Cats and More

Look at this glorious sight I took yesterday, Sunday the 5th!  

I only had the smaller Canon in my hand, not the big guy (Nikon) with the long lens... and I was taking pictures of the many geese flying over. 

I realized when I came in that that was a line of Trumpeter Swans! 

I had seen a picture posted earlier last week in the county and asked where they had been seen, but did not get an answer.  Well.. now I know... over my own house!  

Oh, there were plenty of geese, too. 

I'm glad I got the pictures last night because even though it is 65 degrees right now, 

the wind is blowing steadily at 25 mph, with gusts up to fifty.  I can hardly walk in it, and the chickens are hiding under the big hen house. 

Even the dogs who would normally have stayed out for an hour or two are here in the house with me, it was so hard for them to walk. 

This little critter is Teenie the Meanie, only the only one she is mean to now is Mama.  She and Mama have never gotten along.  Teenie has shifted from the shop (my barn) to the house porch.  

Coco, the black cat, sleeps in the old hen house and Wanda in the big hen house.  Teenie is sleeping on the porch now in a dog house.  Or... sometimes in the dog house.  I have found her curled up in a porch chair numerous nights.  I know she goes in the shop sometimes at night, because I see her on camera in there, but... Mama is in there. 

She is not afraid of the dogs, but Zoey does still bark at her.  Zoey has a vendetta against Coco, I don't know why. 

This, my friends, is why I have to change out the water in the bowl in the shop almost daily.  The doggone raccoon gets in almost every night, and takes a bath in the heated water.  I almost don't blame him.  I lock up all the cat food but there are always scraps and he and a couple of possums go in and out. 

This is a very badly lit picture, but here is another view of the shop at night... Mama cat is on the left getting a drink from the bowl... and a possum is looking at you from the deep straw in the big dog house in there.  I had noticed a deep depression, and I knew Cleo and Mama were sleeping up high... the possum must curl up frequently and rest at night.  We had frigid nights as recently as last week... now we have a string of more temperate weather with nights in the twenties.  I actually disconnected the two heaters in there to give my bill a little rest .  I unhooked the heat lamp in the first picture but then turned it back on when I realized Cleo used  the bed off and on.  

I am getting a little worried about my beautiful Buddy.  He went to the rescue's doctor three weeks ago and had a senior panel run, and everything looked good.  However, he has slowed WAY down since then.  It takes him a long time to cross the yard, and sometimes he has to lay down and rest for a while.  

I have a ramp out in the shop which I am going to try to carry over this evening and set up on the patio steps, but I have only ever had one dog that would use it.  We will see if he does.  The steps on the east side of my porch are not big... and he can still do them easily.  

The other things that worries me is that he is only eating about a third of what he was eating. 

He has been the gentlest, sweetest foster boy.  I hope we have some time left. 

He puts himself in his crate all the time (the door is open)... he spent almost the whole day in there yesterday and sleeps in at night sometimes, though he has a soft bed.  When it is really cold out I turn the little heater on... it is on the left in that picture, and I know the heat feels good for him.  

Cleo is sleeping in Fritzi's old bed in the shop.  She always looks mad.  It took two years for Cleo to let me touch her, and she is currently shying away again if I come too close.  She is spayed, don't worry. 

Bullseye, for some reason, hates Cleo.  I have to lock him up when I do chores. 

I think Bullseye is also feeling a little under the weather.  He spent most of the day inside yesterday and is behind me right now as I type this.  I have made him a bed on top of Buddy's crate (he just went in it) and he is curled up going to sleep.  I foresee some visits to the vet in our future.  He has had all shots and is neutered... I am hoping it is nothing serious. 

Wanda.  She loves her little nest bed. 

What I see when I do chores every night.  Zoey has to go... she cracks me up. 

It was cold that night and she had her little sweater on.  

My boys. 

Beautiful Susie is still alive,  even after last week's bitter weather. 

She is inside today, I think the wind was too much for her. 

I lost my sweet little Silkie hen, Mary.  She suddenly looked terrible, all hunched over.  I checked to make sure her vent was not closed with poop... it wasn't.  Chickens are prey animals and they do not show you they are sick until they are almost gone.  This was Mary's last night, she was gone when I went out in the morning. 

