Was That a Vacation?

As some of you, dear readers, know the Fuzzys have been traveling again. Mrs Fuzzy attended a small conference in rural Kentucky after delivering Lady Mae to her new owner. From there she stayed with two sets of friends and met up with Mr Fuzzy at Wilderness Road State Park for their fall festival "reenactment." Much (too much?) good food and Much (never too much!) good companionship was had. From there we had two days to reorganize before driving to north Florida to the excruciatingly chi-chi Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island Resort Hotel for a conference Mr. Fuzzy was attending. For now, let us say that we have both come away with the feeling that the super wealthy have no clue about the world.

Now we are home. The chickens are still laying. Life bodes well except for some potty issues with one or more of the cats. I'll be up to my elbows cleaning for a few days with the big surprise we found in the basement. One of the pitfalls of having a big cat colony is they sometimes get upset with each other and it is we humans who pay the price.

I'm trying to keep a positive outlook..... but it's kinda stinky down there. Maybe you all can encourage Mr. Fuzzy to cook for me all week?

10 Reasons:: To Have Ten Cats

I am that crazy woman you spotted at Petsmart loading up her cart with every bag of the only food her fish-allergic pride can eat. And, yes, I know all the grades of gack that can possibly exist (I think.)

Some people.... like my city-dwelling mother and other fans of homes that do not breed dust bunnies the size of Toledo... think we're just a little over the top having ten cats in the house. Yes, I do sometimes spend an hour trying to get them inside but a little food savvy on Mr. Fuzzy's part means that everyone is ready to come in when they're supposed to... most of the time.

Around Floyd having a big colony of pussycats is within the range called "normal." Some people even seek to maintain a dozen or so by choice! There are some benefits to having way too many cats for sanity Here are ten... one for each cat.

1: No wild bird will eat my blueberries or strawberries.

2: There is zero chance of freezing to death with 150 pounds of cat under the covers.

3: Squirrels do not dare steal chicken feed, bird food, or peaches.

4: A cat can stare down a deer every time.

5: Cat pee discourages vegetable predators!

6: No moles outside and no mice inside.

7: There's always somebody to guard the hen house.

8: If one cat is feeling uppity another is always ready to take on their cuddle duty.

9: Big fluffy kitty + butterfly = truly amusing action.

1o: They just look so darned pretty sitting out on the lawn.

There's a Storm Coming

So Mr. Fuzzy should be presenting you all with more pretty pictures of the white stuff and / or ice in the next few days.

It's been a busy week around here. Most important of all the busy-ness is the END to Mr. Fuzzy's huge, unpaid, editing job. I have my husband back! We celebrated by going out for one of the best meals we've ever had in America. (Almost as good as some of those impossibly delicious meals we ate in Italy.)

My life has been, mostly, taken up with the animals, again, this week. Little Soup Dog, "Salsa," got to go to the vet for his checkup and I screwed up the courage to give he and Rocky their DHLPP shots. That's the "does most everything" one. The vet did the rabies vaccine. Tonight I find the tenacity to shoot their noses full of kennel cough vaccine. OH BOY! That's going to be an adventure. That was the small stuff.

I took Salsa to Pitiful Pulski to meet a potential adopter. (Note To All: there a good cuppa available and a ReStore but nothing else there. Totally dead and about to blow away.) The folks really liked Salsa and I'm saying my prayers they'll decide to adopt. It's the perfect home. That's Big News #1. Big News #2 is that the doggles, Rocky and Rufus, escaped from the walled garden last night and Rufus did not run off! Today he was allowed, for the first time, to hang out in the yard for a couple hours and he was very well behaved. (Chetworth would disagree....) Looks like he won't be forever confined to the garden after all. Yaaayyyyyyy!

Been working on the greenhouse some more. My water barrel has a leak so it needs to find a new use... Maybe as a soil barrel? The newly-hatched plan is to add gutters to the greenhouse roof and collect the water inside, under the bench. Cross fingers and wish me well! I've also gotten the soil in where I can. Under the bigger bench will have to wait until the overwintered plants come out. I also got seeds planted for early greens. Hopefully next year we'll have greens all winter in there! I've put in lettuce, spinach, chives, an radishes to eat plus some crocus, miniature iris, and nasty urchins just because I want them there. The moles and voles eat the crocuses if they are planted in the ground. I'll let you know how it works out.

