outside cats

Who are you? Plus kitty update

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With the increasing heat over the next while, and no rain in site, I made sure to water the garden beds this evening. While the sprinkler was going in the main garden area, I used a watering can and the rain barrel by the sun room to water the south garden beds. The barrel was no longer full, but with the potatoes harvested, and other beds not needing watering anymore, it was enough to water what needed it, and not be stretching to fill the can at the bottom of the barrel.

As I was going back and forth around the rain barrel and the old kitchen garden, I was keeping an eye out for the missing ladies. I didn’t see them (though I did get to catch and cuddle a tiny black kitten, who was not happy to be caught!), but I did see someone else on a path in the old kitchen garden. Later, it moved to the area by the back water tap, and I was able to get a better picture.

I don’t recognize this cat.

I keep wracking my brain, trying to remember if one of last year’s kittens had markings like this, and I just can’t. As far as I can tell, this is a stranger.

It was also making strange. It didn’t run off while I was around, but as soon as I seemed to go closer, it got up and moved away.

Along with the watering, I ended up picking a whole lot of tomatoes, including a couple of Black Beauties, though one had already fallen to the ground on its own. The Roma are really liking these temperatures. I had considered pulling the bush beans, but ended up picking some, instead. I did pull the peas, and just dropped them where they were growing. In the process, I found more volunteer tomatoes! There is a total of 8 there now. All but one of them would be Spoon tomatoes. One is growing where we had the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes growing last year, though it might be from the Mosaic Mix we had there the year before, at the same time we grew Spoon tomatoes for the first time.

While I was outside, I got a call from the Cat Lady. Which surprised the heck out of me, because she called my cell phone, and I actually got enough signal to have a conversation! Even with Wi-Fi calling, I usually either can’t make out most of the call, or it gets dropped.

She was about to go and pick up the ladies from the vet, and wanted to update me. The spays went well, but the vet was not happy with her. Apparently, Decimus was really engorged, which made the surgery more difficult and dangerous. It went well, but she’s going to need extra antibiotics, apparently. The vet thought that she had a litter of actively nursing kittens. When I dropped them off, I made a point of telling the person doing the intake that she had kittens that she was actively and aggressively weaning, and she was going to be very glad to not be nursing. Decimus had made no effort to come to her kittens all night, nor did she want to go in, in the morning. The last time she did, yesterday evening, just before we did the wet cat food, the kittens basically attacked her and knocked her to the ground, and she was hissing and batting at them. My daughter had to actually rescue Ghosty, who was in reach of Decimus’ teeth, because she kept trying to bite Ghosty’s face! Once I started doing the wet cat food, the kittens lost all interest in nursing.

The Cat Lady knew Decimus’ kittens were older and she wasn’t wanting to nurse them anymore, and tried to explain that to the vet, but I don’t think the vet believed her. The Cat Lady promised that the next batch would be all males!

The kitten was another one with issues. As an outside kitten, it was no surprise that she had ear mites, but apparently she had an ear infection of some kind, too. We saw no sign of a problem. She wasn’t even scratching at her ears. Apparently, when they tried to flush her ears, there was a lot of puss. !!! Also, she has weird ears.

In fact, the Cat Lady has been hearing that comment from various different vets in treating different cats from our place. They all have weird ears. It seems they are unusually narrow. One vet, while treating Augustus (who is doing great now, btw, and recovered well. Even Leo is getting over his pneumonia) had even said something about how the ears looked like the cats from [our hamlet], and wondered if they were related?

Probably.

In the past she’s taken the same cat from our place to several different vets in different town and, because the first one had commented about the weird ears, asked them to check the ears. They all said the same thing. The ears are weird!

I’m not sure what to make of that.

But it’s done. The three of them will stay with the Cat Lady for about a week before going to their new home. The lady that’s adopting them is still interested in having a 4th cat, and is considering taking Turmeric, too, after the first three are settled.

The kittens are doing just fine, too. Even they seem to be happier with no adult cats around; just TTT, who spends most of the day in her closet cave, sleeping.

Now, if only we could at least catch sight of Butterscotch, Nosencrantz and Marlee, that would make a very good end to our day!

The Re-Farmer

So many kitties, and trellis bed progress

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I headed out this afternoon, and got distracted by many adorable fluff balls.

I’ve only recently started using Instagram to upload my photos, since I’m running out of storage space on my WordPress account. WP does allow the purchase of extra storage space, without having to upgrade plans, but the cost for 50G is Cdn$68.54 PER MONTH!!!! – billed yearly. Which is insane. If I upgraded my plan to Business, it would cost Cdn$33/month, billed yearly, and that would come with 50G of storage.

So… uploading to Instagram it is.

The problem is, when I upload photos – especially groups of photos – the images are often corrupted. They seem fine right up until I hit “share”, and when I check them, there’s often something wrong with them. Some are so bad, most of the photo can’t even be made out. I thought the issue might be my computer, but when I double checked using my phone, the images were still corrupted. Today, I had to reload this next batch of photos three times before it worked, and even then, the third one is corrupted. At least it’s still visible, though!

