Best And Worst Of Times

This has been quite a week.  Dark days and days of light.

First of all, my heart tests have turned out well.  I am so relieved.  Couple of issues to find out about, but no heart disease.  It has been such a relief and I don't have to go back to the cardiologist for six months.

I was gone to the city for more than a week.  I hire someone to feed the animals or my husband does it when I am gone.  I came home this Wednesday night and all was well.  Teddy, my little man, stays in the house 90% of the time and can in fact open the door to let himself in.  The sweetest and most loving cat ever.  When he was born at the barn, I found him hidden in the shop behind a large shelf. His mother had moved her litter in there when the door was left open.  I found them just in time.

As Teddy grew, about 6 inches long, he would run as fast as he could to the 4 wheeler when we'd ride up to the barn.  From the time he was born, he just stole our hearts and loved us in return.  It wasn't long before he lived with us up at the house.

Here is Teddy in the catbird seat.  Don't know how many birds visited this day.

I love this picture of Teddy as he was balled up in the asparagus patch, playing while I tried to clean it out. Such a playful and loving boy. 

Wednesday night he was in my lap, purring and in my face.  Glad that we were back home. Even bugged the weenies too. He slept in bed with me and the weenies all night.  I put him outside at 8:00 am and by 9:30 I saw him lying on the patio.  I won't go on, but rushed him to the vet and she did all she could to save Teddy.  His lungs were filled with fluid.  The Dr. said from her exam and X-ray 3 things could do that.  Electrocution, heart worms, which are rare in cats or a fungal infection.  She said it was grave.  She tried all day to save Teddy, but he died last night.  She offered to do an autopsy, but it wouldn't bring my Teddy back.  I loved him so.  It broke my heart. 

I sent my husband to pick him up this morning and we buried him. I am going to miss him terribly.

The best part of this week is that my son got an internship this morning at 6:30 am when the results were released.  We've all been on pins and needles waiting on this process. He got his number one pick.  I'll go into the internship selection process later.  It is all computerized now and is a horrible system.  Four hundred students nationwide did not get a match and will have to wait another year to re-apply. He had to fly and drive all over the country to interviews the first part of the month on a salary that is below poverty level. 

 He and his wife are over the moon though.  They will have to move and sell their house.  I won't get to see my Penny Lane nearly as often, but they are so happy and if he is happy, I am happy.  He will do the internship and his post doc at The University of Oklahoma.  He will be working with the counseling center and also with the athletics department, studying the athletes for head injuries and traumatic brain injury.  My boy is ecstatic. After such a long road and hard work, he can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Life at its best and worst.

Living Things

Outside this morning with the dogs, listening to birdsong and a woodpecker and a far off flock of Canada geese when I heard a strange sound.  Something like a street sweeper, though it is Sunday and they don't do that in the country anyway.  So, I decided it must be an oil or gas well letting off pressure.  The trees that wreath our home throw sounds and it was hard to tell where it was coming from.  I looked north as the sound came closer and saw a great flock of blackbirds flying toward me.  I downloaded this photo of a starling mumuration from google as my camera can not do a decent job (perhaps the camerawoman too.)

They were everywhere in the trees - up and down searching for food and startling I guess.

It was a thrill to watch them.

Startling starlings.  

I carried Midge out for a lie in the sun.  She didn't acknowledge the birds.  I have been giving her syringes of chicken broth mixed with cat food and water.  She won't eat and has gotten considerably weaker.  I've done all I can.  She did get better after the transfusion, but I can't keep doing them.  The medications have made no difference.  I am going to take her in the morning to the vet.  It is time.

La Chat

Midge the cat.  She is lying in a patch of morning light, peeping at me to see what the heck I'm doing.  Better not be anymore syringes of chicken broth and meds.  I got her to eat a few teensy bites of raw chicken liver from my finger.  

I came home from Christmas holidays and quickly surveyed the animals.  Midge and Teddy would usually be the first ones there.  No Midge.  Unpacked, etc.  Still no Midge.  Went to look for her and found her curled up in her bed in the garage.  Not a good sign.

Midge is the fattest and furriest animal of the lot.  Her fur is legend.  If you remember, I had a feral cat colony at the barn and fed and kept them on birth control for three years...  Five of them that were spayed etc. lived up at the house and came and went through the doggie door.  I tried everything, even once putting tin foil on all the countertops, trying to dissuade the cats from leaving dirt they roll in and cat hair all over the house.  Clothes, furniture and even in my mouth.  Finally, the doggie door was closed and the cats relegated to a life outdoors.

