Fall Leaves

I usually rake up leaves every fall and get pictures of the kids in them. Somehow, the time to do that slipped right by me this year. I'm still not sure what happened.

Leah must have noticed the void because she tried to pick up where I was slacking. Now there are two of us who know what a big job that is!

Leah got a nice shot of Rebekah sitting in a small pile of leaves. Cute! I especially like that Nightmare is in the background scratching himself.

Next, we add Sarah to the shot. I think it was a little cool out there at this time and of course, neither girl has even a long-sleeved shirt on. Sarah may not be real clued in to the importance of these traditional pictures! Or maybe she is just waving. (I doubt it.)

Uh oh. I think the photo shoot is falling apart; the subjects are walking off the set!

A nice back shot of Rebekah. I think Leah is trying different perspectives.

Yeah...this photo session is over. Sarah is looking on the edge of miserable. Get the poor girl a jacket!

On to new photography subjects. We have several cats. Here are half of them. Meets Stripes, Trouble and Nightmare. They are waiting to be fed. They are always waiting to be fed. I have noticed a marked decrease in mouse evidence since we've had cats. I'm grateful for that! But we have a few large fields around us. There should be plenty of mice out there. Why are these lazy cats just sitting there??!

And that is the end of the photo shoot. Darn. It's now November 16th. Is it too late?

Fast Food

This is an update on the mouse in our van.

It seems the mouse wasn't actually living in the van, but rather stopping by for the gourmet offering of crumbs and goodies we'd generously left for it. Did you know that cars/vans/trucks, etc. are not mouse proof? We didn't.

Considering the area we live in (ripe with field mice), it is no surprise that we'd been found out by the local vermin. Now I just wonder...how long have they been rating us in Zagat? We must have been like a 5 star restaurant for these guys! I am the type to need motivation to clean. I think I've found the ultimate motivator.

So now, the van is crumb-free (if you don't count the stuff embedded in Joseph's car seat) and we haven't eaten in it yet. I know that won't always be the case, so I'll have to be more vigilant with the vacuum. Darn it.

Ultimately, I'd like to catch the mouse that's on to us. We've set various traps. He's very good at getting what he wants and escaping the trap. What are those 7 cats good for, anyway?

Cat Flavored?

Winter has begun to creep in. We've been below freezing several nights now. I think the momma cat even took her kittens somewhere warmer. (Don't know where that is, really.) So colder temps mean less bugs.

When I stepped out to dump some cat food out for the cats, Sticky Feet (our free roaming rooster) came running from the garden at the back of the yard. He stepped right up to the food dish, causing our biggest cat to back off.

As a cat, it must be really offensive to have what would naturally be breakfast, end up eating your breakfast!

And I've been wondering...if a chicken eats cat food, does he end up "cat flavored"? I hope it doesn't work that way, because he could also be "grasshopper flavored". A delicacy in some countries, but really very gross.

Who spoiled our cat?

We have 10 cats if you count the 6 kittens. (Anyone ready to adopt?) Our oldest resident came to us with a companion that ended up needing to be put down. That would probably be the only way we would have adopted a 3-legged cat!

At first we let her be an inside cat, but I just couldn't take the fur on the bed, wet paw prints and hairball vomit. She's been with us for more than a year now and has managed to avoid the dangers of the great countryside. She's not a real social cat, unless you're human. She doesn't seem to like the other cats and keeps herself aloof.


Recently, she disappeared for about a week. I'm not sure exactly how long it was, but it was her longest stint so far. We figured she'd had an accident or something and didn't expect her back. She came back.


Suddenly, she's at the door a lot more, trying to get in. She's at the side windows meowing. (That sounds like whining and anyone who knows me knows that's not good.) So I want to know...who had our cat that whole time and spoiled her? Why does she think she should be allowed in again? Do you want her back? (Or did you try to adopt her and found out she has a hairball problem?)


Her "princess" behavior is rubbing off on another cat that used to be allowed inside and he's now camping out by the door more often, too. I'm less willing to send him away because he's a good mouser. But every time those furry creatures zip through the front door, I grit my teeth and feel my blood pressure rise. I hate them in the house. (He gets hairballs, too.)

Kittens! (minus one, minus one, minus one...)

