… have come out to play.
Three of Butterscotch’s 4 kittens came out to play this evening.
I haven’t seen Beep Beep’s kittens in a couple of days. I hope she didn’t move them. They’re a bit big for that, and she’s a tiny cat!
The Re-Farmer
outside cats
More Kittens!
This morning, we finally saw Butterscotch’s kittens!
All four of them.
Looks like she found a nest for them in the pallet pile. Which means we can see the area from our living room window.
Mama was being very watchful!
Click on the pictures to see bigger versions.
Two orange tabbies and two are…
Is that called calico or tortoise shell?
It does make me wonder about Beep Beep’s kittens. She has a tuxedo. We have not seen any tuxedo cats outside. Not even at my brother’s.
Anyhow…
My apologies for the poor quality pictures. I was taking them through reflections on the glass. I tried to take out the glare as much as I could when I cropped and resized the photos.
They are SO adorable! I can’t wait until the two sets of kittens connect.
Our outdoor cat population has gone up by at least 6. Maybe 7.
What are we going to do with them?
The Re-Farmer
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More Kitten
I had a chance to sit outside on the steps the kittens are hidden inside. I was able to give Beep Beep some cat treats, and her little ones came out to see what was going on.
The tuxedo came out first. It seems to be the more adventurous one!
It even went for my fingers! :-D
You can see a ball of ice at the bottom of the picture. This is from my water balloon experiment. I still don’t know if it’s working! I’m not around to see if Beep Beep does anything with is (if nothing else, it’s watering the bush a bit), and I haven’t been around to see if the cats are checking out the larger one I left in one of their water bowls.
The tuxedo even went farther afield while I was there.
The grey tabby did eventually come out and stay out, but by then it was too dark for photos.
The Re-Farmer
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Kittens!
I did a walk around the yard, picking up the larger twigs and branches that have come down in the wind. I was about to head into the house when Beep Beep came over. Normally, she comes right over for pets, but this time, she wouldn’t let me touch her, and went along the front of the house, which has the door we don’t use. Thinking she might be more comfortable and come over if I didn’t move too much, I sat on the concrete steps while she lounged behind a bush next to them.
Then she disappeared.
I couldn’t figure out where she went, until I heard a little mmmrrr? behind me. Getting up I looked around, then saw her peeking at me from between the concrete steps and the basement wall under the door.
I had no idea there was space back there! Certainly not enough for her to come through on the side I was looking in. I walked around and sure enough, there’s a larger gap on the other side.
She came out again, but wouldn’t come near me. Instead, she lay down on the ground behind the bush again, so I sat down.
Then, suddenly, there were kittens with her!
I dangled my fingers over the edge of the concrete for a bit, and the tabby went for them, then disappeared behind the stairs. The tuxedo wouldn’t come close, but was curious.
I think there is a fairly large opening under the stairs. Not hollow, but not completely solid, either.
I saw two kittens, but when Beep Beep was rolling around, giving herself a dust bath, later on, I could see that she had three lactating teats. So there is probably a third kitten under there!
Now we just need to figure out where Butterscotch took her babies. I am still thinking they might be in the threshing machine.
We will then have the “onerous” task of socializing them. :-D
The Re-Farmer
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Beep Beep and views
As the girls and I headed out to the city, Beep Beep came out to see us off.
Beep Beep is pretty much the only one of the outside cats we are seeing regularly. Every time I see her, I am amazed by how little she is! Just fur and bones!
During the drive to and from the city, we saw many beautiful fields of canola in full bloom.
Gorgeous!
We even saw some cranes just half a mile from our place this morning, some pelicans flying over as we were leaving the city on a different route, and a herd of bison, with their little ones, on the final leg home.
Pretty awesome. :-)
The Re-Farmer
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Dead Wood Down, and cat models
With yesterday’s heat, I did not head out until the evening, to clean up the piles of wood I’d cleared out the day before. We had caught just the edge of the storm that night, with some rain and high winds, but nothing near as bad as the areas to the south of us. Some places got tennis ball sized hail, and there were power outages in places.
When I got to where I’d left the cut wood, I noticed a branch, just off by itself, but still near the pile of deadwood. Had I missed it, somehow how?
Then I looked up.
The big maple tree reaches out over this area, and it has a lot of dead branches. One of them was broken in the high winds we got, and the bigger part of it got hung up on other dead branches.
Lovely.
After I clearer away the piles of wood, I added another length to the extended pruning saw. I was able to pull down the dangling branch, then with the extra length, was able to cut down two dead branches.
The first one was the one at the bottom of the dangling branch you can see in the picture above. The other was a larger one, that you can see part of, above the big, thick main branch. That one was being partly held up by the main branch.