On New Year's day, I called the vet, but it was closed.  I put her on antibiotics for three days until Monday morning when I took her to the vet.  Checkup and tested for feline leukemia (neg) and given a long acting antibiotic shot.  Wed. morn she was worse instead of better.  Went back to vet.

She was in bad shape.  IV fluids, other meds and kept getting worse.  Her red blood cell levels extremely low.  Finally, a blood transfusion as a last resort.

Here she is curled up with Sister.  After a week at the vet, still on meds, she is not much better - weak and hardly eating nor drinking.  Went from healthy? to near death in two weeks.  

Midge isn't a cuddly cat.  Her mother's name is Mean Mom, who misses her terribly outside. If Midge wants contact, she'll usually just walk by my leg for a tiny swipe against it and I might get a swipe down her back.  It has to be her initiating the touch.  I love her anyway as I do all my animals (even Mean Mom who tried to scratch my eyes out once and slapped my glasses off.)  I'm not sure Midge is going to make it.  I certainly don't want to prolong the inevitable, if that's the case with Midge.  Maybe a false neg test, microplasmosis (I think that's what they called it), or infectious disease.  If that were the case, I would think all the antibiotics would have begun to work.

Meanwhile, I am stuck at the farm, caring for her and don't know what next week will bring.  I hate the worrying - makes my heart palpitate, so I try to keep busy.  Don't want to have to take her back to the vet to board her.  Some animals are not meant to be caged and I know Midge was miserable that week (even though the vet said at one point she was pretty loopy and out of it.)  I never board my animals as I know it is too stressful for them and me.

Oh Midge.  I don't want to lose her.

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Here lies Boo, the sweetest cat on the planet, in my herb tower, tearing up the catnip.

It's the second time I've had to plant it.  I read that only 40-50% of cats respond to catnip, but this bad boy is high.  If he wasn't such a good cat, I'd shoo him out of there.  Oh Boo.

Get Stinky

The downside of living on a farm is when your cats come home with something dead and your dogs roll in it.  I kept getting a whiff of something today that was awful; wondered what in the world it could be.  It came from different places in the house which left me looking high and low for the source.  I'm washing my bedding and sniffing around.  I finally realized what it was.  My weenies had rolled in something dead.  Nothing smells worse.

P.U.

The title of this gouache I painted is 'Rolling In Stink".  Now you know where I got the idea from.

How could the sweetest weenies in the world, Emmy and Sister, do such a thing?

Well, they  never met a turd they didn't like either.  They wouldn't know what a leash was for.

So goes living on a farm.  Lots of nasty things for weenies to get into.  As for the cats, I've never seen a cat roll in dead things.  

Crafting With Cat Hair

My husband told my children the time has come to put me in a home.  He thinks I am certifiable; was aghast at this purchase.  I didn't write it.  I told him rabbit fur, llama, sheep and on an on...  Now, I don't agree with him and thought this was a splendid idea when I ordered this book.  What could be sweeter than having a tangible memory of your beloved pet? 

A felting needle and felting block were all I had to buy.  There are the cutest crafts in this book.  I just wish my weenies hair was longer than an eyelash.

And, just because, I smile every time I pass this large bag filled with middle daughter's birthday gifts.  I wish I had a monkey.

Cat Study

I am sure you have heard of the latest study saying cats kill billions of birds and small animals.  My cats drag in animals and birds.  Yet, I am certain that humans kill more animals than all the animals in the world combined.  Windows kill more birds than animals do.  One could go on and on.  So it makes me wonder who funded this study and what their agenda is.  Where are The Lone Gunmen when you need them?  By the way, the sweetest cat on earth, Boo, Teddy's brother, just wants to be tickled.  Nothing more.  

Catdog

Here lies Teddy, playing in the asparagus patch, posing of course.  Named after a teddy bear, he is the most cuddly, lovable, friendly and best all-around cat on the planet.  Really, more dog-like than a cat, all he wants to do is play or cuddle up to us and our dogs.  As a teeny little baby, he would run out from the barn to greet us on our four wheelers.  After an abscess and subsequent neutering, he came to live up at the house with us.  

Cat Days Of Summer

It's a hard job, but somebody has to do it.  Buzzy found a good spot to nap for these waning days of summer.

A small note here - this dinosaur is made from an old Ford truck.  Buzzy was that last surviving kitten from a litter at the barn.  A raccoon got the rest and I couldn't leave him to suffer the same fate.  