We had 3 pregnant cats. THREE! That's too many, considering we already had 6 furry felines. So I listed them in the Craigslist farm and garden category. Someone adopted two of the pregnant mommas on Sunday.

The other momma had already had her kittens by then, so she was staying. This momma is all black. The daddy is all black. And so the kittens? Take a look.

Yes, all black (except for two which had some white marks). I at first counted 4. Then on Sunday when I came home from church, I saw one of the "white" ones had died and removed it. Upon closer inspection, I saw a black one was dead. It came out. When I looked back it, there were still 3! So we had 4, then 3, then 4, then 3 again.

We were out of town yesterday. When we got back in the morning, the other "white" one was missing. It was the smallest of the remaining kittens and I'm guessing, when it died, the momma finally figured out to get the little body out of there. So now we have 2. (We're right back to our original 6!)

Now, this momma is young. She's only 12 months old. She doesn't seem to get the whole parenting idea. I think she may have suffocated one or two because she just sits right on them. And she'll go off for the longest time and leave those little ones alone. It's still getting cool here in Eastern Idaho.

So last night, we tried to let her bring them in. I found out where she wanted to go with them, and cut a box to fit. She stayed in it for half the night; I had to search for two little tiny black kittens this morning. I fed the poor creatures an emergency kitten formula, returned them to the box and set them outside for the momma. She'll need to find a new place for them. I know I'm sentencing these two guys to death, but I have enough to do inside. I can't be concerned about which corner two kittens are loose in.

Momma cat has tried to come in with her babies several times this morning. If I thought she'd leave them in the box, I'd let her stay. If I had a teenage daughter that wanted to care for them, it might be OK. So all the kids got to say hello-goodbye to the kittens this morning. I told them they probably wouldn't get to grow up. Those poor kitties sure have had a rough start!

And the daddy? He's at the vet this morning. No more kittens from him!

Living Wreath

We have a Christmas wreath on the front door. It's a fake one, with fake flowers and pretty fake leaves. BUT, the cat is real.

We have a cat. She wants to come in...really wants to come in. First, she scratches at the door. Then she jumps at the handle. Finally, she jumps to the wreath and climbs to the top. She peers in at us and meows like a baby. Eventually, she moves around up there too much and falls to the ground. Sometimes, she takes the wreath with her.

Here she is at the top of the wreath tonight.

Here she is peeking in. I've pointed out her eye, which looks like two because of the beveled glass.

Yes, it's cold out there. It's been dropping below zero. This is a very fluffy kitty and there are hay bales and sheep shelters and all sorts of places to curl up in. She just wants to come in and sleep under the Christmas tree. She'd have better luck with that if she lived with another family. We like the animals outside better, though we do prefer they stay off the Christmas decorations.

death

I didn't have many experiences with death when I was young. (Obviously, no personal experiences as I am still alive and interfering in most of your lives.)

I can only remember one loved pet dieing. It was a little white guinea pig I'd been able to have at the end of the school year. I don't even remember if it was a he or she or how old it was. I do remember that it was a hot Arizona evening when I discovered it was mostly gone. We had a babysitter who obviously had not learned much compassion. I think I tried to revive it under some running water and the babysitter dangled it in the air, waving its little legs(arms) at me to show me it was OK. It wasn't. The next day, my dad took it to "bury" it on his way to work. I later learned that he tossed it in the dumpster. No wonder they wouldn't let me attend the funeral services!

I can't remember having any other pets die. They mostly "ran away" (which translated into being given away while we weren't looking), or we found them new homes because they weren't working out.

I had two grandparents die while I was young, but I wasn't extremely close to them and don't remember feeling too sad. I attended the funeral for one and was more disturbed by the viewing than the loss of the person. My last grandparent died the night before I was married. She had been suffering from diabetes for years and had already lost part of her leg. It was not a distressing thing for me as I knew she was "home" again, reunited with Grandpa and whole again.

There hasn't been a death on my side of the family in 9 years (tomorrow). For that, I feel very blessed. Because of that, my children have had very few experiences with death. We lost a kitten about a year and a half ago, but they weren't attached to it yet. It did spark several conversations on heaven and resurrection.