These were my distractions.

That orange and white kitten is successfully socialized, and absolutely adorable. The tuxedo in Baby Jail is not socialized at all! I am happy that they are going in and out of the cage comfortably, though. If we ever need to suddenly keep a cat in there until we can take it somewhere, they will already be comfortable in the space.

Octomom’s babies are all over the place these days. The one using a brick as a pillow is just too adorable!

After I took those photos, I started walking slowly in between the cat shelters, and the orange and white kitten came over. I was able to pet him and pick him up, and he was purring up a storm. This made the littles very curious, and they started to come out from under the cat house to see what was going on. That they were willing to come within a couple of feet of me was quite encouraging.

I had to tear myself away from the kittens and get to work! It’s taken forever for me to get back to those poplars I cut for the vertical supports on the trellis beds.

I cut the logs to about 7’2″ lengths, in case the bottom ends need to be trimmed flat. In the first photo is the finished stack of 7′ lengths. I got three out of one log. Most of them got me two lengths. In the corner of the photo is the stack of log ends, or sections that were just too crooked to use.

It was as I was finishing up that I realized I was feeling really dizzy and getting the shakes. It was hot, yes, but “only” about 23C/73F Then I remembered.

I’d had a late breakfast, so when I lay down for a nap at about lunch time, I didn’t eat first. I forgot to eat something before heading outside.

Because I’m an idiot that way.

So I quickly cleaned up then headed in for some food.

When I came back out, I had to figure out the best way to get the logs to where the trellis beds are going to be. I got out the loppers and started clearing a path through the spruce grove. At one point, I had to get the baby chain saw to cut away a fallen tree that was half buried in the grass.

Once I was reasonably sure there weren’t any branches, bushes or small trees to get tangled on, I grabbed a log and carried it over. It was one of the bigger ones, but I could carry it on my shoulder easily enough. The problem was the distance. There was no way I was going to be able to carry them all out like that, without wearing myself out too quickly.

So for the other larger logs, I grabbed a rope to drag them with, which you can see in the second picture.

Of course, if I’m going to do this to make it easier on myself, I really need to make sure there are no stumps of branches to dig into the ground! I adjusted the rope to turn the log a couple of times. In the third photo, you can see all the grass that had been pulled up by what turned out to be two “anchors” on the log! After I got those facing up, the rest of the drag went much more smoothly!

I also took a video of it, to give an idea of just how far the logs need to be carried. For this, I chose a log light enough that I could carry it with one hand, while taking video with the other.

Also, my phone’s microphone really picks up the sound of my breathing! 😄

There’s a brief pause as I show were I had to clear the fallen tree. Just a little one, but too long to just move aside.

In the end, I was only able to move three lengths over. I used the rope to drag the third, bigger one over, after I took the video. It was just too hot for that kind of work. I can’t handle the heat like I used to!

I’m going to have to work on moving these early in the morning, before things get hot. I won’t be able to do much over the next couple of days. Tomorrow, not only am I going into the city for our first monthly stock up shop, but I’m losing a daughter for almost a month. She’ll be house sitting for my brother and his wife while they go on a trip of a lifetime, and going over early so they can show her what she needs to do and what to keep an eye on. So I’m losing one of the more able bodied members of our household!

Looking at the long range forecast, though, I see things have changed. We’re going to be getting hotter again. There’s even a forecast of 30C/86F on the weekend!

Which will be great for the garden. Especially for the squash and melons. The longer we have with warmer temperatures and no frost, the better our chances of having something to harvest.

Well, I’ll figure out what to do during the heat. We really need to get progress done on those beds! Plus, if I can get enough dead spruces cut down, I hope to get more high raised beds built, too, replacing some of the current low raised beds.

At the rate we’ve been going, though, I’ll be lucky to get just one trellis bed done!

The Re-Farmer

Sleepy bees, and so many bebbies!

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Last time, I spotted one sleepy bee on the volunteer sunflower.

This morning, there were two!

They were very sluggishly moving around in the cool of the morning. I believe we were around 16C/61F at the time I took this photo.

I also got to see all eight of Octomom’s babies this morning. They were certainly not sleepy!

It looks like there will be at least 2 long haired tabbies in the bunch. I’m really, really hoping we can socialize these ones, while they are still so small. It gets harder, the bigger they get!

I also saw the kitten that lost its eye. It’s actually looking much better. It had been stuck shut, yesterday, but today it was wide open. There was still some gunk under the lower lid. I got a picture of it looking straight at me, so once the photo was uploaded, I could get a good look. The inner eyelids were visible and a healthy pink colour. Even the tissue behind was a healthy looking pink, rather than that alarming white colour it was before. I won’t post the picture here, but if you do want to see, I’ve posted it on our Ko-fi page.

I also saw that “new” kitten I caught a glimpse of, earlier! It kept running away, so I wasn’t able to get a picture, bit it is most definitely a calico. More of a muted calico. Instead of black, it has really dark grey patches. I saw it with another white kitten with really dark grey patches, but I think I’ve seen that one before, and that it’s from another litter. I’m not sure, though.

