Don’t they look so sweet and innocent, snuggled together?
Don’t believe them. They lie!
They are devious, destructive beasts! :-D
Okay, okay. I don’t think Cabbages and her “grandma” are the guilty parties responsible for this.
The tank’s lid has an opening at the back for the filter, cords, etc. I’d blocked it off, but some cats – and I think at least two are guilty! – still managed to get a leg through a gap to reach the trays below. Juuuuust enough to scratch up the cardboard edge and dig up some of the peat. I finally put a piece of the rigid insulation under the lid, cut wide enough to cover the opening in the back, but narrow enough to not reach the light fixture attached to the underside of the lid.
Can you guess what the clever little monsters did next?
They figured out how to open the little flip-top door in the front of the lid, that was used to drop fish food in!
I’m pretty sure we’ve lost some sprouting onions from this.
If you look closely in the photo, you can see white specks in the peat. Those are little curled sprouts, pushing their way through the peat!
I ended up putting a weight on top of the little door, but with the back blocked off, and the little door once again closed, there’s no air circulation in the tank. The glass started to fog up! So I’ve created a small gap in the back slot that I hope the cats will not try to get through.
It takes a lot of determination for a cat to be able to reach these trays! They really, really want to dig in that “dirt”.
We tried to be creative with the Christmas tree, with so many kittens in the house. The older cats are not as much of a concern, but the little ones are another story!
Well, after several days of cat caused disasters, today I came into the dining room to find they’d trashed the tree. For the past few morning, I’d come out and find the tree skirt askew, ornaments on the floor, and branches bent. Clearly, they knew enough to wait until we were in bed to wreck havoc. However, this time, they’d gone in while we were all busy and done even more damage than what I’d already fixed in the morning. The tree was tied to the wall, so they couldn’t knock it over, but they clearly were climbing it as high as the ceiling, and trying to get into the shelves beside it, as even things from there were on floor. Nothing fragile, thankfully, but still…
After finding the last mess, I gave up.
I took the tree down completely – which only took a few minutes, considering we’d already decorated it sparsely.
My older daughter, who lent us her little tree to begin with, saved the day.
It turns out this tree can be flattened, without damaging it. She found a way to hang it flat against the door, then redecorated it.
She even used wrapping paper to hide the base, where the legs would normally be attached.
I think it looks even better now!
Later, I actually caught some cats under it, looking up forlornly.
When I picked up my mother to take her to the doctor yesterday, she came out with a big bucket riding on her walker, full of Christmas decorations. She didn’t want them anymore, and there’s lots of room on the farm, so…
*sigh*
We aren’t using even a quarter of our own decorations this year!
So last night, I went through the bucket – which turned out to be 2 of them, and they were fermentation buckets from wine making kits. I’m finding them all over the place! Now I have two more… *sigh*
What I found was one full sized sparkly garland, some smaller lengths, and bits and pieces that are so small or so messed up, they’re not even worth keeping for crafting. I filled a basket of baubles, most of which were newer, but a few of which I am sure I remember from my childhood. There were some random pine cones, some still glued together. Then there was a … garland “cake” with small red ornaments as the “cherries”. I have no other way to describe it! I believe it’s supposed to be a centerpiece? I don’t know.
The cats, of course, were extremely curious. As these were on the dining table until I could figure out what to do with them, I covered the whole thing with a shiny gold vinyl tablecloth that was in the one bin of Christmas decorations we brought up. The girls still ended up having to tuck it under and weight it down, because of course, as soon as the room was empty, the started jumping on it.
That was not part of the disaster this morning.
With my husband’s pain levels, he has very different hours than we do. It’s not unusual for him to be forced out of bed in the wee hours. He tries to help as much as he can, though, so he took over the job of topping up the cat kibble and refreshing their water in the basement – going up and down the stairs is painful, but it’s about the most exercise he can handle right now, so he does it. Then he fills a jug of water for the outside cats and leaves it for me, so I’m not having to run water while one of the girls is in the shower or something. He leaves that on the counter between the kitchen and dining room.
On the kitchen side of that counter, there’s the sink in the middle with counters and cupboards on either side. On the dining room side is a floating counter that’s about a foot higher than the sink. Very handy to reach from both sides. It’s also the perfect length and height that we fit a pair of cube shelved under it; a 9 cube shelf for dishes, bowls and platters, and a 6 cube shelf with cube storage boxes holding our hats and scarves, mitts and ear warmers, etc. Yes, all 6 of them are full of winter gear.