Oh, yes, and the foster cats are gone. 'Lizbeth was adopted practically before her feet hit the kennel at PetsMart and C.K. is well now so she's "on show" at a local gallery.

Mrs. Fuzzy's Artistic Outlet

Good homes needed.

Parson's Jack Russell.

Our foster dog.

And our foster cat.

Hodge Update

Isn't Mr. Hodge beautiful now? He's one big burly ball of feline happiness and he is doing well at PetsMart... He's making muffins in his pillows, head butting people "through" the glass, and generally making a happy nuisance of himself to anyone who passes by the little adoption center. It is predicted he will quickly find a home and the cats of Stratheden will get what they want most for Christmas... no more Porch Cat! (Little do they know we've agreed to take on another at some point who will live in the workshop.)

If you recall, Hodge was within days of starving to death when he appeared in early August. Here's the photo we took then for you to compare (see the blog for November 15th as well).

We hope Santa brings Mr. Hodge the thing he wants most too... a permanent home with a nice soft chair by the wood stove and a place on the bed at night.

Jello Brains

Yes, we've got jello for brains... all 14 members of the Fuzzy household. See, we've had more guests and this batch included two extremely active little girls. Don't die laughing (Barbara) it's true. He let children stay overnight in his home.

Poor Rocky, our wee dog, is exhausted after being "walked" all day yesterday. Rufus, the big puppy, is disconsolate at the loss of such boisterous playmates. I'm just perplexed at how I managed to corral the kids, entertain Mom, keep the house from exploding, AND get dinner on the table for three nights.

But... now we know we have VERY tolerant cats and dogs and an authentic kid-decorated Christmas tree. They even managed to break fewer ornaments than I've been known to do! Pictures to follow soon. Tonight we're off to the Humane Society party. Mr. Hodge (aka porch cat) is off to be featured at Petsmart and, hopefully, get adopted.

A Letter fron Your Most Esteemed and Favorite Cat Friend

Greetings, my devoted Public, have you missed me?

Mama says you're both in some far away country so I hope you can still read this. Do they have cats where you are? I hope so. Have you been keeping up with the posts? If you have then that means you know things have gone from bad to worse around here... AGAIN. These humans of mine reeely need to just stop with the adding of animals. (Well, except the chicken idea. I like chicken. Yum! Yum!)

Not ONLY have they brought home ANOTHER dog but they're letting that ugly puppy out of the kitchen to PLAY. Can you imagine?????? We aren't safe hardly ANYWHERE. If those two aren't playing mouthy-mouthy then they're making a racket chewing those stupid bones or -- this is the worst! -- snoring at Mama's feet.

I ain't afraid of those dogs. Nope, no sir, no way.

But I aint stupid either!

That black one likes to play chase and Mama says he's not trying to eat us (Buster and Miss. Lilly say so too) but I jump up and away just so he knows not to do it. I'm not like the others who hiss and swat and throw a fit. Why bother? They're just dumb DOGS! Get up off the floor and they TOTALLY forget you exist. Not like that stupid Girlie Girl who keeps on growling all night after you've walked past her stupid butt! Dogs have NO MEMORY so once you're gone they forget you exist. Mr Tam taught me that and HE'S the SMARTEST CAT I'VE EVER KNOWN! Miss Lilly studied under him before I was ever born and she learned how to not be scared of ANY dumb dog. She'll even sit on a low box and watch the dogs roughhouse for an hour. Lilly is The Coolest! I don't want to get trampled so I stay away unless we're having treat time.