As for the cats that are now indoors, The Phantom is quite enjoying love and attention. TTT, however, is just a bundle of nerves. She loves attention, but just can’t sit still, then runs off, like she did when she was still outside.

Also, she is such a long, skinny, snake-like cat! So very gangly!

Last night, it seems the rosemary I sprinkled on my mattress actually helped. Even the kittens mostly stayed off of it. Between that and the fan, my mattress was finally dry. I decided to actually make the bed (with some strategically places puppy pads under the mattress cover, just in case) and not sleep on the couch again.

It was… less painful, at least. As far as the bed went, anyhow.

Not so much when it came to kittens.

I did not get much sleep last night.

I still kept the fan going on low, which is now set up on my craft table. I tried turning it off, but the room immediately became way too stuffy, even though the window was open. So I turned it back on, and basically used my sheet to block the wind from hitting my face and ears; wind in my ears causes horrible ear aches. Unfortunately, the kittens saw the sheet on my face as fair game, so when they had their run-around-like-crazy time of the night, they would sometimes run right over my face!

Once they settled, though, I still had a hard time sleeping. I was constantly paranoid that I would roll over into a huge puddle.

Well, that didn’t happen.

Instead, this morning, I found a huge puddle under my desk. TTT had dug around the puppy pads, so while she managed to wet three of them, she also left a huge puddle on the carpet. While cleaning that up, I found a kitten sized “gift” in a corner behind the litter tray. I ended up having to take out all the puppy pads I had under there. Then I used the last of the puppy pads to protect the floor. I won’t be able to get more until tomorrow.

I was very nervous doing my morning rounds. Especially as I stayed out longer to harvest onions. Once inside, I made breakfast and ate in the cat free zone, so that was even more time out of my room. I truly expected to come in and find a big wet spot on my bed again. I’m happy to report, it’s still clean and dry!

In fact, I might even try and get some of that sleep I missed out on last night. I’m falling asleep in my chair right now!

The Re-Farmer

Morning harvest, morning kitties

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What a difference a warmer night makes!

Quite a few of the Roma VF could be harvested, and there was even a fair bit of beans to pick. I found a single ripe Black Beauty, and a couple of Indigo Blues. The Black Beauties are determinates, so when they finally start ripening for real, there should be lots of them all at once, like the Roma, but gosh, they’re taking a long time to get there! We might end up harvesting them all to ripen indoors, if the weather doesn’t hold.

Not too much action with the summer squash. There are a lot of female yellow patty pans blooming, which I’m hand pollinating, so we should have more of those later, but it looks like the green patty pans are almost done, and the green zucchini… well, those never really did recover from the slugs.

Meanwhile, we’re seeing all sorts of kittens around. In fact, last night, I think I spotted two “new” kittens, including a calico! Definitely much older kittens. We have never seen Sprout’s babies, so those might be hers. They ran off before I could get a good look at them.

Some of the older kittens, while still quite shy, are at least letting me come a bit closer before they run away. When it comes to feeding them, that usually means dashing under the water bowl shelter for the kibble tray there. That one is a favourite for all the kittens. Especially the littlest ones. Those would be Octomom’s kittens, and they were hanging out under the cat house, waiting their turn at the tray.

In the photo above, the tuxedo on the left is the one that lost its eye. The lids now appear to be closed, and it looks gummy, but it’s hard to tell. It will not let me come any closer than I did when I got the picture.

With so many cats and kittens showing up at different times, I have given up entirely on trying to get a head count. While the kittens may be closer to the house, a lot of the adults seem to be moving on. I haven’t even seen Gooby in a while, and he used to be among those that greeted me every morning. Now I’ve got a couple of white and grey males that are my morning greeters.

When it comes to the yard cat population, the adults seem to not like being around when it starts to get too crowded, and simply move on to new territory.

At least, that’s what I hope they’re doing. There’s no way to know what’s happened to them, once they disappear. I like to think they found new homes on their own, on one of the neighboring farms.

The Re-Farmer

Morning in the garden, and good cat news!

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What an incredibly moody atmosphere this morning!

This photo was taken shortly after 8am.

It was this wild combination of fog and bright sunshine. Just beautiful!

We were supposed to reach a low of around 11C/52F last night, but when I checked my phone at about 7am, one app was telling me it was 7C/45F. Another was saying we were at 10C/50F, but I think the 7C was the more accurate one.

With that sort of chill, I was not expecting to harvest anything this morning. Certainly, no tomatoes ripened overnight! Yet, I did find this!

There were quite a few larger Gold Ball turnips (they are being thinned by harvesting), and a single radish was ready to pick. In that bed, there are almost no beets coming up, and I’m not really seeing any spinach, either. I think the slugs got to them. But the radishes are coming up, at least. The others are still looking small, long and skinny. There was just this one that was ready to pick.

I also spotted this sleepy guy.

It was barely moving in the colder temperatures. It’ll be warmed by the sun, soon enough. According to my computer’s weather app (I really should get a thermometer for outside my window!), it’s 13C/55F, and we’re expecting a high of 21C/70F.