There’s enough space between the tops of these shelves and the underside of the counter to hold my many tiny bowls, jars and pinch pots, among other things.
The counter top has our advent wreath on it, as well as things like a fruit bowl, paper towel roll and other odds and ends. You know how it is. All flat surfaces immediately get filled! I’ve manage to keep it pretty open, lately.
Unfortunately, the cats do jump up on there, when we are not around, so I have been finding the candles askew on the advent wreath, and things knocked over.
This morning, I was awakened by some very unhappy exclamations from my husband – and more than a little blue language.
Coming out, I discovered him desperately trying to find something to soak up what turned out to be almost a gallon of water, while also chasing away cats.
One of them had knocked over the jug of water he’d prepped for me to give to the outside cats. Nearly a gallon of water.
My husband unrolled the remains the paper towel roll (which was already partially wet from the water hitting it on the way by) while I dashed (okay, hobbled…) for a mop.
The next while was spent mopping up and moving things. My husband’s back soon gave out and he had to leave.
The cube shelves are open in the front, of course, and water not only got into the shelf – and the stuff in it – but under the shelf before flowing around the counter and puddling all along the front of the sink. We’ve got a couple of those interlocking foam mats there, partly to make it easier on the back while doing dishes, partly to cover the damaged worn out floor, so that had to be removed, too.
Once the bulk of the water was cleaned up, I had to empty the 9 cub shelf and pull it out, to get there rest of the water out from under it. The cube shelf itself has water damage, but as I emptied it, I noticed more damage on the bottom shelves. The stuff we use the most off is kept at the top, the least often at the bottom, so we don’t have a lot of cause to see this. It seems that things the cats play with have been getting in there, and they’ve been digging to try and reach them. Enough that one cube actually has a hole scratched into it! How long that’s been there, I have no idea!
So right now, I’ve got the shelf out and drying. Then I had to do the outside rounds and feeding of critters. I’ve since cut some pieces of wood that will be placed under both shelves to lift them a couple of inches off the ground, so that if there is another spill, it won’t damage the shelves even more. Every single dish, bowl and platter will need to be washed before we can put them back.
Only then can I deal with the dining table and do the old dough bread baking I had planned for today.
*sigh*
At least it was just water, and nothing was broken.
I am now going to go investigate the unfortunate noises I’m hearing…
Look what I found on the dining table this morning…
This was after I was awakened by a storage cube falling off the top of the wall shelf above my bed, landing right next to my head. :-( I’m not too worried about the cubes; they’re just filled with small blankets. I am more concerned about my parents’ antique lamp that I’ve got stored up there, specifically to keep it safe from the cats!
My goodness, I can hardly believe it’s just barely afternoon as I write this.
Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, isn’t it??
Things started off pretty routine. I did my rounds and the outside cats were very happy to see me. Well. Happy to see fresh kibble and water!
Potato Beetle joined me, as he often does. I caught this picture just before he jumped straight up me!
Doesn’t that expression look malevolent? :-D
The Potato, however, was not the walking disaster today. Oh, no! It was the cute, little adorable ones that were pure destruction!
I posted a while back about how we had to do an intervention to rescue our remaining avocado plants.
We had started off with 5 plants, and now we’re down to one poor, battered avocado… and a stick that still had live roots on it, so we’ve left it for now.
The cats did try to get in there, but the cage worked. I think the avocado is recovering, but it still looks pretty beat up!
Well, that didn’t stop the cats, unfortunately. They just moved on to other plants.
First, was the umbrella tree. After various barriers were tried and failed, I was able to put some 1/2 inch wire mesh around it that I had left over from some other projects. They still could get over it, though, and every now and then, we find a kitten sitting in the middle of it.
Yes, we have barriers in there, too. I made a spiderweb of cord to support the branches, and they still fit in between. This morning, I heard a strange noise and found Cabbages trying to climb the wire mesh to get at either Nicco or Tissue, half-hidden in the middle.
At least they’re not digging in it anymore.
They just moved on to other pots.