Poor little Pipsqueak looked for her everywhere.  I tried letting him loose with the big birds but he got beaten up a couple of times, so now I am carrying him in and out to his little pen. 

I am going to buy a few hens for the Ag Hall, and I'll try to find a little hen I can put with him. 

Gosh, it's 3:14, I just realized.  I need to wind this up and get ready to do chores.  I am trying to still lock everyone up by four.  I think they will be glad to go in tonight!  

Cleaning hen houses will soon be on the bill, the little hen house, despite it's having been cleaned totally in October, is a disgrace.  My grandson Jax will be busy as soon as we are sure the weather is going to be better.  I am going to try fine shavings this time instead of straw. 

Sorry.... I HAD TO DO IT!!!

You can imagine what it is like here in the Kansas City metro area this week. 

Here we go, Chiefs!!!!

Saddle Up! It's Gonna be a Long One!

Some of you will remember there is a beautiful maple tree in the valley below me. 

Unfortunately, the tree line has grown up terribly, and I can hardly see my neighbor's ponds now.  (Which I love from afar). 

I almost missed it this year... can you see the top of it, all aglow? 

Today's sunrise. 

We are having terrible, terrible wind, this is the third day. 

Yesterday, our wonderful township voluneer firefighters fought a brush fire that stretched eight city blocks in overgrown brushfilled pastures. 

Four other local townships assisted.  Thank God for these men and women who donate their time to keep us all safe. 

It is hard to get anything done outside today, it is really blowing. 

Clouds are coming in as I type this at 2:18 PM.... we have a real chance at rain overnight and tomorrow.  We are in a terrible drought, and need it badly.  I am beginning to see people list livestock for sale and give the reason "no hay" for selling them.  

Three days ago, this greeted me on the porch of the big henhouse. 

I was afraid for a minute it was dog poop... and that scared me, I'll show you why. 

After I looked at it for a while (and before I cleaned it off) I decided it was raccoon or cat. (or raccoon top and cat bottom) 

To be candid, I have never had a cat poop on the porch. 

Both waterbowls, heated and unheated, were empty.  EM-TAY. 

Holes were dug in the hen yard, and I did not take a picture, but the cat carrier I have in the silkie pen for Mary to lay in was overturned. 

Raccoons. 

Drumroll.... the proof. 

I am regularly seeing possums out as early as 5 PM now, so I have been shutting everyone up starting at five.  I work around the possum, taking care not to lock him in the henhouse, and I check high and low before closing doors. 

The wind is dispersing the milkweed seeds, a good thing!

I found this in memories.... That's Abby looking at me from the couch.  I may do another Fall Tree next year.  

I rarely have grands come here now, unlike when they were little, so I don't decorate as much as I used to. 

I think staying, did anyone have any doubts? 

(Bwahahaha) 

This guy was sitting at the top of the pasture as if to say... "Aren't you putting scraps out tonight?".  

(why I got worried when I saw the poop. They can sail over a fence with no effort). 

And this one was waiting for him to move. 

And they are BOTH cautious around this guy.... skunk! 

 

This alien has been showing up to eat out of the pasture feeder.  

Looks like a male from the build and from the fact that Bullseye  DOES NOT LIKE HIM. 

I don't know if I am up to trapping yet another and getting it neutered.  All the females here are 

spayed, and Bully is neutered.  

It looks like The Jackal's brother, doesn't it?  For a minute the other night, I thought it WAS Jack back in Angel form to haunt me! 

This old girl is Susie, I have showed her to you before. 

She "talks" to me in a sing song chirp every day when I open the door of the big henhouse. 

Every morning I am stunned to see her.  She is six years old, and has not laid for many years. 

She was given in the dispersal to a friend, and the friend stopped keeping chickens a year ago, so the Ag Hall hens she got six years ago came back to me. 

She used to follow me around, but now, she mostly stays in the hen house with the oldest rooster, and they lay companionably together. 

Today, in the wind, they both stayed inside, and I was glad. 

She made it through our bitter cold on Monday and Tuesday nights, but that is not 

to say the old ones will make it through the first real cold snap. 

It is a delight to have had her, and I had her sister too, in the past. 

Susie is a Speckled Sussex. 

