What's new ?

Glad you asked.
Good thing I can write, because I am still speechless.
About a month ago, I took our adopted cat Midnight to the vets. She spent the winter living in the two story Victorian, and in February, she broke a window and went outside. We found her the next day with her little cat friends. She told me it was an emergency.
I've heard the same excuse from my ewes!
I wanted the vet to make sure Midnight looked healthy and ready to have kittens naturally. An odd request, but the last time we adopted a stray pregnant cat she had a C-section.
About three days later, I found a skinny Midnight, a wet chaise lounge, but no kittens. Oh, I know cats like to hide their kittens. This was the second pregnancy for Midnight, since we met....and I just thought she was exhibiting feral cat behavior. Bad cat....not the motherly type. I looked and looked. I looked under furniture. In open closets. Under the covers on the beds. No little rat-type kittens. I was sad. Midnight still got fed and cared for regularly. It wasn't her fault. But true caregiver style...I blamed myself. I should have been there. Poor kittens!
It has been about a month, and today we both arrived at the big house to finish cutting the lawn. I came in the front door. My husband was sitting at the dining room table on the phone. Midnight had already been fed her special envelope of wet cat food. There she was under the table by my husband's feet. Next to Midnight was a tiny black kitten with it's tail straight up in the air.
Again, Speechless....I pointed under the table. As I stood there, with my mouth babbling nothing, My husband thought. "It must be a snake, or a big spider" Then he looked down and saw the kitten. "How did you get in here?" My mind had made a connection between black Midnight cat and tiny black kitten. But my husband, sure there were no kittens from Midnight, thought there must be a door open for the small cat to get into our house.
I crawled under the table, and lifted the skirt on the dining chairs. One after another little kittens peered back at me. Three kittens....no....four kittens! Where did she hide them? I had turned over the furniture. Crawled under the beds. Looked behind doors. Midnight kept those kittens hidden until they had their eyes open, and were crawling around . I am still speechless. I do owe Midnight some praises. I should have not thought the worst of her. She has a lovely temperment. She loves to crawl up on the bed at night to cuddle.
I take it all back....she IS a good mother cat. I should have had her fixed before February. But I didn't know she would break-glass-in-case-of-emergency. I'm really glad she finally let me meet her kittens.
One is black, one black brown and white tortie, one grey beige and white tortie, and one little black and white. I'll have to spend more time getting them socialized now...before they are totally grown. Good thing I'm a cat person.
Wow...What a surprise!

oh help !

Can you believe it? It is almost June....That's the middle of the year. It must be time to buy Christmas gifts!
We almost had a dry summer here. But the last month has dropped rains on us. Lots. Not bad floods, but the place is lush....humid....warm...green .....and tall.
Tall as in everything is taller than the cats...than the sheep....than one of the dogs, and I don't want to walk anywhere besided the cut grass and the road. It's hard to walk the road this year with the dogs. We have some new folks who like to use 4 wheelers. And they want to let their dogs race behind them. That is a real irritation to our two dogs, who think they own this part of the world. You try holding a great pyr on a leash while a dog runs by five feet away. Lucky I didn't get killed.
The other reason I don't like walking in long grass is I can't see the ground crawlies. I don't mean earthworms. I mean copperheads. They love this time of year. Last year we saw our first rattlesnake.....I really really don't want to step on one of those.
On the subject of old houses.....long pause......deep breath.....shake of the head. They are too much work. Houses in town...even nice little towns have a drawback to living in the middle of the woods. Yes, in the middle of the night....especially if we are spending a night alone out here....it is way too far out in the woods. There is something to be said for neighbors. Unfortunately, my neighbors, were wonderful neighbors to me. But not very nice to each other. One of those co-dependant relationships....with a vengence. After having to call for uniformed help, I have made a command decision and made an offer on that house too. Yes....I am totally crazy. But that seemed like the only solution that gave me control. I'll let you know if I get to close on that house.
The other problem with living in town is we have to cut the grass....a lot of grass. Well, actually, most of the yard is weeds and vines. Someone should plant some grass seed. Oops, that would be me. I have enjoyed the flowers that have bloomed so far, but I haven't had time to work on a lawn. Right now, I am not living there at all, because the water hasn't been turned on again. Some one of these months I'll have time to do that.
Sorry about your computer trouble, we had that happen too. And, if I haven't written to you lately, it's because all my email addresses went out with a lightening strike to the mother-board. whatever that is.
Later!

long time no write

If you are reading this post....you shouldn't be. This is too long a time to think I would ever go back to writing.
Yes, we had a wedding. and the next time we all got together as a family, we went to another wedding. Then we all wound up at a Halloween party. This is the type of thing that happens when you have family within driving distance. Now, if I were a younger girl....which I am not....having a few drinks and trying to break a balloon tied to someone else's leg....would have sounded like a good idea. Trust me....a person my age should sit down and watch....before they wind up on the floor.
This idea of having family within driving distance, sounds good until I try driving for 12 hours to get to be with mine. I did that again within the year. It was great. A long drive, followed by more driving, followed by a trip to visit my sister....followed by my brother's house and back for 12 hours driving to get home. I get the idea that old folks might want to move closer to family when they decide not to drive much.
I guess I haven't grown up much.
On the subject of sheep....I still have some. We lost some fencing to another flood last fall, and did have twins this spring. No one seemed to mind they didn't own the twins. So I guess my vet was right when he asked me if the sheep REALLY wanted to be bred every year. Maybe not. I kept the older ones, and the ones that had some problems having lambs....Like no bag. That's a good clue they shouldn't be bred. There were deer walking over my down fence to graze in the pasture today. They could have gotten caught by the high water....or maybe the fences should really be stood up again. Some day. At least no one has been eaten lately.
Since no one is reading this. I have to ask. What IS it with these social web pages?????
Who lives to pretend they are gathering pretend crops? Why do they want someone else to play along and send them a nail or some other dumb object?
Does anyone have a life anymore?
Is this a form of recreation I just don't understand?
Doesn't anyone talk to people in the house, across the fence, on the phone, anymore?
I tried to play along....really!
I have yet to figure out why.
Maybe it's the fact we have dial up. Things take longer. If I want to send an old rusty nail to some lovely person who thinks I would enjoy doing that , it take many many minutes to get the computer to down-load and send such a really neat object.
Now being an experienced fix-up person. I really wouldn't expect an old rusty nail to hold any stick of wood in a place I intended to put it. Let alone build something with it. The people who write these programs must laugh themselves to sleep thinking of semi-sane semi-adult people actually agreeing to spend their limited life-moments sending rusty nails and other nonsence to each other.
I can think of plenty of dumb things that don't include rusty nails and old bricks. I can watch the fish in the pond. Smell the roses, walk the dogs. Drive 12 hours. Or i can write dumb thing on my blog....and hope no one read it.
I guess everyone has their own form of recreation.
peeps