Have I told you about Treat Time? Mama invented it. All we have to do is all show up and whoever is there gets lots and lots and LOTS of treats from the jar. Sometimes we even manage to get our noses into the jar when Mama's not looking and THEN WE PIG OUT! Even the dogs are allowed to have treats at treat time.... though we make Mama put the puppy in the kitchen and that new little one has to stay further away. EVERYBODY loves treat time. Except Girlie, but she's a (Sorry, Mama made me delete that word.) All we have to do to get the treats is not hiss or growl. I know it's a total bribe but, hey, it's TREATS.

Oh, yeah, and the other thing that happened is that Mama changed our kibbles so we get junk food ALL the time now, not just when we run out of the fancy stuff and Mama stops at the grocery for something to tide us over until the Hippie Store gets the other food in again. The babies had some tummy trouble so we can't have food with fish guts in it any more. :( I liked the fishy food! The good news is they are feeling all better now so my little students can study with me again. Buster and Ann are taking lessons from me on how to be therapy cats. They're pretty darn good already! Figures.... they're the same kind of color as me. ORANGE CAT'S ARE THE BEST!

OK, this is getting long now. I have so much to tell you but it's fall and that means we're having to keep the neighborhood clear of evil mice. Some of the neighbors don't have cats so we go to there houses and kill the mice there too. Mr. Harmon is nice and doesn't have a dog so Jack goes there a lot and I go all the way to the end of the road and help out because their cat died a few weeks ago. It's a LOOONG walk so I'm pretty tired after my twice daily patrols. that's why I haven't written in so long. The good news is we've been successful- no mice in the house AT ALL so far!

Hope you're having fun wherever you are.

Love,

Dr. Chetworth
Chief Therapist, Stratheden Farm


PS- Here's a picture of the last mouse we let Mama catch. Now we just dispatch them in the field because there are so many we don't have to share any more.

The Changing Seasons

Have you ever noticed that your pets- especially cats - change their personalities with the seasons? I don't just mean the way they disdain sleeping with you in warm weather and consider your head the best bed in January... but the wholesale change that goes on with these curious creatures.

All summer we've been little more than the hands that turn the door knob to our six adult cats. We've gotten hardly a sideways glance from four of them since warm weather settled in for the summer. Even our sweet Jack Tar has been less than cuddly. But now...

It's the season for love. Chetworth comes looking for a head rub, Lilly and Jack jump into our laps for a good wash and nap, Grover insists upon being picked up, and MamaCat has suddenly taken to dancing and singing for us. She's even started letting us pet her again!

That's right... MamaCat, our semi-feral lady who hides from everyone and every thing, has suddenly decided she likes head rubs. May I remind you that this is the cat I haven't been able to touch at all for at least eight months despite feeding her for three years?

So, despite heading into the season when we can't turn over in bed for the 100 pounds of cat that suddenly appears with the cold I'm happy. My kitties are all getting along and they're all telling me they love us. Even MamaCat.

Update on We Cats

Sorry I've not written to you for a while. Mommy has had me grounded for ages JUST because I wouldn't come inside before dark and only then after she'd chased me around the whole farm and then I'd saunter inside using only the office door. It wasn't so bad.

Mama shut me up in her studio where I got the cat tree all to myself and there weren't any annoying little cats to annoy me and no horrible adult cats to chase and insult me. But without any trees to climb, moles to hunt, or internet to surf I did get kind of bored. Yeah. That's right. She took away my Animal Planet.com MEANIE!!!

Then she let me out again for a week or so and then we ALL got LOCKED UP when that awful new cat... Hodge, Podge, Hoagie, Baloney... whatever his name is... showed up. Daddy says it's because that cat looked very ill and might make us sick and DIE. I'd believe it. I've never seen a cat THAT skinny. Now he's all fat and smug and won't leave the porch no matter how much we hiss at him.

Did I say "we"? I didn't get to tell you that news did I? Stupid Mommy only gave me computer privileges yesterday so i couldn't tell you before. Anyway, since we've all been cooped up inside we've had to call a truce, us cats. Then Mommy started giving us treats (God's gift to cats!!!!!!!) just for being in the same room together so i decided this was pretty cool and I quit hissing at the babies. They're still officially horrible but they know the string game and let me take my preferred place on the bed when I want it AND they know that I am King of the Bath Mat. So it's good.

