This morning, after dropping my daughter off at work, I immediately headed out to do some work by the main gate before things got too hot.
I was already too late.
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Sanctuary
When we decided to move out here and take care of the farm for my mother, we had some ideas of what to expect, and what we might do in the future.
We were not naive about it, though, and knew that things would have to change with circumstances.
One thing I did not even think of at all.
That we might become a cat sanctuary.
Now, this isn’t all that unusual. Every now and then, I’ll read something in one of the local papers, or see a news clip someone shared on Facebook, about farmers and the 40 or so barn cats that they take care of. Along with their cows and goats and chickens or whatever.
We don’t have barn cats. The house came with yard cats. My dad loved them, and taking care of them was just a given.
I think it’s gotten a bit beyond that, now. LOL
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My morning – in cats
It’s been cats, right from the start of my morning!
I didn’t even get out of bed yet, when Fenrir claimed my wrist as a chin pillow while I checked my phone. I could just barely angle the phone to get this picture.
Her chin is so soft and warm on my wrist, I can’t complain, even if it does make it hard to check the weather for the day!
While starting the cat stuff outdoors, a very dirty Big Jim came by.
Do I really want to know how he got black on him like that?
Beep Beep came over while I was securing the door from the outside.
A curious Big Jim! Checking on things while I washed out the kitten’s eye.
Jim has gone into the sun room with the kittens only once, that I know of, and the moms drove him out. This morning, this was as far as he dared go. 😀
The Re-Farmer
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All charged up
How weird it’s been lately!
A couple of nights ago, it got cold enough overnight for the furnace to turn on, only to hit highs in the 20’s, half a day later!
Yesterday was supposed to be my day to finally get the mower out – which required taking the snow blowers out first, taking out the riding mower, then moving the snow blowers to the back of the shed until winter. I also made room by taking out the two broken push mowers my brother had tested. I stuck them in another shed at the old hay yard. There used to be a tractor in there, but that is one of the things that disappeared before we moved in.
Once the mower was cleared, I topped up the oil, filled the gas tank, checked it over and…
… it wouldn’t start.
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Cats, cats and more cats (on the way)
We are just surrounded by adorableness, inside and out!
I was getting ready to head to the post office when I saw a giant slug, rolling around on my bed.
She had a duster for company.
Fenrir and our mama cat hang out together a lot, these days. 🙂
As I headed outside, I spotted Stinky coming out of the sun room and disappearing under the storage house. Another reason to start closing up the sun room, once we get the mamas set up. Skunks are omnivorous, and I don’t want it going after the babies.
Though there is a good chance we might be seeing some stinky babies at some point, too. I have no idea if our visitor is male or female, but it is more likely to be female
When I was coming back to the house later on, I spotted these two…
At first, I could only see Bob, over on the left, and didn’t see Rolando Moon until I came closer for a photo.
Bob came over for some pets, and we got joined by a Big Beep.
She is getting so huge! More kitties to come!
I think I’m going to head out to the sun room now, and start setting up a litter box, food and water!
The Re-Farmer
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Home! (and cat cuddles)
Yes!!!
My husband is home from the hospital today!
It is so good to have him back!
Even the cats missed him. They have been super cuddly. I’ve been waking up with these two, fighting to get under the covers with me. Mama cat won; she’s still under the covers in this picture, and Fenrir settled for sprawling on top of them.
Which left me with one arm stuck out, and unable to put my phone away. This was handy when I started getting messages from my husband, telling me he would be able to come home by 10 or 10:30.
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Bonus Critter of the Day: Good morning, cat
Well, that didn’t take long…
On learning that my nephew and his wife will be having a baby, I started working on crocheted baby gifts. I’ve just finished the last of them – a gift for the mom – to go with the stroller blanket and matching hats I made for Baby’s first winter, including adult sized hats for Mom and Dad.
I made a capelet for our new mom to wear while cuddling Baby, and wanted to get a photo of it. I can post those here, as my family doesn’t know about this blog, so I won’t be ruining any surprises. 😉
It’s pretty big, so I cleared my bed and stretched up to try and get the whole thing in the shot.
Oops. I cut off a couple of corners. Let’s try that again…
… and again…
… one more time!
Okay. I give up. They win.
I then removed the cats – plus the clump of fur already left behind = and the capelet is now safely put away with the rest of the items, out of reach for cats!
Now I have to find a box big enough to hold it all, so I can mail them out. Baby will make his debut in July, so I have a bit of time. 🙂
For those who are interested, I made this using a simple pattern I found online – click here for the link – using Lion Brand Mandala yarn in Thunderbird, and a 5mm hook. The only change I made to the pattern was to add the trim on the bottom. I wanted the starting and finishing rows to match in both colour and width, which left me with just enough yarn to work my way across the bottom.
The Re-Farmer
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Primordial
I learned something new, yesterday.
That belly pooch on DahBoy has a name.
It’s called the primordial pouch, and all cats have it, to some extent. Our mama cat doesn’t really have it, because she’s all big belly on stick legs, so if she has one, it’s either full, or hidden by that belly or hers. Anything Fenrir has is hidden by long, long fur.
What a big boy he is. Fenrir is so small, she can actually sit on the window ledge, walk around and even turn around on it. DahBoy has to prop himself on the plant pot.
In case you are wondering about the yellow flags in the plant pot, I had put them around our avocado tree, with yarn going from one to the other. For some reason, the cats were absolutely insistent on getting into the pot. When one of the branches got broken off, I rigged this up. It sort of worked.
Unfortunately, the avocado did not survive the winter. This was the longest I’ve ever managed to keep one alive; it was about 3-4 years old. *sigh*
I’ve got two more pits in water to start new ones. Hopefully, we’ll manage to grow a tree!
The Re-Farmer
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Our new toy
First off, many thanks to Elfidd for mentioning using a snow rake in the comments of my last post. How did I not know about such a tool? After doing some searches and discovering not only what it was, but how affordable it was, I left early to pick up my daughter, so I could stop at the hardware store.
I got their last one. A telescoping version.
I’m extra glad I left so early, though. Road conditions had deteriorated quite a bit since this morning. All the areas that had blowing snow this morning, now had blowing snow over ice and snow – which was trying to melt and freeze at the same time! I was just driving through our little hamlet when I got a warning of what was to come – a car in the ditch! There was no one inside; between a farm house nearby, and our little town in the other direction, this person would be okay. Getting that car out of there is not going to be easy, though. 😦
Driving past it, I could see the car’s tracks. My guess is, as soon as the car hit the ice, it got blown off the road. The wind made driving on the ice more dangerous than the ice itself. (I’ve been eyeballing the trees around the house with trepidation all day!)
We will be leaving early, tomorrow morning.
Anyhow.
The snow rake needed to be assembled, and tools were needed, so I set up in the living room and started working on it.
In seconds after I got my wrench, my tool kit was occupied.
What a silly girl!
I did, however, need to get to the tray of tools under her, so I got her off, moved the foam, took out the tray, moved the other piece of foam, got my pliers and…
That girl is faaaast!
The assembly was much easier than reading the pictographic instructions. Yeesh! But I got it done!
There’s my other helper! Silly boy! 😀
This will be very useful over the next couple of days. 🙂
The Re-Farmer