I took this about an hour ago, and it is a little lighter than the one I led off with.  My favorite time of year! 

Stay safe, everyone. 

(and pray for rain for Kansas) 

Almost the End of Summer

This is Mama... variously called "Little Mama", "Mamacita" and other similar sobriquets. 

She is missing. 

She is the mother of the four kittens that were born in my shop, the kittens who went into 

rescue a month ago.  Mama, hardly more than a kitten herself, went to be neutered and ear-tipped... and came back to me.  She quickly moved from the shop to the front porch.  She was a little bit of a bully. 

She was having trouble seeing, I noticed that as she moved through the yard, she would have to stare a long time at things... and going through a gate was very hard for her. I resolved to take her down to the doctors at Pleasant Valley Clinic in Tonganoxie, this week, who are wonderful with cats. 

Thursday morning was the last time I have seen her. 

My heart is breaking for her.  She followed me across the yard, and I helped her through the gate onto the "chicken side".  Out of the corner of my eye I could see her intimidate Teenie and Wanda who live at the big hen house.  Then, I lost sight of her. 

My neighbors have looked for her too, and Troy is watching his cameras.  I have been up and down the road. 

I have called and gone in and out of the buildings multiple times. 

I am praying she comes home and is okay. 

This morning, the sheep went home to their Smiling M pastures. 

I will miss them over the winter. 

In the bottom picture is Flicka, the Dorper that I gave to the Smiling M family three years ago. 

She is heavily pregnant, and I was told she had her lambs in December the last two years. 

Her owner looked at her this morning and said "That looks like two!".  I agree. 

I moved the vulture feeder back into the pasture for now, but the vultures will also be going home in another month. 

Here they are this morning, just prior to being put into the trailer, which was being moved in, in this picture.  

Gosh, it's quiet without them. 

Zoey loves her little fan.  We had hot weather again this week, but not as hot as 

three weeks ago. 

Then we were told that it would be in the eighties next week, and the sixties at night.  I just looked a short while ago, and now it reads "89" every day next week.  UGH.  I'm ready for cooler temps. 

Three of the young hens have begun laying in the dog house just to the left of my front door, on the porch.  They know how to squeeze out of the fence on "their" side at either end.  

Two are laying in the hospital pen high up off the ground in the old hen house.  I saw two eggs in their OWN house today, the first two all week.  

The morning glory vines are blooming clear across the big hen house pen. 

They are blooming inside the pen, too... there is Doug, the Killer Cotton Ball, styling for you. 

I literally cannot believe Susie has made it through the heat. 

She does not go outside very often now, though. 

She makes the sweetest little chittering noises, though... I will miss them when she is gone. 

If I talk to her, she "talks" back to me. 

A week ago, I took my co-worker at the Ag a dozen eggs.  

He forgot them there and they sat on the counter for four days. 

I retrieved them and hard-boiled them for the chickens.  I cut them up and do not bother to take the shells off, I just cut everything up together. 

They go nuts! 

Chickens going nuts. 

Cleo looks so evil in this picture! 

She is not, though, just a loner. 

She will let me stroke her now, and this is a HUGE step of trust for her. 

I feed her at the Little Red Hen House, which, though it's crumbling, is still sturdy enough for her. 

Now that the sheep are gone, I can go in and out of the pasture easier for the next few months. 

I rescued not one, but two baby meadowlarks from the cats this week, one from Bully and one from Coco. 

This one, I put in the brooder pen in the old hen house, where it was quiet and dim. 

I checked an our later, and it was gone safely.  I was so glad.  The other took off and flew over the house. 

I agree with James Herriott, that quiet and dark can do wonders for a stressed out animal or bird. 

Mama began sleeping every night in the chair where Jack had slept.  I keep automatically looking down at it as I get to the door.  I still hold out hope, as she was feral before coming here.  

I'll let you know next week if I find her. 

 

Quite the Weekend So Far

We begin with the scene of a crime.  See the gap between gate and wall?  There is a post on the inside to keep the big hens from trying to get out.  

See the bucket? 

I put that bucket against the gap on the outside because last week, I found Susie, my tiniest hen, along with one of the big hens who got out when I opened the gate... out in the yard. 