We're friends now. Fred is my protege and so is Buster. I finally got back at Girlie for being SO MEAN to me... Me and Grover finally ran her off for good the other day. Mommy and Daddy are pretty sure she's just gone to live under the workshop... that's our Switzerland... and she can stay there!!!

Gotta go.... it's laundry folding time!

Psst.... I got a Secret!

Well, not really, but it was a good title so I used it.

Your beloved cat lady (you DO love me, don't you?) has at her knee one adorable, month old, black & white, male foster kitty waiting for a spot in the cat shelter. She has also figured out how to have a "channel" for the farm on YouTube. ( "StrathedenFarm" )

You surely know what this this leading to...

Our debut film!

Dog Days

The summer doldrums have struck us at last. The temperature consistently rises to the mid-80s and the nights are barely cooling off (67F last night, 69F the night before, but the air is still and so thick you could eat it with a spoon). Mr. Fuzzy went to harvest blackberries yesterday and even the ticks and chiggers were in a torpor, only one or two rising to the tender flesh presented before them. Until now, the summer here had been unusually mild but now the dog days of summer have come on with a vengeance. The sun and heat are bringing the garden to its maturity; the tomatoes are finally ripening, the melons and pumpkins swelling daily, the zucchinis have nearly worked themselves to death and are fading away. The melon bloom shown is more than eight inches from tip-to-tip.

Last night we finally felt compelled to turn on the air conditioner to cool the bedroom down to a decent sleeping temperature... It must have worked because by 1:00 a.m., there were four cats sleeping with us.

The four kittens (Buster, Fred Tweedle, Ann Tweedle and Beatrice) born in April are now deporting themselves as 'real cats' not kittens; they have remained, and we trust, will remain, extremely affectionate. Buster is very orange, with orange eyes, the Tweedles are more ginger, Bea (as she is known more familiarly) is a color combination that even the professionally-cat-experienced Mrs. Fuzzy has never encountered. She is more or less a red-head under her other more neutral colours, and becomes more red with each passing day (her photo appears below).

The young-uns go charging out the door in the morning, interspersed with the adults. When they are outside, either Jack (most often) or Lily will still keep watch to assure their safety. Perhaps because of their age they are more curious about the Rufus beast than the adults and when Rufus is in his crate, they sometimes tease him mercilessly.

Yet another unfortunate cat has appeared at Stratheden Farm. We have now heard a rumor that one of the neighbors about half a mile away is a cat horder and perhaps this explains the number of cats who come here, nearly all are completely starved. "Hodge" (named in honour of Dr. Sam'l Johnson's favourite feline) appeared yesterday morning; he must be at least eight months old (and in fact, could be one of Jack Tar's siblings) but is one of the scrawniest cats we have ever seen, as if he has been deprived of food. We cannot have another indoor cat, ten is beyond the capacity of both the house and the Fuzzies, but he is in a terrible, critical state... so we are feeding him on the veranda, which he seems to now think of (already) as home. The other cats do not attempt to run him off, as they do other un-neutered males - I believe that they too recognize his dreadful plight and have mercy. His future is uncertain but we will not take him to the county animal pound - that is as good as a death warrant. Hodge has intensely green eyes and when he cries, he can hold a C-sharp longer than any Italian diva...

Almost a Camera!

Last evening I figured out how to use the webcam thing on this laptop so now I can show you at least a few pictures while we're passing through the Valley of Camera Death. I still have my first digital camera... it's about ten years old... and when I find it I promise to take some pictures on the farm. For now, enjoy this little picture of Baby Bea on the studio carpet.

I haven't seen more than a few square feet of it since our stuff arrived and yesterday was spent having a happy little clear-out. The kitties have lived in the room off and on so you can guess how gross it was because I couldn't get in there to properly clean. Turns out the Rug Doctor pet stain remover is as good as it says. I sprayed it on late last night and this morning all but the two worst stains are gone. Now I'm off to run the machine and get the carpet all nice and beautiful again.

Not sure how the lady in the picture is swinging that machine.... they weigh 35 pounds and there's no handle!