While checking the purple corn (which we are leaving to dry on the stalks, to collect seed), I could see the Red Swan beans we’d planted among the corn are getting bigger, with lots of flowers. I also finally spotted these!

These were planted late, specifically for their nitrogen fixing properties. I was not expecting to actually get a harvest from them, yet here they are! We should be able to start harvesting beans in a few days! I hope they taste good, because we ended up with a lot of these.

While checking on the old kitchen garden, one of the things I regularly do is look up into the lilac bush that the luffa is climbing, and try to see the little bitty luffa that are developing. There’s one that’s resting on a lilac twig, and it looks like it’s been damaged by the wind rubbing them together.

As I was trying to see among the leaves, I realized there was a much larger gourd developing, high up. I went around the other side of the wattle weave bed to try and see it better, only to discover this one.

It’s huge! Easily a foot long. It is completely hidden by greenery on the other side.

With a gourd this big, we might actually have a fully mature and tried out luffa to harvest by the end of the growing season! As long as the frost holds off.

As I was finishing up around the sun room before going inside, I saw a few of Octomom’s babies emerging from under the cat house. I also saw the black and white garage kitty, way off at the bowl under the grape vines. Nice to see that one coming to the house, finally!

I was in the sun room, just about to go inside, when another cat came up, wanting attention.

It was The Phantom! She’s back!!!

It took a bit of convincing, but when I opened the doors, she came into the house. I let her explore for a bit – and get sniffed at by other cats – when my daughter was able to pick her up and we put her in my bedroom.

The “isolation ward” is getting very crowded.

She’s settling in, though, and loving attention. As I write this, she is behind me on my office chair, keeping my butt warm!

The new kitten we brought in has no problem with her. They would remember each other. I think Decimus still recognized her, too. I’m not sure about Ghosty; they would have met before we brought Ghosty in, but she was so sick, and it was long ago enough that I’m sure she doesn’t remember Phantom anymore, even if her scent might still be familiar.

A couple of Decimus’ kittens were making themselves big, and Tin Whistle even hissed at her, but they now seem used to her and are ignoring her.

Snarly Marlee has been practically living on the window shelf. She is not happy with so many cats in the room.

I’ve no idea how TTT is; they would know each other, too, but TTT is in her favourite sleeping spot in my closet.

Speaking of TTT.

I am not happy with her.

I slept on the couch again last night. I had my mattress uncovered, with “Pet Fresh” carpet powder on the damp spots. I hoped it would be left alone, but when I came in this morning, there was a huge new pee spot, right in the middle of the mattress. There was also a “gift” next to the litter box under my desk, with a puppy pad all bunched up around it.

I ended up taking the box fan out of the window and found a way to set it up directly on my mattress. If nothing else, the breeze it’s creating is making most of my mattress an unpleasant place to be! There is one corner that’s got their bed blanket on it, and they’re not even using that, all that much. The kittens are playing around the fan, though, but they’re more interested in the cave it creates in my wall shelf behind it. A spot they are allowed to play in.

I chatted with the Cat Lady this morning, very happy to pass on the news about Phantom. I also told her about what TTT is doing. She told me that this is apparently common with cats that lose a front leg. They can’t dig in the litter, so they go just anywhere. We didn’t have that problem at all with Ginger. After he had his removed and came indoors, he used a litter box right away, even though he’d never seen one before. As for TTT, considering how much she digs at the puppy pads to bury her poop, clearly, that is not the issue with her.

Butterscotch, meanwhile, is happy the box fan it out of my window. She’s contentedly laying on the window ledge, looking outside. I expected it to be Nosencrantz, considering how much she’s been trying to get behind the fan, but Butterscotch is more Alpha that Nosencrantz. 😄 Nosencrantz is in her favourite spot in the shelf beside the window.

Well, I hope things work out over the next while. Just a little while longer. Then Decimus, the no-name outside kitten and Phantom will all get spayed, then taken to their new home.

It’s a start.

The Re-Farmer

Morning harvest, and kitty status

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First, the good stuff.

This was this morning’s harvest.

Just tomatoes, almost all Romas, and a few patty pan squash, but it was still quite a haul.

The other good stuff is that the kitten I brought in yesterday did just fine, overnight. It was running around and playing with the other kittens when I came into my room this morning.

Which leads me to the not so good stuff.

I had to sleep on the couch last night.

I thought we had been doing well, but in the space of just a few minutes, my nice, clear, dry bed suddenly had a massive puddle in the middle. Not only was it large enough that I couldn’t even sleep on another part of the bed, even though it’s a king size, but it was in a spot that didn’t have any puppy pads under the sheets to protect the mattress.

The girls helped me juggle kittens and strip the bed, but as I soaked up as much as I could with more puppy pads, they were the ones that suggested I sleep on the couch. After getting it as dry as we could, we took off the mattress protector, too, and got everything in the laundry. We laid out more puppy pads, absorbent side down, then carefully covered them with a blanket to keep them in place. Then I left the room with the window fan going on maximum.

