We get strange, furry birds visiting our bird bath at times!
outside cats
Long day and ready to crash!
I headed out with my daughter to drop her off for work earlier than usual. She was very kind enough to be willing to be stuck outside until someone with a key showed up (which, thankfully, did not turn out to be long) so that I could head over to another town almost an hour’s drive from her work. It was a court date for our vandal, this time in a town closer to us – though not with the extra driving this morning! *L*
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Kitten head count, and my turts
I just had to share some adorable kitten pictures I got today, while doing a head count to make sure they were all there.
They are all snoozy in these pictures, but they were wild beasts, this morning! LOL I tried to go into the sun room quickly, so as not to let any kittens into the old kitchen, but Beep Beep got in my way, slowing me down enough that one kitten snuck through while I was closing the door. I had to open it again to grab, but three more dashed in.
I gave up at that point.
Once in the old kitchen, they went nuts, climbing and running and jumping.
They look so calm and peaceful in the pictures below.
The pictures lie! LOL
Click on the pictures to see them full size.
While taking the pictures, I noticed the 2 kittens eyes were stuck shut again. :-( I thought they were doing better for a while, but they’re still all leaky. So I came back with the supplies to wash them. I’d done it this morning, and found the top of our freezer is the perfect height to work on their eyes, so with the help of my daughter, we got Dave into the old kitchen to wash his eyes. Then I went to put Dave with his cousins and get Keith, but had to quickly hand him through the door to my daughter to take care of, because I was trapped by kittens already.
Especially Dave. Who wanted cuddles.
How could I say no to those sad, leaky, eyes surrounded by water flattened fur?
Dave is growing on us. Big time!
Beyond our kitten fix, it was a quiet Father’s Day, which we celebrated after my daughter got home from work. My daughter had a short shift, so I stayed in town. It’s a good time for me to recharge and relax, though depending on the weather, that often means parking different places, sitting in my van and playing Pokemon Go, under the watchful eyes of my turts.
I used to spend a lot of time in our van, before the move. In our previous van, I was able to cover most of the dash with self-adhesive pearls and beads, glow in the dark “rocks”, and lots and lots of little critters, held in place with Fun Tack. At Christmas, I added tiny trees with itsy bitsy LED lights in them. It was one of those things where people would do double takes and start smiling – or take photos as they drove past. :-D I figured, if I was going to spend so much time in my van, it may as well be my happy place!
When we got this van, I tried to do the same, but the vinyl is different, and the adhesive wouldn’t stick as well. So I have a much smaller display.
I just love that bobble headed turtle, with the wiggly, wiggly legs.
The Re-Farmer
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Clean up: south fence path progress, and finding flowers
Today, I finally had both the time and the weather conditions to work on the south fence line of the spruce grove (there there aren’t actually any spruces left…).
So, while waiting for the freshly washed gates to dry, I brought out the weed trimmer, my new reciprocating saw, and a whole lot of extension cord!
Here is my first progress shot.
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Things that are, and are not
It’s been quite interesting, as I work around the yard, in areas I worked on last year, and seeing the differences.
One of the differences is, I am seeing all sorts of things popping up, in areas that used to be choked with years of dead grass, fallen branches and garbage, or hidden away by low hanging branches.
While mowing past the north side of the spruce grove, where I am now able to mow right up to the tree line, I was observing some of the wild roses I’d pruned down, but didn’t pull their roots, coming back up. For the most part, I will be leaving those. I also passed what looked for all the world like carrots, growing in the moss!
This is the largest of several I could see. I came back later and poked around the base, just to be sure.
No, they are not carrots.
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Work done, things found and kitten fix
While doing my rounds yesterday evening, I decided to prune away the dead parts of the mock orange at the clothes line platform.
It did so well last year, it’s a shame so much of it died over the winter. At the same time, I was happy to see the tiniest of leaf buds struggling to emerge from some main branches. I pruned all the dead stuff off and cleared out some Virginia Creeper that was trying to re-establish itself. That’s a wheel barrow full, right there. Now that it’s all open and pruned, I’m thinking it will recover quite well.