You can see all three branches, here. The big one, as it got hung up on the main branch on the way down, basically exploded, sending side branches and twigs all over the place! (That would be Rolando Moon, in the background. :-D )
After taking out the big branches, I filled two wheelbarrows with small branches and twigs, just from here!
We had a wiener roast shortly after, and when we were done eating, I stayed longer to clear both wheelbarrows. :-)
While we were having our cook out, we got visited by Nasty Crime Boy, who decided that one of the folding chairs we brought out would be a great place to hang out.
When my daughter came closer with her phone to take pictures, he was very curious about the whole thing, sticking his face up to the phone, then reaching out to grab her with his paws!
Too adorable. :-D
I ended up staying out several hours, tending the fire and watching the sun setting behind the trees while listening to the renter’s cows mooing, with frogs and cranes, croaking in the distance. By the time the girls came out to check on me, it was fully dark except for the glowing coals in the fire pit.
Life is good.
The Re-Farmer
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I’ve Been Rolando Mooned!
We’ve noticed that, when we get the fire pit going, Rolando Moon likes to hang around.
Last night, she decided she really wanted my hot dog.
When she couldn’t get it, she demanded neck skritshes, instead.
It was either that, or she’d fall right off me!
(photos taken by my daughters)
The Re-Farmer
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Outer yard mowing – a sadness!
Today, I broke out the riding mower to work on the outer yard.
Although I don’t intend to focus on any clean up out there, we do still need to keep parts of it mowed.
I started by “framing” out the areas I wanted to mow, mostly for access. You can see how tall it is, plus there is last year’s grass under it, too. So I was extra slow and careful while going through the thickest parts, and keeping a very sharp eye out for anything I didn’t want to mow over. I did have to get off a couple of times to move away sticks or old wooden shingles.
Next, I started working on sections, beginning with the driveway.
The area to the left of the driveway in the photo had lots of horse droppings. Just that side. The other side didn’t. Which is weird.
My parents didn’t have horses.
The next section I focused on was in front of the shed we’re storing my parents’ stuff in, so we can get in and out of it more easily as we add more to the shed.
I had to go over this section twice.
I had not originally intended to do this, but decided to mow a pathway to the other gate. We still need to fix the barb wire gate, and this way, we can get to it without having to fight our way though tall, tick infested, grass.
I was REALLY careful doing this section, because I remember there were all sorts of random piles of stuff. Basically, I just followed old tire tracks.
Next, I started working on a section between my dad’s old car, and the burn barrel.
I had just got around by the car, when this happened.
Yeah. I broke a belt.
On my new mower.
Sadness.
Woe.
Thankfully, belts are not expensive, but I will have to enlist the help of my older brother to fix it, I think.
I guess I just pushed it too hard. :-(
I wasn’t about to let all that wonderful cut grass go to waste, though. After putting away the mower, I got out the rake and a wheelbarrow, and started hauling grass to the flower garden. Amazingly, I had to actually start scrounging for grass clippings to finish it! I not only raked in front of the storage shed, but also to the barn, then back to the driveway.
Which is when this happened.
It finally gave out.
And this was the good fan rake!
We do have one other one, though I expect that one to break soon, too. I only needed one more load of grass clippings to finish, though. I had to go to the path I mowed to the back get to get enough!
But it is finally gone! The entire flower garden is now covered with a thick later of straw, leaves and grass clippings. I’ve even started adding the contents of our compost bucket.
It is now being thoroughly soaked down.
The next step we plan to take (aside from continuing to add any grass clippings, etc. that we can, over the summer) is to pick up a couple of bales of peat moss and add that as another layer. I really want to build it up, to kill off the invasive plants and cover any little remaining stumps from stuff I’d trimmed away completely. Especially at the old fence line at the end of the garden, where things had gotten pretty wild.
Over by the fire pit, my mother’s lilies are now in full bloom.
They are doing really, really well. I think, once we have the flower garden built up, I’ll transplant these into it.
While I was taking pictures, I felt something rubbing against my leg…
It was a Butterscotch!
She looks ticked off. :-D
She was seen earlier today, carrying a kitten. My daughter barely saw more than little legs and a tail, and couldn’t even tell what colour it was. It seems she had moved her kitten(s?) to the garden shed. I’d gone into it yesterday, looking for something, and she came out from under stuff in the back and began hissing at me. Even though I didn’t go much past the doorway, I guess it was still too much for her, and she found another place for her kitten(s?).
So we are back to not having a mower, until I can replace that belt. I won’t be able to phone the shop my brother got it from until Monday.
*sigh*
Ah, well. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of other work to be done!