We have since lost a small pot with a jade plant in it – and it was one of the ones that was covered by a cloche to protect it! A while pot full of soil, all over a shag carpet… Fun times! A couple of succulents that were hanging in windows had to be moved, because they were still getting at them, including all my daughter’s orchids. The biggest jade plant got 4 hollow tubes (unused legs from a utility shelf) inserted into the soil, with cord wrapped around, because the cats kept sitting in the middle of it. That seems to be working, plus I found it works well to water it through the tubes. :-D
Then they moved on to another large jade tree. That one even got knocked off the shelf several times. For that one, I tried laying foil over the soil, but that does not deter any of our cats! We have some large plastic containers from Cheese Balls and pork rinds I would get at Costco. The containers make great cloches and I was saving them for spring planting. I ended up cutting one to get the straight middle part of the container, which I was able to fit under the jade plant branches and place around the edge of the pot.
That finally stopped them!
Unfortunately, I just discovered they have moved on again, and started digging in one of the aloe vera pots. This surprised me, because aloe vera is so splayed out, the soil is hidden. They had to actually dig out a couple of aloe babies to get at the soil. It wasn’t much, though, so I moved the plant pot to the dining table and finished my rounds.
Later, while I was on the phone with my mother, my husband popped his head through the door to tell me that cats had been digging in the pot.
*sigh*
When I finally came out, I found Cabbages, innocently sitting on the table next to the pot, and soil all over the table and floor.
*sigh*
The face of destruction!
As I cleaned up, I put a towel on a chair and moved the pot over. While working on the table, I happened to look up to see Fenrir on the chair, her front paws in the soil, starting to dig!
Another face of destruction!
I ended up having to put the pot with my husband, so he could guard it while I finished cleaning up.
So how do I stop the cats from doing this? After many years and many moves, it was a very long time before we lived anywhere long enough to have house plants, so having them is not only something I really enjoy, but it gives a feeling of stability for me. Unfortunately, the cats just can’t seem to resist them! They dig in the dirt like a dog digs for a bone!
What to do? If I protect one pot, they just move on to another.
Well, I did have a few more of those plastic containers left.
My poor, sad, beat up, cat chewed aloe vera!
I ended up using the flat side pieces to protect three aloe pots, including one rather large one. I have no idea how the plants will adjust to this, but it can’t be any worse than the damage the cats were already doing to them, just in going to and from the window ledge. I used the curved top of one of the containers around another jade plant. There is still one more aloe vera left without a shield of any kind, but that thing is so massive, there is simply no way I can do anything around that pot. Hopefully, the sheer size of it is enough to keep the cats from trying.
While I was doing all this, I kept finding kittens on the dining table. Mostly Cabbages! I hate having to chase her off. She still isn’t completely socialized, and this will set her back, but there are some places we just can’t let the cats get onto.
Hopefully, they will stop digging up our plants now. It would be great if we could set up a bin with soil for them to dig in, but they’d just use it as a litter box. I do wish I knew why they all suddenly decided that digging in plant pots was a good idea! We’ve never had this problem before.
There are areas around the house that we do and do not allow the cats. For example, they are not allowed on the kitchen counter the sink it in, nor where counters were food is prepared, but there is one small counter by the window they are allowed on, so they can sit and look out the window.
The dining table is another place the are not allowed.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to enforce this when we’re asleep.
This is what I found this morning.
The bowl of carrots and potatoes were scrubbed last night, to be cooked today. The cucamelons are kept out for snacking.
It turns out the cats like to drag off the carrots.
Shortly after I took this photo, I spotted Saffron running by behind me.
Then she dropped a pilfered cucamelon she had been carrying, and started batting it around.
We are back from our city shopping trip and stocked up with most of what we need. We will still have to make another trip to get the rest. After that, we should be set for the month, and anything we need, we can get locally.
I am hoping my mother’s car will be ready for pick up by this weekend. I made a doctor’s appointment for her – they’re actually seeing patients for physicals now, instead of only doing phone in appointments – next week, and it would be great to surprise her with her own car. :-)
That, and her car has working air conditioning… ;-)
Before we headed out, I did the morning rounds and, of course, checked on the picnic table that got scrubbed yesterday evening. Check out how different it looks from last night to this morning!
The first two pictures are before scrubbing, after scrubbing, and then the last one is after drying overnight. The wood looks so much lighter! I expected it to be more grey, just from aging.
It’s still quite damp in places, mostly where the wood is most rotten, so it’s a good thing we weren’t going to be able to paint it right away anyhow. We should be able to get to it, tomorrow (Thursday). There are predictions of rain on Friday (which would be great!), though. My daughter has a 10′ x 10′ canopy tent she used when doing art markets before the move. If we set that up, we can paint it and not have to worry about rain while it’s drying. The underside will get just one coat of paint, so if all goes well, we should be able to flip it and do the top on Saturday. Friday will likely be when we make our second trip to the city, so it should get plenty of time to dry.