-----------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE:

That little machine sure did the job! Even the unspeakable gifts the kittens hid under the furniture are gone. Not mostly.... totally!

Doesn't that look better? Now to put everything back after the carpet is dry. I think I'll be making a giant trash pile with all those years' worth of excess accumulation!

Just a quickie, my dear

Quick hello, that is... more to do today than time to do it! Turning this over to Chetworth...

Hi, all! Mama really loves me. She threw Jack out the door by the scruff of his neck and Girlie Girl (the evil intruder!) is locked in the bathroom. Yeah... means I have to use the kitten litter box if I hafta "go" inside but it's worth it! Mama'a been mean to those intruders!!!!

Girlie has been all awful to us since she emerged with those horrid kittens a few weeks ago and now it's worse 'cause they eat in the kitchen with everyone now. It's SO unfair! She gets all grouchy and chases me all over the house until I can get way up high and away from her JUST because I tell those furballs to keep away!

Then the other day she started yacking ALL the time. rowl rowl rowl She does this bizarre thing where she rolls around and sticks her butt in the air. (MamaCat says this is "heat" and that it sucks rocks.) I don't get it. It's just annoying! The peoples have been mumbling about this and telling her she has to stay inside because of it. Sounds good to me: no meanies in my yard! (Except the orange bobtail Mama calls DaddyCat but I run him off whenever I see him.)

Then I saw Mama human get all concerned when Jack started acting weird. Don't know why... THOSE two are friends and hang out all the time. Anyway... Mama picked jack up by the scruff and threw him out the door. That was WAY COOL but it gets better!

So not much later Girlie was getting on my case, AGAIN, about the babies.... even though there weren't any around and I Did Not Start Growling First. (See? I'm TRYING to be nicer but it's sooooo hard!) She chased me all around the big table. This time Mama saw it happen and you know what she did? She locked Girlie up!!!! Says Girlie has to learn to be nice too.

It's after dark now and Mama put Miss Girlie up in the glass-front door room because she says Girlie and Jack can't play together until they both get something called "fixed." I don't know what that is but there's lots of talk about calling the vet so it can't be good. Glad I don't have to get this "fixed" stuff!!!!!!!

Oh, something else that was AWESOME happened today. Jack and I are now friends... but only away from the house for now... and when Mama and Daddy went for a walk Jack showed me how he goes along with them. It was super fun! We walked out in a path of flat grass to this big open area and Daddy took some pictures with his new camera. He says he got a good one of Mama and me all the way out there. I'll ask him to put it up soon!!!! Anyway... Jack and me ran and played in the tall grass... I've never seen grass that tall! It was kinda scary because I couldn't see the peoples sometimes. It was also really hot and there were lots of strange smells. Jack was super duper nice and would rub against me to tell me it was all perfectly safe. Grover would have been jealous if he saw that!

But ya wanna know the best part? On the way back we were playing a race game and it was Jack's turn to dash ahead of Mama and then my turn but instead of going around him I bowled right through him! He didn't know who or what hit him and it felt SO good.

Ain't they cute?

The babies celebrate their 6-week birthday today so I thought we'd share some unabashed "aaaawww." Kittens really are a natural anti-depressant and general mood booster. All natural with few negative side effects when properly managed! Get one today!

On the advice of the vet we tried to begin weaning these guys a little early. Ha! As they weren't quite ready for solids it was my job to force feed them a slurry of KMR and A/D wet every day so that Miss Girlie could have a little nutrition for herself. Seemed to work... no more colds and Girlie is gaining weight. The benefits duly noted, kittens fight yucky slurry even more than yucky medicine.

We compromised as soon as their little teeth came in and I started taking them cooked chicken. My theory that it was more like what Girlie would bring them seems to be correct. It's a wonderful, and worm-free, alternative to warm mouse. Mmmm! Be careful if you ever do this. Kittens bite hard and fast once they realize chicken tastes good! Now they're on to the kitten kibbles and not visiting the Milk Bar as often. Girlie Girl seems most relieved! I'm happy to have something else for dinner too. (Than chicken, that is!)