While hauling this away, I also started picking up branches in the West yard that had come down in the storms. I kept finding more and more branches – most were just small enough to be hidden by the grass, but still be enough that I wouldn’t want to hit them with the mower! I probably cleared another 2 wheelbarrows worth from the West lawn, including the section behind the storage house. I found more in the maple grove. I’m glad I was able to mow as much as I did, as it made it easier to find the fallen branches. Branches that had fallen into the areas I still need to get to with the weed trimmer were almost completely hidden! I’m also glad I brought my pruners with me, because I ended up cutting away spirea and caragana that was trying to reclaim the spaces between the lilacs, plum and apple trees again. It’s going to be a constant battle to keep those under control!
Then I checked on the transplanted raspberries and found a surprise.
A single asparagus spear!
It wasn’t there a few days ago. It wasn’t there last year.
It may be that, after having cleared away the weeds and mulching the area, a hidden root was finally able to grow.
Of course, I did have to go into the sun room to get my pruning sheers, and managed to get this adorable picture.
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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. :-D
The Re-Farmer
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10
While doing the cat stuff this evening, kittens were getting into the old kitchen. When I put out wet cat food for them, I did a head count, to make sure all 9 kittens were accounted for.
I got to 10.
I counted again.
Still 10.
That means the orange kitten we thought was taken back by Rosencrantz or Guildenstern has been here with his sibling all this time, and we couldn’t tell it apart from the other orange ones.
Which also means all those times we did head counts for 9, we were missing a kitten and didn’t know it!
Well, I guess that means it’s eyes healed up fast, because none of the all-orange kittens have eye issues. Just the one tabby (whose eyes are much better today!).
That was rather surreal! 😄
The Re-Farmer
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Storms and stuff
Things got rather interesting, yesterday!
A series of thunderstorms made their way through our area. Our power flickered off and on about 6 times, that I know of. The first time it happened, I was on my desktop computer, when suddenly, it was off. !! Thankfully, I wasn’t working on anything that was affected by it.
I’m rather happy that we have power bars, everywhere!! :-D
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Kitty Status
Just a quick update on the new kitties.
Here are a couple of photos from last night.
After cleaning their eyes, I put the new kittens into the box nest, and they cuddled right up to each other.
That grey tabby looks as woeful as Not-Slick!
I think I’m going to have a hard time telling the orange tabby apart from Beep Beep’s orange tabbies!
When Beep Beep came in, she seemed rather okay with the new addition – you can see the new grey tabby by her front paws in the above picture.
When I checked on them this morning, as expected, all the kittens were in one big pile!
The new grey tabby is in the back, and his eyes are stuck shut again. He could hear a commotion, of course, and was growling away. I did not try to go near him. We’ll have to come back a few times throughout the day to check their eyes, and wash them as needed.
There is no sign of the new orange tabby. Either it’s under the dresser, or the mama managed to get it out before the door was closed for the night. I’m going to assume for now that it’s eyes will need cleaning again, too.
Beep Beep was with the kittens overnight and when I opened the storm door for the sun room this morning, Butterscotch was outside, waiting. She seemed to want me to move the “gate”, but eventually jumped in.
While going around to put cat kibble and bird feed out, I passed Rosencrantz or Guildenstern, coming around the corner by the main entry. I was happy to see her. When I went around to put the bird feed out, I did see her other grey kitten disappear under the concrete steps, so she has gone back to him. Still no sign of the 4th kitten, though. :-(
It’s unfortunate that we’ve split the litter up like this, but it’s the only way to treat their eyes. At least we know Butterscotch and Beep Beep are willing to nurse any and all the kitties, so we don’t have to worry about the ones in the sun room going hungry, even if their mom doesn’t jump the gate to check on them. Plus, they’re big enough that they can start eating the cat kibble.
We will keep a close watch on them.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 