all over the place, checking out what we were doing!  Rolando Moon staked out a spot on the log pile to watch us.  The hose sprays water at where two hoses join, and at the nozzle, and the cats played with the spray!

At one point, while I was sitting and eating, Rolando Moon actually jumped up onto my knee!  That’s a first.  Even the friendliest ones are still quite stand offish, so this is a big step in at least Rolando Moon’s comfort levels with us.

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Ah… perfect for toasting those wieners!

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We made some S’mores – that’s something we never did when I was a kid.  I didn’t even hear of them until after I had my own kids.

I find I really enjoy toasting marshmallows, and getting that perfect state of golden brown on the outside, and all melty on the inside.

Problem with that is, I don’t actually enjoy eating them.  Too sweet!

None of us are all that big on sweets, so while the hot dogs disappeared quickly, there’s still lots of S’more making supplies! :-D

Best part was, the entire night, we only saw one mosquito!

There is at least that one benefit to the dry spring we had!

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After a while, we just hung out to watch the fire die down.

I hope we will be able to do this often.  Even if we don’t have wiener roasts, to at least get a fire going and enjoy the evening.  We have a lot of wood we need to use up, and will be adding more as the clean up continues, so why not? :-D

It was a fantastic evening!

The Re-Farmer