Last week we opened the doors and let them start to explore. We walk with our heads down in the house now. They scamper up and down the stairs with ease, raid the adult food, and hiss right back at the adults. There are five and, indulge us here, here's your official introduction:

Bluebeard, our skinny little runt, was the first to open her eyes at only 5 days old. Or should I say "eye" as her right eye started to open about three days later. We presumed she was a boy as ginger cats are more often male so she carries the honor of redeeming the evil pirate's name. We're not sure "redeem" is the proper word any more... Her purr sounds suspiciously like arrrrrrrrrrr. That's her telling Jack "what for."

Bea (Bagheera) has recently taken to bursts of running for no better reason than it's fun. This has led her to discover a couple things well before the others: 1: walls are solid and 2: sometimes the floor falls away. Today she went full tilt off the bed, landed, and kept going. That's the better part of a yard down... Bea is the very image of her mommy and looks like she'll be a pretty little longhair.

Buster is our biggest kitten at more than twice the size of Bluebeard. You might say he's a champion eater... He likes his naps and he likes the Milk Bar. He is often the last to leave either state. Even though he is huge he's a big softie. Not a bully bone in his body. (Unlike Mama Cat's biggest who was awful to the others!)

We still can't tell the last two apart unless we have them together. I think this is the boy, TweedleDum. He is our "wrong way kitty." I understand there is always one. If everyone else runs to the Milk Bar upon waking you can safely bet your money that this cat will decide to hunt the wild packing peanut. His sister, TweedleDee, had a lot of trouble figuring out how to keep her legs under herself while walking on the wood floor but now that she's on carpet she's as fast and silly as the others. Both are exceptionally good at inventing little games to amuse themselves.. especially hunting games. Good kitties, Tweedles!

Seeing with new eyes

Its hard to guess what their brain can decode with no experience but the kittens are opening their eyes. Bluebeard (left) opened his a couple of days ago and the rest are following suite today. Except for Bluebeard, their eyes are just partly open.






The farm continues to green up. The back pasture was fertilized today, a bit late. Wildflowers of all sorts are erupting, albeit mostly small to tiny ones. Some trees, however, still show no inclination to leave out.

The weatherman was right about today - 81F and humidity at one point as low as 19%. There have been a few clouds in the sky to give it depth and scope but otherwise the sun has ruled the day. The next four days are all expected to be as warm so more of April's seeds should be sprouting forth.



The fruit trees have held their blooms tenaciously and kept the landscape bright. Huzzah.

Kitties

Although it may seem that life on the farm revolves around the newborn kittens, the truth is, well, uh, it does. We have to achieve many other tasks in a day but Girlie and her babies are ahead of everything else in the queue when it comes to our attention. So far, Girlie and crew are doing well. The babies do three things- drink milk, sleep and flush that milk through their little systems. For all of her virtues, Girlie doesn't do much cleaning of herself - or so far, of her kittens. Mrs. Fuzzy gives them a washcloth rubbing every night, which not only cleans them up a little (before we put in fresh bedding) but stimulates their bladders and intestines to 'work' almost within seconds; normally their mom's washing would perform this function.

The other cats are feeling a bit needy these days as they don't get to go into the bedroom and take their daily afternoon naps on our bed. Jack and Lily seem especially hurt by loss of privilege - but that's the way it will be until the kittens are at least six weeks old. Here is Grover performing his duties as border patrol cat...

Mrs. Fuzzy completely tore apart and rebuilt the flower bed to the right of the front door. Farm life is good for her - you should see the size of stone she can lift and carry now! The bed is filled with pansies and iris (some of which we brought from home in pots). It is beautiful (photos forthcoming)!

Mr. Fuzzy washed the Morris Minor and the Honda, neither of which had seen soap and water since about last August - both look much improved (guess that means it will rain soon). He planted a few more lavender plants as well. And as most days go, unpacked a half dozen or more boxes...

More trees are blooming or leafing out. The two ancient apple trees down slope from the house are spectacular. Our 65 year old neighbor remembers them as 'old' when he was a child. We will trim and fertilize them in hopes of extending their long lives a few more years. To think of the stories of past farm occupants they could tell...

