Weekend

Well, another weekend has come and gone and time goes by so swiftly. It was a good weekend.
Friday night we moved the kittens (and their mama) from the potting shed into the mudroom. The nights are getting rather cool now and the kittens are getting more mobile and they seem to be an especially curious bunch. They started to explore outside the shed and with raccoons and dogs and who knows what other critters that come into our yard, we felt it safer for them to be inside. The mudroom does get a bit too warm in the afternoon when the sun shines directly on it so I put the little ones into one of our crates and took them inside for a nap, keeping them away from our cats. They are amazing, you can almost watch them grow, they are 4 weeks old now and are beginning to eat solid food. I gave them kitten chow to munch on and once a day I give them canned kitten food. It looks like there are three boys and two girls. The girls are the quiet ones, the boys are meowing up a storm. When I went out to them this morning two of them playfully attacked my foot. It will not be easy to let them go and I really hope I will be able to find homes for them.

Saturday morning we spent at the biker ministry helping clean out their basement. Let's just say it was an interesting experience. The volunteer shift was from 8 am - 12 pm, but by 11 am our spirits began to sag a bit, it was just so much work and we realized we would not be able to get it all done but we did make a dent. I was in a group of women who sorted donated clothing items. I have to say that it is a shame what some people donate, stained underwear was one of the grosser items we found, yuck! After we got home we took it easy and just read, knitted and played around on the computer a bit.

Sunday morning we had a great church service and in the evening we went to our first small group meeting. We had a good time of fellowship and Bible study with lovely people and good food and I am looking forward to being a part of this group.

Knitting and Reading

Sleep is highly overrated. ;-) I woke up at 1.30 am and was wide awake until around 3 am. And then I was rather rudely awakended by a huge thunderstorm shortly after 5 am. I am getting too old for these wild nights. I hate thunder that shakes the house and lightning so close you can hear it hiss.

Last night we were on another kitten rescue mission. It had rained all day and by afternoon there was some dreadful yowling going on in the bushes. So out I went in pouring rain to see what was the matter. I found two rather wet and bedraggled looking kittens, stuffed them into a box lined with one of the flannel quilts I made for the cats last year and took them to the potting shed. Then I grabbed their mama and put her in with them so she knew where they went. I knew that she had more than two and I was hoping that she would bring them all together by herself. In the early evening we heard more yowling from the bushes and sure enough there was another kitten. He got himself so deep into the vegetation that she must not have been able to get him out by herself. Del got him and while I took him to the shed he was looking for the rest. When I entered the shed I found mama and four babies all nice and dry in their new box and the search was called off. This time we will have her fixed although I have no idea yet where the money for it will come from. After we gave away the last kittens she had disappeared for a while and when she showed up again she was pregnant once more. It seems to be my destiny to take on other people's responsibilities.

Anyway, on to knitting and reading, linking up with Ginny again.
I joined the knitting group at our new church for the first time yesterday and it was very nice. There were only four of us but we did some knitting and some chatting and had a good time. I am working on a simple scarf that will be added to the Christmas bags for the homeless shelter. And I am re-reading "The Pillars of the Earth", now I know why I could not remember anything of the book when I saw the movie. They made an awful lot of changes to the story right from the beginning, which proves again that you should never do a book report based on the movie. ;-) I also did a little Fall inspired baking - pumpkin muffins.

In the garden

Today's Project

Before

and after.

Amazing how little time it takes to bring order to a space. The pile of newspapers is waiting to be put on our garden beds once they are empty. The flat boxes are set up as cat beds for the two outside cats, so is the litterbox. And of course my girls had to inspect it all.

In the garden

The mornings are already noticeably cooler and unfortunately also darker, which, on the other hand, gives me a chance to watch the bats flying around between the big trees across the road while I pack Del's lunch and make breakfast. I just took advantage of the cool morning and spent a delightful time in the garden, hanging laundry and planting Fall vegetables. I was serenaded by cicadas and surrounded by the scent of honeysuckle and I had a helper - behold Mr. Floyd, the last remaining garden cat (he chased off all the males and the two girls are now inside cats).

"S" is for Sucker

Have you noticed the big S on my back, on my forehead, painted all over my house and garden? Well, the cats have and they must be the ones that put them there. I can't help it I am just a sucker when it comes to cats.

We have known for about a week that one of the neighborhood cats was hiding kittens in our garden shed. So far, so good. We were going to wait until they are big enough for her to bring them out like MamaCat did a couple of years ago. BUT - the weather forecast for today calls for a heat index of 104, not good for little tiny baby cats. So we decided to get them in the morning and move the whole family into the basement. Our basement has a window and gets daylight.

Change of plan. Last night a raccoon came into the back yard and I was worried that the mama cat would try to tangle with it to defend the young ones. So we lured her into the basement with food and out we went with flashlights and basket to capture the kittens. Well, our garden shed is a bit creepy in broad daylight - we don't use it and after cleaning it out a bit we never went in there - but in the dark it is way creepier, only one thing to do, don't think about all the creepy crawlies and go in. We did. We found the little fur balls, I caught the feisty one, it fought like crazy, amazing how hard it can be to hold on to a handful of cat if it does not want to be held. Del got hold of the other one and we brought them in. I had set up a big box on its side for them to hide in and I popped them into the box. Then I got the mama cat to show her where they were because she tried to get out to get back to her babies. She saw them and then laid down protectively in front of the box.

