I was a little late in doing the outside part of my morning routine.
Which meant there were hungry kitties wondering where I was!
Little Braveheart was not only willing to let me come fairly close, but she kept going for the food bowls by the sun room, even when I added kibble to the bowl near the spirea they like to hide and play in.
Oh, those beautiful, beautiful eyes! :-)
The Re-Farmer
I dumped my laundry on the bed for folding, and it immediately got catted! :-D
Our mama cat and Leyendecker had formed a Nicco sandwich on my clean sheets. Turmeric had been asleep in my arms when I had to get up, so I was going to gently put her on the bed. Instead, she jumped right on top of the Nicco sandwich.
Then promptly squirmed into the pile. Which mama cat took advantage of and began grooming them enthusiastically. Turmeric and Leyendecker, meanwhile, started hunting for nip. !!! Their own mom won’t let them anymore, but “grandma” doesn’t seem to care. LOL
The Re-Farmer
Today was our day to head into the city for our monthly shop. We will be making another smaller trip, later in the month, but the big stuff is done. We normally would have done it a few days ago, but doing Costco on a weekend just didn’t appeal to us! :-D
So that took up the bulk of our day. Which made it one of those days were some plenty of stuff got accomplished, but it doesn’t feel like it, since much of the day was spent driving. :-D
While doing my rounds this evening, I was able to play with Butterscotch’s babies again. :-)
The orange babies were quite eager to play, while the calico and the orange and white kitten (which was sitting in the broken barrel planter at the time this picture was taken) looked like they were falling asleep where they sat!
Later, I headed over to check on the sunflowers. There are still only 2 seed heads that are opening, but there’s at least one that looks like it may start opening tomorrow.
Then I noticed something… different… about one of the sunflowers.
Very different.
It is covered with developing seed heads.
I started counting them. I got to 21, and I’m sure I missed some. Along with the several at the very top, every single leaf on the stalk has a seed head developing in the “elbow”. Some of them were absolutely minuscule, but they were there!
I looked at every other sunflower in the rows, and there are no others like this. All the other plants (that aren’t too deer damaged) are developing just one seed head. Which, for these giant varieties, is to be expected. This one plant is among the many that tower above my head now, so it is definitely one of the giants, and not an ornamental type that found its way into a seed packet.
It looks amazing! I really look forward to seeing how it progresses!
Speaking of progress, I made sure to check the pumpkins, too.
The first pumpkin to develop is growing nicely, but it was the the next plant that had me smiling.
The pumpkin plant in the middle mound has finally developed a pumpkin! I made sure to put something under it, so it won’t develop rot from the damp ground.
The third pumpkin mound had a surprise for me, too.
There’s a new baby pumpkin developing!
Our squash beds had one last surprise for me tonight, too.
That, my friends, is the tiniest of birdhouse gourds! :-D
There’s just one that has started developing. I can see no sign of gourds on the others, but they are all so small, I honestly wasn’t expecting any to develop at all.
It should be interesting to see if this one gourd will survive. Especially as we start to get some actually chilly overnight temperatures.
Before it got too dark, the girls helped me with one last thing outside. We moved my daughter’s tent, then moved the picnic table under it.
September is a month filled with birthdays and anniversaries, so we have decided to celebrate them all at once. On the long weekend – weather willing – we will set up by the fire pit and have…
Chinese food.
And birthday/anniversary cake.
And maybe roast some hot dogs over a fire, too. :-D
The tent has one solid wall that we will add to the far side to act as a bit of a wind break, since that is the direction the wind usually comes from. We also have screen walls, in case bugs are a problem.
If the weather isn’t co-operative, we now have the sun room and old kitchen cleaned out and organized, so we can move into there. The old kitchen is downright pleasant to sit in now, plus it’s close to the bathroom. More importantly, there are no stairs, so my mom can get in and out more easily than into the new part of the house. Plus, there is also a door we can keep closed, and keep the cats out! :-D
This is planned for almost 2 weeks from now, so we have plenty of time to make sure everything is clear and accessible for my mother.
Hopefully, it will all work out. A lot can happen in 2 weeks! :-D
The Re-Farmer
Last night, as I was finishing up my rounds, I spotted Butterscotch and her babies, lounging in the old barrel planter.
So, of course, I went over to say hello.
I wasn’t able to touch any of them, but they are willing to come closer!
Then I spotted a surprise at the other end of the yard. I zoomed in with my phone’s camera as much as I could, because I knew they’d run hide, once I started moving closer.