I think after that trip, I will be more than done with being around so many people!!
Meanwhile, I had another find this morning, that was much less pleasant.
Some time after I came in from my rounds and was uploading trail cam files, the kittens trashed our dining table.
Last night, the girls discovered the cats had knocked one of our plant pots in the living room onto the carpet. The little jade tree in it was a rescue from previous cat damage! The girls vacuumed up the mess, then put the pot with the plant and remaining soil on the dining table to be dealt with in the morning. Instead, the cats dealt with it before we could. :-(
The table had a lot of other stuff on it, too. You know how it goes. Any flat surface must get covered with stuff! :-D
My husband discovered the mess. Everything on the table was covered in dirt! As soon as I got most of the stuff off the table, I then had to fight off kittens who kept jumping up onto it to play in the dirt! I was able to clean that up before we left. One of my daughters stayed home to work, so she was kind enough to clean up the mess that spilled onto the floor while we were gone.
Keeping the kittens out of the plants has been quite a battle. They just love dirt! I have a very large pot with several avocado seedlings growing in it, and Nicco in particular has been repeatedly caught curled up in the middle of it, sleeping! One of the seedlings now no longer has any leaves!
Yesterday, things were a bit cooler and finally nice enough to start a fire in the fire pit!
I’ve been putting small branches and the invasive vines I’ve pulled up into there since last summer, so it felt good to finally burn that stuff away!
While I was at it, I decided to clean up the bricks around the fire pit that the skunks revealed while digging for grubs.
Knowing that these were the glazed bricks we’ve got all over the place under there, I decided to use the sidewalk ice scraping tool. Just a flat blade that would slide across the surface, and cut away the root mats at the same time.
It worked remarkably well!
In the above photo, I’d finished uncovering the bricks all the way around.
There was some seriously thick root mats covering some of them!
The next step was to hose them down with water, including using the jet to pressure wash some of the dirt out from between the bricks, and between the bricks and the fire pit ring.
Where the water pooled showed me the most uneven areas of the brick ring.
What I will eventually be doing is taking them out completely, leveling the base off as best I can, then putting them back.
Ideally, I’d be adding a layer of gravel under there, first.
I am seriously considering taking the wagon and a shovel out to the old gravel pit to see what I can salvage out of there!
Until then, we make do.
My next step was to use break up the ridge of soil and root mats around the ring some more.
Every now and then, I’d find a small rock, but then I hit was seemed to be a much larger rock.
A strangely flat and smooth rock.
I found another brick!
For a moment, I thought maybe there was a second ring of bricks, but the angle of it was too random for that.
Somehow, a single brick got left to one side, and got buried with the others.
The ones around the fire pit getting buried makes sense, but how does a lone brick on the side get left there long enough to be buried, too? Did no one try to mow there, before it got covered? Did people using the fire pit (and I know it did get used) simply walk around it until it disappeared, along with the other bricks?
So very strange!
I set it aside with another brick like it, that I’d found under some nearby maple trees. :-D
(These glazed bricks have been around for as long as I can remember. I have no idea where they came from, but they would be at least 50 years old, and probably quite a few years older. While I intend to take them out of the various areas they are in now, to replace them with what should be there instead (like infill around the house!), these are going to be kept and repurposed. They’re too slippery to use as a “floor” for anything (which is probably what they were salvaged from originally), but I think they would be great on walls or something, at some point.)
Once I broke up the ridge, I used the metal blade on the scraper to push the soil away, to try and level things a bit more.
The grills in the fire pit, btw, are the racks from our old oven. After burning away what was already in the pit, I started working on the pile of branches by the collapsing log cabin. When a solid bed of coals was formed, I put the oven racks in it, then built the fire up again on top, to burn away any grease or whatever that got on them while being used. We basically didn’t bother to clean the oven when we knew we needed to replace it fairly soon. It did have a self-cleaning function, but we didn’t feel it was safe to use. With elements on the stove sparking, we didn’t want to find out if anything electrical would give out in the oven, too!
So I used the fire pit to get the cruddy bits off.
Shortly after this, my daughter joined me, and we built the fire up once again, to get rid of more of the branch pile.