I am just glad none of the neighbors called the cops on us, it must have looked strange, people with flashlights traipsing around the garden and disappearing into the shed and then run like hades back to the house.

I had a bad night. Too much adrenalin and way too hot, I did not sleep well. Brownie and MamaCat were very upset by all the late evening activity and I think they saw us bring in the kittens. Those two are very protective of their new home and I think we would have a hard time adding more cats to the family.

This morning I checked on them and they seem fine. Mama cat is purring and seems to have forgiven me. The basement is a bit damp at the moment but way cooler than the shed would be. I think the kittens are about 4 - 5 weeks old and I will try later in the week to see if they are ready to eat solid food. As to what I am going to do with them I don't know yet. Time will tell, we will cross that bridge when we reach it.

The funny thing is, that yesterday afternoon I had decided not to interfere and not always feel responsible to take care of the results of other people's irresponsible actions. But hey, what have those poor little fur balls done to deserve suffering in the heat? As I said - SUCKER!!

Who, Me?

I had forgotten how much 'fun' it is to have a young and curious cat in the house. I am trying to teach her which areas are 'no, no' (with much success as you can see).

New Family Member

Meet our new probationary house cat - MamaCat.

I know, she is not really a new family member, she has been with us since Easter 2009 when she surprised us with four beautiful kittens she had carried up the steps into our mudroom. After the kittens were weaned and gone we had her spayed and I pretty much expected her to take off again, but she stayed with us. I dislike the idea of outside cats very much and always felt uncomfortable. After a while I was able to keep her indoors overnight which made me feel a lot better.
Since this Winter was so cold and wet and nasty I have kept both MamaCat and Brownie in the mudroom/basement since December and both of them seem to be okay with it. MamaCat showed signs of wanting to be inside much rather than outside and so I started to let her come into the house during the day when it was warm enough for Miss Kitty to be in the porch. She is the perfect house cat, potty trained, not destructive, lively, curious and a lot of fun. Last week she decided to aim for an overnighter. So I put her in the living room over night, with her box, some food and a blanket on the sofa and there she stayed, quiet as a mouse all night, I keep the living room door closed anyway, it keeps the house warmer at night and it kept Miss Kitty from exploring the Christmas tree while we slept.
I hope that Miss Kitty will eventually except MamaCat as a permanent guest when she sees that nothing changes for her. She still gets all the treats, cuddles and sunshine she wants. I keep MamaCat out of the porch, that is Miss Kitty's territory. So far, so good, will see how things progress.
MamaCat has not once asked to be let outside, even when she watches the birds on the feeder through the bed room window. She is sweet, easygoing and very adaptable.

From Our House To Yours

Merry Christmas!

He Had a Rough Day

Poor Floyd came in yesterday morning sneezing and with runny eyes. My first thought was that he might have caught a virus and I made sure he stayed away from the girls and that we changed our clothes and washed our hands carefully after dealing with him. Today we took him to the vet to have him checked out. It turned out that he does not have a virus but was in a fight and had his nose scratched up on the inside, that made him sneeze and his eyes water. Poor baby. I was amazed at how good he was at the vet. I am not sure he has ever been to a vet before. Everybody cooed over him about how pretty he is and what a big boy he is. He sat perfectly still on the exam table and ate up all the compliments. He did not even flinch when the extremely nice doctor fixed a little tear in his ear that had started to bleed. We took him to Sheets Pet Clinic on a recommendation by a lady from the SPCA and I am glad we did. They are very nice and not too expensive. After all that stress, a nap was in order (of course after a good meal). I am so glad he does not have a virus and can therefore be with the other cats. Now we can all relax and celebrate Christmas. Phew!

Rainy Day

The weather was dismal today, not cold, but grey, wet and windy. A perfect day for being 'domestic'.
I started with cleaning the bath room and the cat box, a weekly chore, usually done Monday or Tuesday. Then I had a date with Lily (my sewing machine).
I made flannel blankets for the cat girls. I recently found a bunch of flannel fat quarters in one of my fabric boxes and decided that they were just the right size for cat blankets. So, two fat quarters and a piece of batting makes one happy cat.

Isn't it great when your gifts are being so appreciated? The picture is a bit blurry because I took it through the window of the back door so I would not disturb them.

Then I made a pillow cover out of a large piece of Christmas fabric with cats. It was too cute to be cut up for something else and it was big enough for one pillow and I even have some left over.

I prepared a template and the fabric for tomorrow's project and then I baked a batch of scones (vanilla and chocolate chip) and washed the dishes.

The weather got worse in the meantime and it is getting rather dark. I hope we don't get a storm. When the cats come in by themselves before I call them there is usually something brewing.

Fun in the Sun

Playtime with MamaCat. A perfect stress buster.

Saturday

Ornaments

For various reasons, the main one being not enough time for everything I want to do, I decided to switch from quilted redwork ornaments to simple crochet ornaments for the swap. I don't think I will do another big swap like that, it feels like mass producing things.

And I found a cute and easy pattern for some tree hearts. I am going to make a few more for my own tree this year. I decided the theme for our Christmas decorations will be "Critters and Colors" this year.