New Chic Countertop

The new tin foil counter top is tres chic.  Matches all the new silver furniture and wall decorating I am seeing in magazines - a fad I think will be over before it started.  Nevertheless, I am trying it out - on my kitty cats.  Five now call my home their home and come and go through the doggie door tracking in little dirty paw prints and enough hair to stuff a couch.  I heard this would work to discourage them from getting on the kitchen counters as I am at wits end.  Short of shaving them bald, I'm giving it a try.  So far, I don't see one hair on the kitchen counter.  How do they even know it's there or that they don't like it?  They can't see up there from the floor.  Even so, the bad little kitties haven't set foot upon it.  Perhaps my cats are genius cats or super cats, or are in fact, reading my mind! Please give me some helpful hints before I shave them bald or sew them up into pillow cases, cut out holes for arms and legs and fashion little cat suits for them.  With spring coming, Teddy, Midge, Mean Mom, Boo and Buzzy are already starting to shed.  I read that Martha Stewart puts clean towels on her furniture daily to combat pet hair, but never read what she does to keep them off her kitchen counters.  PS ~ her cats have hair about three times as long as mine!

Colder Than A Witch's Tit

Oh! How I do hate winter. Temperatures below zero, blizzards, ice and snow and more snow... It is the work of a demon methinks. Does anyone have a shack on a warm beach someplace, where I can wait out the rest of winter? We have to winter somewhere warm from now on. I just can't stand it. If you watch House Hunters International, it would only cost a mere half-million or so. Maybe, they would let me cook for room and board. Or, I could paint (oils not houses).

Here's Hosannah, the neighbor's horse. They don't shelter her, nor feed her, so I am feeding her through the winter once again. She had icicles on her the other day.

Buzzy, the kitten, and I are reduced to watching the birds feeding. After being housebound for the week, I drove my 4 x 4 truck to town for horse feed and birdseed? My priorities are not the same as most folks.

At least all the creatures around my Peaceable Hill Farm are well cared for. I fully expect the raccoons to come knocking any minute.

CATS AND DOGS

Here is Teddy again, in the cat bird seat. He is the best cat around. Has it all.

This is Midge. She is one of MeanMom's. She is the only girl cat that comes in the house.

Here is Midge when she was tiny. Boo and Teddy let her climb all over them; withstand her constant kitten things that she does. She now flips around and play fights with them and is nearly as big as they are.

Midge tries to play with Emmy and Sister, but they are wary of her kind of playing. So, they let her sleep with them instead.

And here is MeanMom the feral cat that took over our garage. She has had about 5 litters of kittens in our garage. I started working on her about 6 months ago and finally got her tame enough to let me pet her. She loves the petting, but doesn't know whether to bite and scratch between tickles. Last week, she slapped my glasses off. Is that where they got 'scratch your eyes out'?Finally, I got her in a cage and she got spayed yesterday. What a commotion. Try putting a wild cat in a cage. When I got her to the vet, they were trying to figure how to get her out of the cage, even talked about snaring her. I made a quick retreat. I figured she wouldn't ever trust me again, but this morning she wanted a tickle. Wonder if she'll still rule the garage and its surroundings. My weenies are afraid of her.

Finally, it isn't all fun and games living with my pets. I have to cover my new Ethan Allen sectional with sheets and towels (good thing it didn't come with plastic). They bring in all kinds of creatures - salamanders, lizards, frogs, butterflies, rats and last week, a blue bird and a cardinal. And, this window in my guest room is no more. Midge knocked it to the floor last week. The animals cost me a fortune and are more trouble than they are worth. That's not even including Birdie, who is biting my back as I type this. Even with all the trouble my animals cause me, I can't imagine my life without them.

Finally Tulips

Just wanted to show my tulips off this year. Cause it will be the last time. I have battled the deer since they started coming up. The deer would bite the new shoots and rip the bulb from the ground. I would have to stick them back in the hole. So, I covered the entire area around my goldfish pond with a plastic netting. You guessed it. The tulips grew up through the netting which wasn't very pretty when I had to pull the tulips through it and the deer started munching them again. I'd raise the netting. Then, I got some stakes that supposedly irritates the deer's little noses with something or other and they still were noshing. After some granules were scattered around the area, the tulips were finally up. Next year will be all daffodils and narcissus. I've had it.

My dino didn't even scare the deer away.