I also used a metal rake to spread the soil out more, then took the hose to it, to break up the clumps. The water no longer pools at the bricks. :-)
After a while, my daughter took out the oven racks and set them aside to be hosed off, later.
The next thing I want to do is empty the fire pit of ashes, which will be spread over a garden area or two.
Once it is cleaned out, I want to add some cinder blocks or bricks into the pit. They will be there to hold one or both oven racks. This way, if we wanted to, we could use pots and pans for cooking over the coals. I do have a campfire rack, but it’s meant to put food on directly to cook, not hold the weight of cooking utensils. The oven racks and bricks will open up more possibilities for what we can do on our fire pit. :-)
While I was working on uncovering the fire pit ring, I had help.
Not the most useful kind of help!
More like the “pay attention to me or I’ll trip you” kind of help! :-D
Eventually, he got tired of trying to make me pick him up and went for a nap. :-)
Such a cutie!
He would make such a loving indoor cat, but we’ve had no luck in adopting him or Creamsicle out. :-(
Lately, Potato Beetle and Creamsicle have perfected the art of rubbing against our legs WHILE we are walking, somehow managing to maintain contact and pressure even as we pull our legs away.
Such determined creatures!
Also, Potato seems to like my new shoes. Maybe that’s it. He’s happy I no longer have these.
My left shoe had actually blown out like the one on the right, but I’d used Gorilla Super Glue on it. Amazingly, it is still holding! The other shoe was only coming loose at the toe tip, so I glued that – only to have the sides blow out, soon after! The tip managed to hold on for days longer.
I’m not a shoe person. It’s so hard for me to find shoes that accommodate my feet, I don’t bother. I have one pair of regular shoes. Maybe a pair of sandals, too, if I can find them. Not this time of year, apparently. :-/
Women’s shoes don’t fit me, at all. I can wear extra wide men’s shoes, but to get the right width, I go with a size that’s a fair bit longer than my feet. Which is why I keep catching the toes of my shoes on things. :-D It means my shoes wear out on the sides faster, as my feet bend in a different area than the shoes are designed for. It doesn’t matter if they are cheapies, or if I spring for a higher end shoe. By the end of a year, all my shoes end up looking like this!
Today is looking to be a slightly warmer, hopefully drier, day. One of my goals is to finally get some outside work done that had to be delayed. We shall see how that works out.
Yesterday evening, I was able to spend some time with the kittens.
That was an adventure!
They’ve taken to launching themselves at my legs as I walk past them, so in the space of a few steps, I’ll find myself with 2 or 3 kittens hanging off my pant legs. Then they’ll start climbing! :-D
These kittens are thoroughly socialized. :-D
Once I settle at my work table, they are all over me. Then things like this happen.
Turmeric settled right into my elbow and was ready for a nap!
Mostly, though, they were clambering all over me, but eventually I was able to get out my carving supplies and continue on my practice spoon.
They love the protective glove.
Saffron and Leyendecker were particularly cuddly.
Generally, though, I am able to continue carving while they clamber around me without too much trouble. Sometimes, it can be a problem. At one point, I had a kitten on my shoulder, eating my hair and tackling my ear. Another jumped up and they started to tussle. One fell off, but managed not to fall to the floor by dangling on a single claw.
From my ear.
Thankfully, kittens are very light. It didn’t even bleed. Having a kitten swinging off the side of my head was still rather uncomfortable! I didn’t even really do anything about it right away, since I had a spoon in one hand, and a knife in the other.
Eventually, though, I paused for kitten cuddles, which is when Beep Beep decided to get in on the action, by jumping directly on her kittens.
They retaliated by immediately starting to nurse. :-D
Just look at Saffron’s face!!!
I’m happy to say that, in the middle of all this, I did get some decent progress on the spoon. I’m slowly managing to get the bowl deeper and the handle in the rounded, swooping shape that I want. I also started cutting details into the morel at the end. Thankfully, the “holes” in morals are very random in shape and location, so I can put them wherever I feel they will create the overall shape that I’m after. Because the spoon blank already had a handle rough shaped out the way it did, the mushroom was very flat on two sides. As I cut in the details, it’s starting to look rounder, and more like an actual morel.
I plan to cheat, though.