The Re-Farmer
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First Wiener Roast of the year!
Last night, we decided to take advantage of the lovely evening, and have our first wiener 
roast of the year! :-D
When I was a kid, we used to have these quite often. I would go into the bush with a machete-type knife (we even found it while packing away my parents’ stuff!) and cut dogwood branches for roasting sticks. They were perfect for it, naturally growing long, straight and supple. Sometimes, I could get ones with a perfect Y shape. The bark came off easily, and I would strip off the top several inches, then sharpen them to points.
At the end of the day, we’d get a fire going, roast wieners and stuff our faces with hot dogs, then finish off with marshmallows. When we were done eating, it would be quite dark, and we would start burning our roasting sticks until the tips were glowing, then wave them around in the dark, using the red tips to create shapes of light in the air.
Sometimes, my parents hosted parties, and their friends from the city would come out with their kids, and there would be dozens of people all over. Most of the time, though, it was just us kids. We had a blast!
Thanks to the burning my daughter and I did earlier, when I cleared the yard to mow the lawn, I had a nice pile of sticks ready to set up for a fire. We brought the hose (of course) and chairs. We were thinking of moving the picnic table over, but it’s in serious need of cleaning, so the girls brought out one of our small folding tables, instead.
We’re going to have to invest in metal roasting forks soon. I picked up a package of wooden roasting sticks along with the S’mores kit, and they are a bit too flammable and bouncy! :-D
I had hoped my husband could join us, even if just to sit on his walker while we roasted wieners for him, but he had to lie down for the night, before we even started. :-(
It got to watch a beautiful sunset while we set up and got the fire going.
I’m going to have to get out there with the weed trimmer. *L*
The outside cats were all over the place, checking out what we were doing! Rolando Moon staked out a spot on the log pile to watch us. The hose sprays water at where two hoses join, and at the nozzle, and the cats played with the spray!
At one point, while I was sitting and eating, Rolando Moon actually jumped up onto my knee! That’s a first. Even the friendliest ones are still quite stand offish, so this is a big step in at least Rolando Moon’s comfort levels with us.
Ah… perfect for toasting those wieners!
We made some S’mores – that’s something we never did when I was a kid. I didn’t even hear of them until after I had my own kids.
I find I really enjoy toasting marshmallows, and getting that perfect state of golden brown on the outside, and all melty on the inside.
Problem with that is, I don’t actually enjoy eating them. Too sweet!
None of us are all that big on sweets, so while the hot dogs disappeared quickly, there’s still lots of S’more making supplies! :-D
Best part was, the entire night, we only saw one mosquito!
There is at least that one benefit to the dry spring we had!
After a while, we just hung out to watch the fire die down.
I hope we will be able to do this often. Even if we don’t have wiener roasts, to at least get a fire going and enjoy the evening. We have a lot of wood we need to use up, and will be adding more as the clean up continues, so why not? :-D
It was a fantastic evening!
The Re-Farmer
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Finding things out
I had an adorable surprise, while puttering around the kitchen, making supper.
I had a furry audience!
Trülbus was watching me. :-D
Then he and our mama cat started talking to each other through the window. Too funny!
This evening, I got a phone call from my older brother and had a lovely long talk. He was able to answer some questions for me – and not answer others!
That linoleum under the eaves?
No clue. It wasn’t there before. He’d never seen it before. Best guess; when our late brother was building the sun room, he might have put them there to protect the underside of the eaves from any back splash of rain from the sun room roof. That was the only thing he could think of. :-D
He also told me that he’d been looking through some old photos and happened on one taken inside the shed we’re storing my parents’ stuff in. There in the photo was an A-frame ladder. He knew we hadn’t been able to find one, so he let me know.
As soon as I got off the phone, I grabbed a flashlight and checked.
On the one hand, yay! It’s there!
On the other hand… it’s completely blocked with stuff.
Since I was there anyway, I looked around and noticed something odd about a hand saw hanging on the back wall.
It was two hand saws. One of them was the fine, narrow bladed one I remember using in my youth, that I was wishing I had while doing yard work.
Also, completely blocked off. Plus, way out of reach. My late brother would have hung it up there. He was fairly tall, but not that tall!
That shed is so full of stuff. Somehow, we’re going to have to fit in more!
*sigh*
I also got to talking to my brother about what the lawn mower was doing. Turns out it was doing the same thing for him, though he’d hoped he’d fixed it.
Easiest thing to do to fix it once and for all is to have the carburetor replaced.
Time to go looking for a small engine repair shop. I mean, we *could* do it ourselves, but when it comes to things to put our time and energy to, it would just be simpler that way.
Not everything is worth doing it ourselves.
The Re-Farmer