Junk Pile cat and all THREE of her kittens were playing on the log and among the flowers. Junk Pile is to the right of centre, sitting by the log. Tabby is in the grass on the far left. Little Braveheart is near the end of the log, looking up at the Shy One.
This was the best I could get of Shy One!
This morning, though, when I came out to refill their food bowls, I found all three kittens by the old doghouse my brother brought for the cats. I keep a dish of kibble either in front of, or just inside, the opening. This time, it was inside, and it was the only container that still had food in it, and the kittens were quite interested!
This evening, I made a twisted rope of yarn and attached it to a stick, for a simply toy for Butterscotch’s kittens.
They quite like it!
Even Creamsicle liked it. :-)
One of the kittens wasn’t too sure about Creamsicle, though…
It was quite funny to hear the tiny little hiss when Creamsicle tried to sniff the kitten’s nose!
I have to admit, today I rather needed some kitten therapy. I don’t know why, but today was one of those “down” days, right from the start. Part of it is, I’m feeling the year slip by so quickly, and so little of what I had hoped to accomplish this year was done. Granted, we had the garden this year, but really, once it was in, it wasn’t a lot of work. Spring had so much wonderful rain, so I don’t mind that delaying some things, but then the heat hit, and that was pretty relentless. In my younger days, I would have been out there in the heat, anyhow, but this old body just can’t tolerate heat like it used to. Then there were all the things breaking down, and the expenses coming with it.
Now, it’s almost September, and it feels like I’ve accomplished so little. There were so many things on the list to work on, with many of them being “do this; but if you can’t, do this other thing instead”, rather than being a checklist. Yet, as summer winds to an end, what did we manage? We painted a picnic table. Got the fire pit cleaned out and set up. Mowed the lawn a lot, until the heat hit and the grass stopped growing. Very little clean up in the spruce grove has been done – and only part of that can be blamed on wasps! Even keeping up on the areas we cleaned out previously slacked off this year, mostly because of the heat.
Anyhow.
Normally, I just plug away and don’t really think about it. Every now and then, though, I just have one of “those” days. Today was one of them.
Kitten therapy helps. :-)
The Re-Farmer
Last night, I was able to spend some time on the log seat near the junk pile, and work on getting Butterscotch’s kittens used to human interaction.
I saw all four were out when I was heading to the nearby garden beds, so I left the garden for later. They all ran off, but after I sat down, Butterscotch came over for pets. After a while, she started making some comforting noises, and the kittens emerged.
I had a twig to wiggle at them, and one orange kitten in particular really likes that. Mostly, they just sort of wandered around me, then hid, then tried to sneak around behind me.
I could hardly see the kitten in the above picture, from where I was sitting, but was able to reach my arm around to get the photo.
They really love the collapsed barrel!
Now that I’ve cleared away some of the undergrowth, I realize I was wrong about it. It is a half-barrel, not a full barrel like I’d thought, and I can now see the dirt inside, so it was, indeed, another barrel planter that got knocked over.
The kittens are using the dirt as a litter box! :-D
The one kitten that really likes to play with the stick is also the one that is willing to come the closest.
Yes, I got to touch him. I was even able to pick him up for a few moments! He wasn’t too sure about that and wanted down very quickly, but he also came back again, quickly. Mostly, as long as Mom was around, they were willing to play with me there. So that is some major progress!
Now, if only we could do that Junk Pile’s babies! It’s much harder when the Mom isn’t willing to come near us, herself.
The Re-Farmer
While doing my rounds this morning, I made sure to check where I’d found wasps while trying to clean up yesterday.
I was surprised by what I saw.
First, there was the hole in the ground. I didn’t expect to see an actual hole like that.
Also, do you see the light brown stuff scattered around? Particularly in the grass to the left?
Those are pieces of nest cells.
When I was spraying the area with the hose, I couldn’t see any of this. I’m not sure if it was because I was so focused on the wasps, themselves, or if some critter came through during the night and dug things up even more.
I also zoomed in to the root or stick across the hole in the ground.
The wasps on the stick/root itself were quite still and just sitting there. Like they were sleeping or something. The other wasps were more active.
I don’t know what kind of wasps these are. They are smaller than the yellow jackets I’m used to seeing, and have more black to yellow on their bodies.
Well, whatever they are, we have to get rid of them.
I used the hose again, filling the hole. I saw a lot fewer wasps flying around than before, so I hope that means they are moving on to somewhere else. Until they do, we’re going to have to be careful. Especially when trying to interact with Butterscotch’s babies.
Which one of my daughters was able to do, last night!
