I’ve started a routine of putting cat kibble out for the kittens in the evening, when we tend to see them out more often.
When I came out through the sunroom, where we keep the cat food and bird seed, I startled Butterscotch and the one kitten that followed her to the food bowls by the house, so I made a point of putting kibble out near where her kittens are, first. Then I went around to the garden shed, where Beep Beep has her kittens, and put more there.
I never saw Beep Beep’s kittens, but in the time it took me to move from one area to the next, Butterscotch and her babies were hungrily eating together!
The bigger orange tabby couldn’t squeeze her way in, so she went around the other side.
Too cute!
If it weren’t for the size difference, we probably couldn’t tell the orange tabbies apart!
I also got video. :-D
That was about as close as they would let me come, though Teeny Tabby did let me touch her (his?) back while eating, a couple of times. I’m not sure if Teeny was being braver than the other kittens, or hungrier! :-D
I visited the beach after dropping my daughter off at work today. It was so beautiful!
After the storms last night, the lake is very calm this morning.
Though I am far from a morning person, I enjoy driving my daughter for her early shifts and being able to visit the beach this early. I hung around, taking photos, playing Pokemon Go, and looking for interesting rocks, for about half an hour. By 8:30 a.m., the beach was already getting crowded. There were even people playing beach volleyball! Well, it’s Saturday on a long weekend, so I guess that’s to be expected. Especially a festival weekend. There’s an annual festival held on the first weekend of August in town that has been going on for the last 80+ years here. I remember going to it as a child and teen, and it seemed to get smaller and smaller every year. By the time I moved away, I honestly wondered how much longer it would continue. Trends changed over the years, though, the the town wisely took advantage of them, and incorporated a viking village with re-enactors (turns out there’s a whole community of re-enactors that travel from festival to festival across Canada), complete with mock battles. It’s become quite huge.
Which means we’ll be avoiding it, as much as possible! LOL
As early as it still was, I headed home faster than usual because of the growing crowds, where I found another ray of sunshine waiting for me.
Today turned out to be a nice and productive day, despite the rain this morning.
After driving my younger daughter to work, my older daughter and I went to the city to do the rest of our monthly shopping. An unplanned stop at Walmart, where I got some canning supplies I hope to use to preserve chokecherries, though I have yet to decide what I will be doing with them; a quick trip to Costco – or at least as quick as any trip to Costco can be! – and then to the grocery store we discovered after our last trip. We had lunch before we started that last bit of shopping, going through their kitchen area, for some Chinese food. To be completely honest, it was hardly the best Chinese food we’d ever had, but it’s been so long, it was absolutely amazing! Talk about hitting the spot!
Of all the things to miss about city living. The dizzying variety of ethnic fast food! :-D
We took advantage of the incredible international sections of the store to get a few things we normally wouldn’t – including a couple of ingredients for something I want to try that I will save for its own post. We haven’t been doing a lot of cooking in the heat we’ve been having, and pretty much no baking at all. Our sourdough starters, sadly, did not survive. The Rye of SourOn was the first to go, and even though my daughters were using Sir Sour Alot almost every morning to make hotcakes, in double batches, it basically went black over one hot and muggy night.
When things start to cool down later in the year, and we’re not doing so much yard work, we’ll get another Alaskan sourdough going and start baking again. Until then, we stock up on bread at Costco and freeze most of it. We’ve been going through bread rather quickly, since no one wants to cook in the heat, so we’ve been having lots of sandwiches! :-D
For now, the less time in the kitchen, the better, which means our grocery shopping trips are filled with more things that can be eaten cold, or with minimal cooking.
We finished early enough that we went straight home to unload before heading back into town to pick up my daughter from work. We were able to make a stop at the beach in the process.
It was much windier at the lake, and the water was so choppy!
Some people even braved the waves!
I’m not sure I would have been willing to do that, but then, I’m not a very strong swimmer.
The water gets so murky when it’s like this! Not that it’s ever clear, given how shallow it is, but on days like this, it’s pretty opaque!
The weather had cleared up around our area by then, so after we got home, I went straight to mowing the outer yard. I’m still mowing a drive-able path to the second gate. We have yet to fix the barbed wire gate. I’ve decided not to make another barbed wire gate, and will instead pick up some fencing wire to use instead.
Now that we have power to the barn, and my brother fixed the melted plug end of the line to the storage shed, I should make a point of going around the areas I mow with the weed trimmer. Though I will not be focusing on the outer yard for clean up, other than what’s essential, I also don’t want to give things a chance to get overgrown where we need to access them. Tall grass is one thing. Nettles, burdock, thistles and self-sown trees are something else entirely!
After I finished with the mowing and was coming back to the house, I noticed Butterscotch’s kittens were out. I got some cat kibble for the kittens and refilled the water bowl by where Beep Beep has her babies. Beep Beep’s kittens were out, too, but only the tuxedo stayed out while I was around, and did not like me being there. So I went back to Butterscotch and her babies as they ate. I actually got to pet the teeny tabby! That itty bitty kitty is turning out to be the braver of the lot. Unfortunately, none of my attempts to get photos turned out. Ah, well.
The fridge and cupboards are stocked up, the freezer is full, the outer lawn is mowed, and I got to pet a kitten.
While doing my evening walk around the yard, I ended up spending almost an hour, near the kittens. I had brought out some cat food, and refilled the old pot that I am using for water near the garden shed, then just hung out.
So did the mosquitoes.
It was worth it.
Butterscotch’s kittens love an exposed root, sitting on it or stretching themselves out along its length. So I put a bit of cat kibble on it.
There are only two in this photo, but for a while, both calico/trourties, and the teeny tabby, where eating with their mom. The bigger tabby showed up later.
Beep Beep’s kittens enjoyed some kibble, too, but weren’t too sure about my being nearby! So they hid under one of the old car seat/benches.
I suppose it’s a good thing we aren’t planning to clear this junk away anytime soon, because they love climbing all over it.
Speaking of climbing…
That little tuxedo takes after it’s mother!
I took some video, too, and am uploading it right now. I’ll include those in another post. :-)
The Re-Farmer 