I did not get much sleep last night, though I have to admit, it was rather nice sleeping in the cat free zone. I was awakened early by cat arguments. Having had just a couple of hours of sleep, I got up long enough to feed all the cats, inside and out, before going back to bed on the couch.

While doing the feeding in my room, the bed was clear and nothing was destroyed, so I was very encouraged. So I went back to the couch and managed to get almost a couple more hours of sleep.

When I came back to my room, I found a “gift” on my bed. On the blanket, next to the towel I laid out under the kibble bowls while dividing up the wet cat food.

At least it was easy to clean up, but really??? There are so many litter boxes, but noooooo. Gotta use my bed!

Then I sat on the side of the bed to take my supplements, only to discover a wet spot with my butt. The colour and fuzziness of the blanket had hidden it. At least that was on top of a puppy pad!

I am getting so very frustrated.

I did get a chance to chat with the Cat Lady a bit, letting her know that the kitten did well inside. As long as the kitten is about 3 pounds, they will spay her, and I think she’s pretty close to that. With her being inside and getting regular wet and dry cat food, I don’t think it will be an issue by the time of the appointment.

No sign of Phantom this morning, though. We’re already discussing options, if she doesn’t show up in time. I’ll simply grab one of the friendly males. I wouldn’t be able to grab any of the other females. They’re not socialized enough.

Oh, just heard from the Cat Lady again. She says she will drop a trap off for us, tomorrow. If we can snag any of the moms with older kittens that would be good. Still, it would be ideal of Phantom comes back and we grab her.

In other cat related things…

This is the kitten we thought was female that turned out to be male.

What is it all the friendly ones are male? It was the same thing last year. The females are almost universally standoffish, while the males have been more easily socialized and love attention.

Then there are those that are just plain feral. Not semi-feral. Just feral. Like this one.

I spotted this one when I finally got out to do my morning rounds. Brussel’s kittens seem to have moved into the garage, more or less. This is the shier one, and the first time I’ve been able to get a good look at him/her. I had to move slow and zoom right in to get a picture, so it’s not a good image at all. What unique face markings!

I’ve seen its orange and white sibling closer to the house. I think I even saw it in the kibble house. This one, however, stays around the garage, and that’s it. I didn’t top up the food in the bowl I set up in the garage this morning, though. Hopefully, this one will get hungry enough to brave coming to the house. I also saw Octomom’s littles. Not all of them, but they seem to have taken up residence – at least for part of the day – under the cat house.

While doing my rounds this morning, I was pleased to find just one fallen branch. We had more rain and high winds last night, but it seems that weird climate bubble we have over us has protected us. The winds did knock quite a few crab apples off the trees, though. This morning, on one of my local gardening groups, several people mentioned their gardens were completely destroyed. One posted a photo of her crab apple tree, its apples knocked to the ground and lying next to hail almost as big as the apples! So far that I’ve seen, she was the only one that also reported damage to her home. Just a broken window, thankfully.

Today should be quite a bit more pleasant. I plan to be doing stuff indoors, though. Specifically, making tomato sauce. Lack of sleep is catching up to me, though, and I’m dropping off as I type this. I think I will try napping again. I think I can squeeze into the dry corner of my bed around the kittens. I’m afraid that if I try napping on the couch again, I’ll come back to more puddles or piles!

The tomato sauce can wait a couple of hours. I’m all out of energy drinks, and feel like I’m about to drop right on my keyboard!

The Re-Farmer

Some good news… with a bit of a snag

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Well, I did end up going to town today with one of my daughters, with some of their own shopping to do. We got home just in time for a brief thunderstorm to pass over us. We’re still getting rain, off and on.

Meanwhile, I was chatting with the Cat Lady, as she passed things on to me once they were arranged. The woman who was looking for mousers was very excited that we had cats we could send her way soon. Three of them – Decimus, The Phantom and one of the older kittens; a black and white we’ve been able to socialize quite well.

We now have an appointment to have all three of them spayed. I will drop them off on the morning of the 30th, and the Cat Lady will take things from there.

So once we were home, I did the evening cat feeding and went looking. Still no sign of The Phantom, but the black and white kitten was lounging on one of the “beds” we have for them in the sun room.

I was going to bring her in but, just to be on the safe side, I checked.

Oh, dear.

There was too much movement, but I was pretty sure those were testicles.

I ended up getting my daughter to help. I held the kitten while she checked. Sure enough, she turned out to be a he!

There was another kitten, a grey and white tabby, we’ve been able to socialize quite a bit, so we snagged that one to double check, too. Confirmed female.

So I brought that one in.

The problem is, she’s too young to be spayed.

This is her with Tweedle Dee. There’s almost no difference in size!

She was pretty nervous about being inside, but I did the evening wet cat food feeding, and she was more than happy to have her very first taste of it! The other kittens were quick to check her out and wanted to play with her until the food came out. Once everyone was done eating, she explored a bit, and is now hiding under one of my shelves. Every now and then, a kitten will go over and try to play with her.

The adult cats don’t seem to have even noticed there’s an extra kitten in the room.