New Life at the Farm

(photo of Girlie on Tuesday morning, rather rotund)

Mrs. Fuzzy needs a night out. I'm exhausted!

This is what I got done on the farm today: I put my clothes on and toasted a muffin.

Otherwise, I was on Sick Room duty making sure Girlie Girl, who has a terrible cold, ate and drank adequately. On Monday she saw the doc who gave her a pile of medicines. Girlie acted strange all night... lying at my head purring to wake the dead... pacing... And this morning she seemed really uncomfortable but she let me make her eat a couple ounces of canned food and we held our noses over the vaporizer until she let me know she was "done with me." Girlie is just about the most tractable cat you could ever hope to have. Good thing too...

Because a normal cat would have shred me to bits for helping with her delivery. Miss Girlie, though, was a gentle patient. The first kitten took a breath about noon; it took about seven hours from what seemed like the first pains until we were certain there weren't going to be more babies. I understand that sucks for humans... she had five whilst being whacked with the flu, and no painkillers. Poor thing was too exhausted to do more than push them out so it fell to myself and Nurse Worryworte to clean them up and get them settled onto a cozy little teat.

Turns out I'm pretty good at restraining a snappy mama with one hand while helping with the last push and then grabbing the baby and getting it breathing. Nurse Worryworte (aka Mr. Fuzzy) is excellent at purchasing sardines and milk substitute and the world's best helper for getting a kitten onto a nipple.

You may snigger now.

I won't go into detail about getting Girlie to eat "something nutritious" afterwords except to say I had to hold my nose but we do have her fed, hydrated, and snoring away quite happily. The five little babies, four gingersnaps and a black tortie, are doing their kitten thing... making cute mewing sounds and already bullying for the best teat. I think at least four will be longhairs like their mama.

DATELINE: Wednesday Morning...

One of those gingersnaps has already ventured outside the nesting box at least twice during the dark hours of night. Boy are we in trouble in a few weeks! Miss Girlie Girl is up and eating like she's never seen food before. She takes little breaks to love on us. She looks to be half the size of twenty four hours ago.

All is well again at Stratheden Farm.

Meet Girlie Girl

We tried not feeding her...

We tried not naming her...
We tried not letting her in...

But...

you can't make a kitten's mama go away.


So now we have a resident Persian cross .
She lives in the area between the couch and the food bowl.
Just like all ornamental cats must.

Sorry about the delay...

Mom and Dad have been kinda busy and I only just figured out how to type. Mom said she won't be my translator any more. I think you've seen plenty of pictures of Jack recently so here's one I got my brother, Grover, to take of me. I actually have discernible features when photographed!

Mom wrote about the two weeks she spent integrating Jack over on her other blog, here. It was very exhausting for all of us. Now I can reveal to you that I've finally caved in and decided this little guy isn't so bad, except that he always wants to play and doesn't know that hissing means he should go away. He just keeps saying "but why?" Ugh! Babies! It's getting better each time Miss Lilly whacks him for being impertinent.

Here's a picture of the day Miss Lilly declared that he could stay loose in the house. Lilly only looks like she's asleep.


Lilly and Mom said we had to at least not fight with him so we just had a bunch of hissing until a few days ago. Turns out he likes being chased too and we even sat together in the window reading over Mom's shoulder this morning. Mom couldn't get a photo of that, but wewere REALLY cute!

Jack Tar's Name

Well, Lausanne, here's the story:

We fed the cat because he was hungry. Then it was REALLY cold so I picked him up and put him in the bathroom.

I sat with him there and thought "this guy needs a name we can call him. He's black but "Blackey" is dumb. He needs a diminutive too because Tam was a diminutive." At this point I realized that the was Mr Tam reincarnated. Just like Mr Tam, Jack told us his name and we added the "Tar" part. (Actually, Tam made us play Rumpelstiltskin.)

So why "Tar?" Because sailors appear unbidden and unwanted but, really, they can be an awful lot of fun. Just like our wee man.

- April