In the Garden

Beans, radishes, roses, azaleas and cats.

The First Roses

Project Bag

I just finished my latest knitting/sewing project. It is a very simplified version of this pattern. I did not sew a complete inner bag. It was the first time ever that I combined something knitted with fabric. I used cotton yarn for the base and my i-cord is knitted with a French Knitter.

In the Garden

We spent a lot of time in the garden on Saturday. I mowed all around the house and the big "south field". It took almost 3 hours because the mower decided to act up several times. There was too much oil in it and it burned it off in a huge puff of blue smoke, lovely. ;)

Then we got four of our six beds ready for planting and I planted strawberries, herbs, lettuce, spinach, peas, beans, carrots, radishes, cucumber and zucchini. Next weekend we will finish the last two beds and transfer the tomato and pepper seedlings.

The big azalea on the side of the house is in full bloom, as are the smaller ones in front. The snowball bush is blooming and the rose buds are swelling. I have to keep an eye on the rose bush, don't want to miss my first rose.

And, as usual, we were supervised by cats, these two are the parents of the kittens.

Kittens

The little ones left on Friday morning for their new - temporary - home. They were eating by themselves and using the litter box and mama cat did not seem to mind too much that they were leaving. The grew a lot in the two weeks I had them here and they were ready to go. The weather forecast for the weekend said it would be in the mid 80s which means my mudroom would have become way too hot for them and I could not bring them inside. A friend of mine took them to a pet store whose owner is a friend of hers and she called in the afternoon and told me they did just fine on the way down and were greeted by two other kittens in the store and that the big black boy already found a new home before she even left the store. I hope they all will get as lucky with their new owners as Miss Kitty was. They were fairly easy to catch and put into the carrier, at least two of them, the third one struggled just a bit and the fourth one bit me heartily in the finger when my friend tried to grab it by the scruff of the neck, ouch. The Mama cat is still around and still friendly, she looks for them now and then but she is not searching frantically, so I think she is okay. I spend so much time with my cat that I tend to humanize them and worry more about them than I need to, can't help it, I just love cats and they seem to know that, yesterday morning I saw a new cat at the food bowl, a beautiful Siamese, wonder who let that one out. They were about 6 - 7 weeks old. I hope she will stay around and that we will be able to take her to the vet to have her spayed.

Mother's Day Gift and Card

Swiffer Sock

A friend sent me this pattern for a reusable reversible swiffer sock and of course I had to try it.

A Bit of Sewing

Yesterday morning as I was hanging out the wash I was overcome by the urge to sew myself an apron. :) I admit I had the pieces cut out for a while already. I had planned to do a trial run before I made the apron for the apron swap but I never did. So, yesterday, I sat down and sewed them together and now I am the proud owner of a fairly sturdy reversible apron. I used this pattern.

And because I was a good girl and finished two of my projects this week I allowed myself to start something new. More about that shortly.

Azaleas

Kitten Update

The little babies are doing well. They are eating solid food and using their little cat box. Mama cat is still with them most of the time, but she does need her mama breaks every so often. I try to get her to come in at night and stay with them because the nights are still cold. I was worried about them when we had a frost warning for the night from Thursday to Friday but when I checked on them in the morning they were as frisky as can be and playing. They do not really trust me yet especially since I picked one of them up. I just love it when they hiss at me. ;-) I think the biggest one of them might be a boy, the other three are definitely girls because of their coloring. I called the SPCA and the Spay and Neuter Clinic for advice. The cat rescue people at the SPCA are up to their eyeballs in cats and kittens just as I expected. I have several options what to do with them and I have been thinking a lot about it. A friend of mine has a friend who owns a pet store and she has offered to take them for selling. At first I was not sure if this might be a good idea but I guess they might as well take their chances with somebody who is willing to pay for them. When they stay around my garden I have to have them fixed which, honestly, we can not afford at the moment and then there is always the danger of some idiot running them over. We will try and get mommy fixed though and she can stay around. That poor kitty cat is the only available female in the area, all other cats are toms, I finally got a look at the backside of the long haired white cat that sleeps on the neighbor's porch and even that one is male (can't tell if he is still intact or neutered, too much hair). So we will keep them until the are weaned and used to people and then hope they will get as lucky as Miss Kitty who is also from a pet store.
Cute as they are I would not want them in the house. We got our first cat when he was only six weeks old and I remember all too well how that turned out, and all that times four, no thank you. I don't like living in a disaster zone. ;-) Here is a picture of mama cat and three of the kittens - feeding time at the zoo. :-)
What seemed a bit of a problem on Tuesday morning is now part of my daily routine (and part of my daily chores).

Surprise!

Look what we found in our mudroom last night.

Four little kittens. The cute black and white cat with the big appetite trusts us enough to bring us her kittens. The picture is a bit blurry because I took it through the glass with no flash. The only come out of hiding when mama-cat is in there too and when we go out there they disappear completely and make no noise. There are two tortoise-shells, one calico and a big black one (I wonder if that one is a boy, it was the first one to peek out under the shelve and the first one at the food bowl this morning). The eat solid food already, I guess they are between 4 and 6 weeks old. I remember seeing her pregnant but because I never saw any kittens I thought they might have died when we had the big snow at the beginning of March. During the Easter weekend mama-cat was very affectionate and sitting with me on the back steps, purring up a storm and kneading me and giving me love bites. I guess she was trying to find out if it would be safe to bring us her babies. Oh well, they know a (sucker) cat lover when they see one. I am not really sure what to do now. Every time I call the SPCA for help they turn me down and for now they are safe in the mudroom, I just need to re-arrange a few things. I am very tempted to keep them but apart from Miss Kitty probably not being happy about that, we would eventually run into some financial problems when it comes time for vet visits. Mama-cat is a real sweetie, except when it comes to other cats. But now I know why she was so territorial. :)

Easter Sundae

Sunday Morning

Knitting

Here are a few small projects I finished recently, a baby blanket and two washcloths.

Breakfast