The holes I’m making are pretty ragged on the inside, partly due to the small spaces I’m trying to work a knife tip into. There’s no way sandpaper can be used to smooth it out, so once the details are all roughed out, I plan to use a Dremel to smooth things out inside the holes. The last thing I plan to do, before oiling the wood, is take a lighter to the cap of the mushroom, to darken it like the real thing.
It’s slow going, but I’m rather pleased with how it’s turning out so far.
Later in the evening, while my daughter and I were chatting, she had a chance to cuddle with Keith.
What a face! :-D
Meanwhile…
When tending the kittens this morning, they were just as eager to climb me.
With the kittens now waiting at the top of the stairs before we can even open the door, and the upstairs cats trying to get down, all while I’m juggling things like a pitcher of water and a bucket of cat litter, my daughter has been trying to come down and help whenever she can. That usually involves using a spray bottle to keep the adult cats away, while I struggle down the stairs, trying not to step on kittens. Sometimes, she even manages to get down the stairs right after me, though this morning we had to close the door first, and she couldn’t come down until I was able to come back and carry away the 3 kittens that were on the top step, waiting for her. :-D
Having her there did mean she could get this picture for me. :-D
While walking across the basement, I had a couple of kittens making their flying leaps at my legs and hanging on while I walk, like I’m some sort of carnival ride. At one point, I had a kitten on each leg, and another hanging off my butt. :-D I believe that was Saffron, who made her way up to my head, soon followed by Leyendecker, attacking her tail. :-D
Once I got outside to do my rounds, I had Junk Pile cat and Rolando Moon already waiting for me.
I think Rolando spent the night in the tree outside our kitchen! The other cats are really after her, for some reason. :-(
Butterscotch and Rosencrantz were already quick to show up for food. Once I started going around the yard, much to my surprise, it was Rolando that followed along.
Butterscotch did start to head my way, but as soon as Rolando spotted her, she started growling. Which is what is happening in the photo above.
Rolando can be pretty mean herself! I’d be petting her and she’d be all happy with it, then suddenly turn and attack my hand. Even when I paused to do some weeding in the garden, she came over, just to attack my hand!
Nasty girl.
Ah, cats. We have way too many of them, but they do make life fun!
I just couldn’t let a day go buy without kitten pictures, could I?
Well, yes, I could, but I don’t want to. :-)
Our scorcher of a day was finally cooled down by a lovely rainfall – storms will once again go right past us, it looks like – so no chance to make use of the new mower.
*sadness*
;-)
So I decided it was a good time to once again do some practice carving on the spoon blank that came with my carving kit.
Which meant spending lots of time with adorable little furballs with sharp, sharp claws.
They were determined to use me as a bed, after using me as a jungle gym.
Even Beep Beep got in on the action, clambering over her babies, then lying on her back, going from laying with her head in my elbow to licking my nose enthusiastically! :-D
Apparently, I tasted good today, because all the kittens were after my arms and fingers. It might have something to do with the ham I had with lunch before coming downstairs.
It was pretty rough and tumble, with Beep Beep moving around and pushing her own kittens around before giving up and moving on.
Eventually, a daughter was able to come and rescue me.
Big Rig REALLY liked that glove.
Yes, one is missing. Nicco snuggled with Beep Beep on another chair until Beep Beep took off.
Once the kittens were extricated, I went back to trying to carve, only to have them return. Which was okay. I can continue to carve with a couple of kittens on the table in front of me.
Yeah, my arm is a mess! When Beep Beep was shifting around, she pushed Big Rig off my arm. She grabbed my arm as she fell and was dangling there for a while before she was able to scramble up.
Yes, it is all cleaned up and treated with antibiotic cream.
Saffron is just adorable! Turmeric was content on my lap for a while.
It didn’t last, of course.
They certainly do make things interesting!!
I did, at least, get some progress on that spoon! :-D
Unfortunately, there was other damage.
From the other cats.
At one point, I had two kittens in my arms and three on my head and shoulders, when we heard a loud crash above us. The three kittens exploded off my shoulders to the ground. The two in my arms, thankfully, didn’t panic like that.
Which reminds me. I need to get my husband to check my shoulders for wounds.
Later, as my daughters were on their way from the second floor to rescue me, they found the cause.
One of the cats had knocked over a plant pot with a substantial jade tree in it.
I am not impressed.
After seeing how the jade tree recovered after our move, however, I would not be surprised to see now branches and leaves growing out of that stem.
Assuming the cats don’t destroy it completely, before then. :-(
The Re-Farmer 