I spent some time outside, playing with the few kittens that will allow it – all confirmed males. With the other kittens, I just can’t get close. As for the adult cats, the only ones I’ve had any luck touching are Junk Pile and Caramel, both of whom look pregnant, and Beep Bop, who hasn’t weaned her nurslings yet – and her nurslings include Caramel’s three. It would be ideal to grab Adam and Brussel, who have the oldest litters. Adam is one of the creche mothers, content to nurse any kitten. Brussel won’t let anyone near her.

There is Broccoli, a calico. When she’s eating on the cat house roof, she will sometimes let me pet her, but usually not. She would be an ideal candidate. She is the mother of the calicos, Brussel and Sprout – Sprout is even shier than Brussel – and Phantom, the tortie. They all need to be spayed, but only Phantom is friendly. We’d definitely have to trap Brussel and Sprout. Possibly Broccoli, too.

*sigh*

Well, we still have some time. At the very least, I hope The Phantom comes back soon! I’ve updated the Cat Lady, but she hasn’t seen my messages yet, so we’ll see what she has to say. They may be able to take the kitten anyhow, and have it spayed later. It’s just that she made appointments for spays for 3 cats. We might bring TTT in for a spay, instead, though she will likely come back home later, even though she’s on the adoption list.

Speaking of TTT, I haven’t been able to get her into her coat, but I did get to look at her incision this morning. She’s going to have one heckuva scar in one part of the incision, I think. It’s still very red, but it’s staying closed. She has been spending most of her time in the closet cave, so it’s not being stressed at all, and air is the best thing for it right now.

Oh, my goodness! Things were very quiet behind me, so I took a look. Decimus’ kittens and Ghosty are all asleep together on my bed, Butterscotch sleeping beside them, but I can see the new kitten has settled on another makeshift cat bed on top of a bin, and looks like she’s taking a nap, too!

I hope this works out.

The Re-Farmer

Plans changed… and I’m not surprised

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First, the more pleasant stuff!

It’s a wonderfully cool morning today. The entire time I was doing my morning rounds, it was gently misting instead of raining. And would you look at this!

We still have strawberries, blooming and ripening! Recovering from being eaten by deer has resulted in very late production. I’ll take it! 😄

I wasn’t able to get pictures, but I did have a small harvest today. I wasn’t expecting to, so I didn’t bring my colander and ended up using my shirt. I really ought to keep at least one of our harvesting colanders by the sun room! I was actually able to harvest some ripe looking Black Beauties today, as well as a few Indigo Blues. I left the Romas for later. There were some more summer squash to hand pollinate, as well as a couple large enough to harvest.

In looking over the winter squash and the melons, I just have to shake my head. The melons have been blooming like crazy, with both male and female flowers, but there are only 3 melons forming that I can find. This morning, however, there are suddenly a plethora of female flowers! Too many to even try to hand pollinate. With the size of the flowers, I’d have to use something like a cotton swab, anyhow. Hopefully, the insects will take care of it, though to be honest, it’s coming up on the end of August, so not much time for any fruit to reach maturity. Our first average frost date is Sept. 10, but with the strong El Nino this year, we might actually have a chance.

As for the winter squash, there had been two new Honeyboat Delicata forming, then one shrivelled up. The remaining one is getting noticeably bigger, every day. This morning, however, one of the other plants suddenly has a whole bunch of female flowers! Until now, it’s been all male flowers. One was open enough that I could hand pollinate it. The others should open over the next few days. Will they have a chance to mature? During a typical year, no. It would be way too late in the season. But if the frost holds off… we might just have some.

On a slightly more frustrating note, I saw Junk Pile again this morning. This photo is from last night.

That is one round belly.

I saw Caramel walking by this morning, too, and she’s looking pretty round.

More kittens at the end of August/beginning of September?

Crap.

Junk Pile has had a strange year. She had a litter of kittens extremely early and lost them. For a short while, she would follow me as I trudged through the snow to do my rounds and allow me to pick her up and carry her. She was clearly upset about losing her babies. After a few days of that, though, she went back to making strange. She will sometimes allow me to pet her when she’s on the cat house roof, eating, but that’s about it.

I’m sure she had another litter, but not being able to tell her and not-Junk Pile (now Two Toes Tony) apart, it was hard to tell. Once we saw not-Junk Pile/TTT with scratching wounds behind her ears, we could tell them apart, so I could see that it was TTT had a litter of six, though by the time we found her with the broken leg, it seems she was down to three. I would sometimes see that Junk Pile had active nips, but I never saw her with kittens. If her kittens are here at the house now, I don’t know which are hers, and the creche mothers – mostly Adam and Beep Bop – will nurse any and all kittens by the house that want to. Beep Bop is often seen nursing Caramel’s three – so I guess it’s no surprise that Caramel is pregnant again, too, even though her kittens are not old enough to be weaned.

*sigh*

Now, on to the main change of the day.

I’m not going to my mother’s.

I was indisposed when the phone started ringing, and it wasn’t even 7:30 in the morning yet. We get only two types of calls before 8am. Scammers, or my mother! 😄 I found a message from my mother, sounding very conciliatory, saying I didn’t need to come over. I could go to my appointment. She would be all right. (As if I needed her permission to go to my appointment??)