Here's Boo begging for a tickle. He is a good boy and very vocal; decides he needs to pose for me.

MEOWWW

Here are some of my cat collectibles. This is a carnival prize from the 40's perhaps. They were made from plaster of paris and lifesized. Isn't he a cutie?

These little guys are a lamp base. I guess I missed the shade.

Kitten planter anyone?

Here's another version of the carnival win. It is even older than the larger one above. The tiny kitten is Japanese from the 50's.

Now this kitten is just too cute. Its smile makes me smile.


I love this print. It looks like a watercolor. I used to have a gray tabby named Fraidy.

This kitty is made of cement and is a doorstop though it is perched high above us.


Here is another carnival kitty; it is large and plaster, but this one has glass eyes. I do love cats!

I want to tell my regular bloggy friends I have tried lately to leave comments on posts and have on occasion been unable to. There is something wrong with the word loading. I reported it though I don't know that it got to anyone, but if you have had the same problem it might be worth it to report it too. Love you guys.

Feral Barn Cats

If you read the earlier post about my cats and barn cats, then you will have read one about MeanMom, the feral barn cat. It has taken me over a year but this week we have finally broken through and bonded somewhat. Yea! She would always spit and hiss and jump at us (me and my wieners). Then she would meow around and talk to me, but if I bent down or looked at her cross ways, she'd start hissing and growling etc. Wouldn't let me go too near. Well, I have persisted and last week when I'd hold my hand to her she would slap it, then claw it over to her and bite it then lick it. I got in a few rubs before she'd slap me. Now, I can just rub her and she circles around my legs rubbing, purrs while I stroke her back. Major accomplishment! I took two barn cats to get spayed last week and have 3 more to do including MeanMom. And I would have taken her in too but she would not work with my timetable and is a little too fat now. But, progress has been made! I guess now I'll have to start calling her MomCat.

Here is MeanMom clawing and pulling my hand to her and biting it.

MeanMom when she had finally gotten to the stage where she would come within 6 feet of me but no more than that. She still swats me and the other cats and dogs, but, the other day I saw her peeking in the doggie door to see where we all were. By the way, MeanMom isn't a barn cat anymore. She moved herself up to my garage, which she rules over, some time ago.

Catbird Seat

Here's Teddy in the catbird seat or bird feeder I should say. He is the sweetest cat. Very vocal. Yesterday, I caught him with a chickadee in his mouth and chased him down. I got him by the scruff of his neck and he let go of the chickadee and it flew up in a nearby tree and fussed and fussed. Whew! If I can catch the cats just after they catch the birds then the birds can sing for another day. But, if I'm not around... Did I mention they bring in field rats through the doggy door? One day last week they brought in three in one day. Teddy, Boo, Midge and MeanMom are the barn cats that have moved up to the house. Teddy fights his brother Boo: Midge is young and plays with both of the boys while her mother MeanMom lurks around outside hissing and spitting and chasing or jumping my little weiner dogs. How mean is she? She's so mean, we are at the stage of clawing and grabbing my hand, pulling it to her, then biting it and licking it. A big improvement. I'm trying to tame her so I can take her to get fixed. I have become one of those people I revile; the ones who don't take care of their animals and/or have them spayed or neutered. Let me explain. My farm/barn has become a cat farm; I never knew they had so many babies. I have spayed and neutered 9 cats so far, but I can't afford to do all of them (and they usually leave after I do that). So, all I can do is continue to feed them. I love them all, even MeanMom. They are so sweet (except MM). My husband wants to shoot them but I won't let him. Teddy, Boo and Midge all got to the house because they were hurt or sick. More vet bills. And no, there are no rescues etc. in this area. By the way, MeanMom looks a little fatter, hmmmm. She thinks the garage is her house and goes into the loft where she has her litters. We've tried the havahart cage and she's too smart for that. Let me know if anyone has any ideas. In 23 years, we never had this problem.

UPDATE: Today after I wrote this the dogs and I went out for a walk in the field. I looked back and here came Teddy, Boo, Midge and MeanMom. Meanmom came up to me and rubbed my leg, a first, then let me rub down her back a couple of times then clawed my hand and bit it. We did this several times while out walking and she got better at letting me rub her. Major event for MeanMom. She doesn't bite hard; the claw she catches my hand with is a little more bothersome, but I think soon she will let me pet and rub her without biting. She's finally starting to trust me; it has only taken a year. Hurrah! I've finally made headway with MeanMom.