I saw through the window that all 4 of them were out and playing, so my younger daughter went out, sat on the ground and wiggled a stalk of wheat (self-sown from the straw we’ve been using as mulch this year) at them.
Two of them even came close enough to sniff her sandal, and when one of them turned away to start eating, she was able to pet its back – until it noticed that she was touching it! *L*
Progress!!! :-)
The Re-Farmer
It was worth getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.
Little Braveheart was willing to come closer for a wiggling flag, than a wiggling stick. :-D
The bit of fur visible at the bottom of the picture is Potato Beetle, who really, really wanted cuddles!
I didn’t stay too long, though. Tabby was hanging around, and I spotted their even more elusive sibling making several attempts to get to the freshly refilled food container. I didn’t want to keep any cats from being able to eat!
The Re-Farmer
While doing this morning’s rounds, I got to see all of Butterscotch’s babies!
My apologies for the terrible picture. :-(
I was zoomed in from the far side of the lilacs in the flower garden to get this. Thankfully, after clearing out the spreading cherry saplings, I had a perfectly positioned window to watch them through. As soon as I moved, however, they were gone!
I was just finishing up and starting to go into the house when I saw Little Braveheart was out, so I sat on the steps and tried to lure her closer.
This was as close as she would get. She was curious enough to come out, but content enough to just sit there!
After I while, I did see a little Tabby face peering at me through the spirea, too. :-) Not quite as brave as Little Braveheart!
I really hope we can get these bebbies socialized, at a little bit!
The Re-Farmer
I headed out to water things this evening, but got distracted.
Junk Pile and two of her babies were out!
I ended up lying right on the ground, in hopes that would make them less intimidated by the tall(ish) human.
Creamsicle took full advantage of the situation.
What a silly boy!
Tabby didn’t come any closer than this, but did spend some time rolling around under the grapes, in between watching me.
Little Braveheart did come a bit closer to the stick I was wiggling, but not close enough to actually touch it.
It was funny to watch Little Braveheart and her mother. They share many of the same mannerisms, and often mimicked each other’s movements.
They also have the same eyes! Even though the markings in their fur are different, they have the same facial structure and many other similarities.
The grapes, meanwhile, did eventually get watered, and are looking really good.
The more shaded ones at the back of the trellis are noticeably darker than the ones that are more exposed.
While tending the rest of the garden, I found this.
The tallest of our sunflowers is starting to open up its seed head! So far, it’s the only one at this stage.
Awesome!!! I can’t wait to see how big the seed head gets.
Meanwhile…
My husband and I had our medical appointments today. Heading out two days in a row was really hard on him. Thankfully, we got in quickly, and didn’t have long to wait.
I learned one thing today that my husband forgot to mention after yesterday’s appointment at the pain clinic. The doctor there was going to phone our doctor here to discuss recommended pain medications.
Another reason I’m unhappy I wasn’t allowed to go in with him yesterday. He forgets things more often, these days. At least he remembered this while with our doctor!
The doctor had a couple of concerns. For one, he will be referring my husband to an endocrinologist, so we’ll be getting a phone call about that. He also wants to adjust my husband’s prescriptions, but will wait until he talks to the pain clinic doctor, go through his current medications, and think about it. Once he’s done that, he will fax any new/changed prescriptions directly to the pharmacy.
As for the rest of my husband’s bloodwork, it was all fine.
Then it was my turn. My bloodwork was fine, across the board. During the physical, we did get a laugh. After testing my reflexes, he did the usual putting his hand on my knee while flexing the joint, as he started to ask if I had any issues with pain, etc. When he lifted my lower leg, he cut himself off in mid sentence with a startled “Oh!!”
To which I responded to his half-finished question, “yes. Arthritis. You felt that, did you?” :-D
Yeah, both my knees do some interesting things when they’re flexed!!
One thing with both my husband and I was, what we thought were heat rashes turned out to be fungal infections. !! So we both got prescriptions for creams to treat that. When we were done, I dropped my husband off at home, picked up a daughter, then headed into town to get the prescriptions filled before the pharmacy closed. A stop at the mail on the way out found a letter from the heart clinic, with my husband’s rescheduled appointment, early next month.
I’ll have to remind him to phone them about it right away, to arrange some sort of accommodations, like having a stretcher available for him, for an appointment they say might take up to 2 hours.
So while nothing much changed at today’s appointment, steps were taken and others are being put in place, for the near future.
We shall see what comes of it.
The Re-Farmer
I can’t help it. I just have to share!
Nicco and Turmeric, all snuggled up!
Can they get any cuter?
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 