So I called her back. She told me she would take the shuttle bus for her errands. I could go to my appointment. She’d be fine. It’s only $6. She absolutely insisted I did not need to come over.

Which is fine, but between yesterday’s call and her attitude this morning, my suspicions are almost confirmed. She didn’t want me to come at all, because she had plans for my sister. She can talk my sister into taking her places that I can’t – or won’t! – take her. Considering the things she’s been saying about my brother lately, I have a very good idea of what that would have been, and there is no way I would have had the time to drive her around for that. Also, even if I did, there are things she can talk my sister into doing that she can’t talk me into. I sometimes worry about my sister’s cognitive abilities, to be honest, because she got talked into helping my mother stab my brother in the back, and she still seems to have no understanding of the harm she’s done, among other odd things.

Well, whatever. My day just went back to my original plans.

Sort of.

A nap is now part of those plans.

I didn’t get much sleep last night. With TTT not using the litter, and peeing on my pillows, I think I found something suitable to block her preferred area. My husband got a wedge for his knees, years ago, but with his hospital bed, he no longer needs it. I brought it down from it’s storage spot and have it on my bed. I considered she might just decide to pee next to it or something, but she really seemed to be wanting to use my pillows, so I hoped it would work.

After being awakened many times by either the kittens running wild, or Snarly Marlee growling and snarling at them – even when they were nowhere near her! – I am pretty sleepy right now! I was, however, awakened yet again, shortly before my alarm was supposed to go off . A distinctive rustling sound.

Sure enough, TTT was under my desk. She’d dug around the puppy pads and took a dump, right next to the litter box.

At least it was on a puppy pad.

There was no puddle, however. I couldn’t find a puddle anywhere, which had me concered that she’d found some hidden corner to use that we can’t get at.

Then I sat in it.

I keep a towel on the seat of my desk chair. It’s fake leather and the surface has been peeling off, with more than a little assistance from cats. I have the towel so that I don’t have little pieces of fake leather stuck to my butt when I get up.

TTT had jumped onto my chair and peed on the towel.

With a litter box RIGHT THERE and easier to get to.

*sigh*

I’ll be sure to talk to someone at the clinic today about it, but to be honest, I suspect we won’t solve that problem until the kittens get adopted out. Too many kittens using all of the litter boxes.

I’d really like to adopt out TTT, too. She’s new to this indoor life thing, but I’m sure she would be better in a household with far fewer cats in it!

We’ll figure it out.

The Re-Farmer

Outside bebbies and, how long has it been?

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After I finished with the potatoes, I did some other stuff outside, then headed in through the sun room, where I found these guys.

That white and grey kitten Beep Bop is nursing is not one of hers!

It took a while for me to even see the grey tabby beside her!

The second picture is of a pair of kittens I found in Baby Jail. I’m glad they’re comfortable going in there, because if we ever need to hang onto some kittens until the cat lady can pick them up, it will make things much easier!

Though I suppose we’ll need to buy another litter pan. 😄

The black and white one has been socialized enough that I can usually walk up to it and pet it, and even pick it up for a cuddle.

The white and grey one is among those I’ve never been able to get close to before. Today, however, I was able to reach in, and it stayed. I got hissed at, then my fingers got sniffed. After that, I was able to do ear skritches, and they were accepted! Yay!!! I couldn’t reach very far through the “door”, but it was far enough. 😊

One of the things I got done was to finally clean the eavestroughs on the garage. I was planning to do it after we pick up the small scaffolding we’re looking to buy second hand after next pay period. Far more stable and safe than the ladders we’ve been using. However, I could see all sorts of green leaves growing out of them, and on one side of the garage, it was starting to fall away from the eaves.

So, I got out the step ladder and managed to get it done. On the far side, where the trough was starting to fall away, I actually found worms in there! As for all those green leaves I was seeing, no surprise that it was almost all Chinese elm seeds that had germinated. There was a veritable forest starting in there!

We haven’t cleaned those eavestroughs since we moved here, which is almost 6 years now. I didn’t realized until today, just how long it’s been since they’ve been cleaned. As I was scraping the bottoms of the troughs, I realized the granular material on the bottom was from the original roof shingles. When I was a kid, the garage and the house had the same colour shingles. I used to play up on the house roof, so I remember the mix of grey, with a bit of blue and green, granules quite well. I even found the remains of a package of spare shingles, some of which we could even use on the kibble house roof.

The garage has a metal roof now. I don’t know when it was installed, but I know it was well before the youngest of my brothers passed away, so I’d say it has been around 20 years. Maybe 25.

I’m having a really hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that no one cleaned those eavestroughs out since before the metal roof was put on! My three brothers were all doing what they could to help my parents maintain the place. Surely at least one of them thought to clean the eavestroughs on the garage at least once since the metal roof was done! But there was no mistaking what I was seeing, or how much of it was there.

As for the sagging part of the trough, in one area the wood it’s attached to is so rotten, it can’t hold anything, but that’s not where it was sagging the most. I was able to just hammer things back in again. It was the sheer weight of all the composted material in there that was dragging them down. It should be just fine, now.