Jim and Amy and the kids came over, and Jax went in, knocking the bucket over, and I missed putting it back. 

Behold Susie: 

Uh huh.  

Came out when I forgot to put the bucket back. 

Everytime I think Lilly Ann is cured of her Super Prey instinct, I am reminded in a most unpleasant manner. 

It just happens that Susie was a favorite of mine, so it was a hard lesson. 

I got to her while her eyes were still open, but as Keith said... he would have had to put her down. 

This afternoon, a Sheriff's deputy came by and took a report about the goat dragging I saw yesterday.  My friend Roxanne at the goat dairy down the road and I spoke at length, and she suggested a name for the sheriff's department to speak with, and I gave them the name.  The man lives down around the corner from us, about a mile and a half away, and keeps Boers.  I had to explain what a Boer was to the deputy.
He was going to leave here and go speak with the man to see if he was missing any goats, OR if he had sold a goat yesterday morning. 

Keith's project for today... new steps going down to the new patio. 

He is going to put a railing on either side for me. 

It was so nice not to have to go clear around to the east steps, and the dogs appreciated it, too. 

I got some more plants in the ground, and some plants from Wal Mart in red, white and blue were planted in containers.  I'll take pictures of everything tomorrow.  

I have about ten more perennials I have started from seed to plant, and that's IT for the spring, I think. 

(Wrong, I need to replant the two round barrels re-positioned off the deck that had tulips blooming in them.) 

We did discuss the two pea beds, and tomorrow, I'll hoe up the bed that did not produce, and green beans will go into it, to climb up the trellis of that bed.  The potatoes continue to go berserk... we are stunned at them. 

I still don't think the other pea bed will produce anything, despite the prolific vining... it's too late. 

I am carrying buckets of water from the duck pond in the morning to pour at the base of the tomatoes, and despite warnings and warnings of rain, we are not getting any, and the ground is showing again how dry it is.  

I'm going to have to start putting some of the water from the duck pond on the apple trees, at this rate. 

My silky/cochin crosses are all going broody. 

I'm not letting any of them set. 

The prettiest of the two Mille Fleur roosters is hiccuping, and I am waiting for almost dark to go out and dose with VetRX.  He's easier to catch on the roost, and won't squirm much.  I also need to trim the beak of the one Polish hen I have, Buffy... she grows that beak faster than any bird I've ever had. (Keith helped me do this at dark, too) 

When I stopped at Roxanne's after church, I had left my camera in the car.  Roxanne told me that Jackson is all of the sudden not doing well, for the last three days.  Her other turkey, Dinner, was all scruffy and missing feathers, and she told me that her male adult peacocks had attacked and almost killed him.  She thinks they went after Jackson, too, though she did not catch them.  He was very subdued when I saw him, and she is worried about him. 

Rosie, on the other hand, is on a clutch of eggs in a safe place... right next to the front door in a cubbyhole, and Roxanne hung a tarp to keep the sun off her.  She peeped at me when I talked to her, but stayed tightly on the clutch, which is goose eggs and turkey eggs. 

Roxanne lost her white turkey hen, the one I had stopped and let in the gate several times when I saw her pacing in the road.  She could get OUT, but could not get back in again, and something got her. 

Kody was watching Lilly who was far down in the pasture. 

The little guys playing in Adventureland (I was there the whole time).  They'll be five weeks old on Tuesday! 

Susie in happier times.  She truly was a tiny Old English Gamebird.  I have only one left now, Speedy, the smallest rooster, who lives in the old henhouse. 

RIP, little girl. 

On Sunday of Memorial Day last year, I lost my little sister, Kathleen, though the actual date anniversary is tomorrow, the 27th.  

I can't believe an entire year has passed.  I can't tell you how many times I picked up the phone to call and ask her something... and remembered. 

How she would have enjoyed our reunion last Sunday, she would have been the life of the party.  How I missed her there. 

Her husband still grieves for her; her son misses her. 

The year has flown. 

Here she is at 5, on the right, with two of our neighbors.  People didn't move around then as they do now, and we grew up our whole childhood with Mark and Chris and their brother and sisters next door to us. 

What happy times those were, the fifties and sixties.  

What a sweet little girl my sister was! 

Kathleen Peterson Serra

1952-2012