Now we just have to make sure we don’t let them sit for another… 20? 25??? … years before cleaning them again!

The Re-Farmer

Morning kitties and afternoon frustration!

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I got to see a whole bunch of irregulars this morning, and even catch and cuddle one!

Octomom brought her babies over for breakfast, though I only saw four of them. Three are at the tray under the water bowl shelter, with the tuxedo. There’s one that ran out of sight around the corner of the cat house.

I was able to catch and pick up the two black ones at the same time, but one got loose. I was able to hold and cuddle the other one long enough that it started to relax in my arms. When I put it down in the food tray again, it did not run away.

Unfortunately, so many kittens were trying to hide out in the same space under the entry to the cat house that they started to growl, hiss and scare each other. The other black one ended up running off to the spirea in full “I’m gonna make myself big” mode. Which made it’s gait rather … bouncy!

As I headed to the gate to switch out the trail cam memory card, I spotted this “stranger”. It’s very shy, so I had to zoom in quite a bit to get its photo.

This is one of Brussel’s kittens. I’ve seen two of them a couple of times, around the shed with the collapsed roof. Lately, I’ve seen only this one, skulking around the garage. Brussel has never tried to bring her babies to the kibble by the house, and they are among the oldest of the kittens. That they haven’t even come out on their own is pretty unusual, too. I’m hoping they are at least eating the kibble I’m still leaving inside the garage. That was originally for Octomom, but I kept doing it when I realized Brussel’s kittens were in the area.

Oddly, I’ve not been seeing a lot of cats outside lately. At least not all at the same time. When I came out with the food this morning, I counted a dozen, and only 3 of them were adults. More showed up later, but it just seems like there are a lot fewer cats than I would expect. Usually, when I first come out, they are swarming. Especially if I come out later, which I’ve been doing lately. I’ve been waiting until after we’ve given TTT her medications at 9am. Not only were there no cats swarming around, but there was still kibble in the food trays! Not much, but enough that I thought someone else had done the morning feeding, but no one had. Usually, if the cats don’t finish the kibble, the skunks and racoons clean out the trays by morning.

Not that I’m complaining. I would rather not be feeding skunks and racoons!

Oh, and while I was working outside this afternoon, I saw Caramel go by. She looks pregnant. Her kittens aren’t even weaned yet!!!

As for the inside kitties, I’m getting beyond frustrated.

Before going outside, I tried to find a way to discourage TTT from peeing on my bed. I found a huge spot on my bed last night. With the help of a daughter, I soaked up as much as I could with the puppy pads (I’m going through those fast, but they do a great job of soaking up the pee) before covering it with a fresh one, absorbent side down. Then we put fresh sheets on and rotated the mattress, so I wouldn’t be sleeping right on top of the absorbent pad. Then I started the laundry, which my daughters set in the dryer for me during the night.

She always pees in the same area, so this morning I ended up taking a larger skull Halloween decoration I had on a shelf and putting it there. I couldn’t find anything else that looked like it would work.

I came in from working outside just a little while ago, to take a break, upload photos and start writing blog posts. TTT was laying on my bed with a kitten, on their favourite folded up blanket and I pet her for a bit. I found the skull was knocked over because the kittens were playing in it (one kitten can fit in it, with room to spare!), but it was still in the same spot.. I looked around and everything was dry, so I straightened it out and went to my desk. I’d put a puppy pad over the new litter box under my desk, in hopes she would use that, since she crapped on a puppy pad right next to the litter box, instead of in the litter box.. I could see it had been peed on, but that could have been the kittens. I changed it out for a fresh pad. As I started settling down and uploading pictures, I could hear some noise and looked over to see the kittens rolling around in the skull.

TTT was hopping across my bed.

Yup.

There was a new pee spot.

Right next to where the skull was.

At least this time she didn’t get my pillow, but she did get my pajamas.

I didn’t even get my sheets from the drier from last night, yet!

My husband got those for me while I started taking off the sheets and soaking up the pee spot. I do have a mattress cover and, while it is pretty water proof, it’s not 100% waterproof, so I took that off for washing, too. There were already two other spots on the cover with puppy pads on them, and even the older one was still damp. I ended up finishing off a box of “Pet Fresh” carpet powder that I have for under my desk, directly on the mattress. I’m glad I ended up getting two of those, during my last shopping trip! The spots on the mattress aren’t soaking wet, thanks to the cover, but they are slightly damp and stained. I now have my fan going on full power to help get it dry.

It’s getting to the point I’m seriously considering going into the storage shed and finding that bag of mattress pads that belonged to my late father that I remember packing away. If I can lay some of those under my sheets, that would help save my mattress. The problem is, there are a LOT of bags, plus boxes blocking the way, to dig through.

I suppose I can understand why she didn’t go for her usual spot under the desk, since I was sitting at it at the time, but I’m flummoxed as to why she won’t use any of the other litter boxes. They even all had fresh litter in them! She won’t even go near them.

I don’t get it.

The Re-Farmer