Then we moved to the country. Shortly after settling in, our biggest (and meanest) rabbit got out for a night or so. Chad caught her again, but she died the next day. A few months later, the other 2 rabbits got out. We caught one and never did find the other. A few weeks ago, we adopted a stray rabbit from someone who found it, but didn't want to keep it. Then the neighbor's dog broke into the cage. One rabbit was never found, but the newest one was dead on the ground by the rabbit pen with teeth marks in her back. The boys found her.

Sunday, we lost Tabby. She got herself into some trouble and came home looking quite grotesque. All the kids saw her as we stood there looking at her, trying to decide what to do with her. There was dripping blood involved. Eventually, we distracted the kids while Chad caught her and got her into a box. We hooked her up to the truck's exhaust and then buried her a ways into the pasture. That really started some conversations on heaven and resurrection. We prayed for Jesus to take care of her in Heaven. We tried to explain to the kids that while it was very sad, this is a "farm" and animals die. (I also tried to explain that if she had been a person, we would have tried to help her. We don't need anyone afraid for their lives around here.)

So the neighbor with the hungry dog called yesterday. They are providing us with two replacement bunnies. Chad is working on reinforcing the cage. We are adopting two little kittens on Friday. We were already going to adopt them, but we're now willing to get them a little bit earlier. I'm hoping that they'll be accepted better if they're younger. They will be just shy of 8 weeks. I'm also hoping that they don't join Tabby!

And to top it off, we're going to try 2 bum lambs in a couple weekends. We'll see if they survive the rough start they've had and prepare the kids before hand that they might not live.

And so I've been thinking of death and its recent visits to our family. I've found myself grateful that the kids are having some experience on a smaller scale. I'm hoping that it will give them better understanding and preparation for the inevitable time when a close family member dies. Maybe I'll benefit, too. Although, I hope I get YEARS of practice with farm animals before I have to be tested with a loved one.

A New Word

Rebekah learned a new word this morning: SNOW. There was a light dusting of snow on rooftops and scattered around the yard this morning.

It let up for a while, but it's back and there are some pretty heavy flurries right now. I don't know that any of it will accumulate as it's already 11 am.

Chad and I were trying to remember the first day of snow last year. I would be surprised if it was earlier than 29 September!

We have the house mostly clean in case we get our first call for someone to look at the house. I'm doing laundry, so that's still undone, but otherwise, I'd only need to wipe down the kids' bathroom and empty garbages. With nothing to do, and yardwork a no-go today, we're wishing someone would call and give us an excuse to leave the house. We don't want to go for no reason and then get a call that sends us right back out shortly after returning home.

It's funny that I can find all sorts of things to keep me busy when I'm supposed to be cleaning. And now that there isn't any cleaning to do, I'm not sure what to do! It's a world of irony.

News on the stray cat round-up: I brought in one more cat to the shelter yesterday. I returned the trap as it seems that was the last. So in two weeks' time, I delivered 9 cats/kittens to shelters in the area. That seems like a lot for one little address in the city!

*SIGH*

We listed our house with the realtor today. We were still attacking final details when he arrived with his camera.

A ton of our very valuable but worldly possessions are in a storage unit. The rooms don't seem too small anymore. Even I've been fooled by this little trick!

My mom came for a couple of days to help us get some things done. We wouldn't have made it without her help. (The house and yard wouldn't have looked good, at least.) We appreciate her help. It was a little stressful for me, but it was a price worth paying.

I still have to go around parts of the house and eliminate fingerprints on walls. I haven't even touched the windows yet. I nearly acquired a dust allergy cleaning off the computer cabinet. I'm surprised I didn't surprise anything living.

We are tired and look forward to relaxing tonight. I look forward to no contractions in the middle of cleaning! I expect my back will stop aching in a couple of days.

Now I just have to keep it all under control. (Let's hope that it sells quickly.) I don't think I've been able to convey the seriousness of the clutter containment to the kids. Daniel looks at me like I'm crazy. I am, but that's beside the point.

In addition to cleaning and making a trip to DI (and why do I have another pile started already?), I've made two trips to the county animal shelter. I've now delivered 2 grown cats and a kitten. I'm shooting for one more kitten and one more cat, if they're dumb enough to be caught in the cat trap. My greatest triumph is that the ever-bearing mother cat is now in county custody and will be put down or spayed before being released. THANK YOU! Three litters (11 kittens) in a year is plenty of unwanted kitties.

Hopefully, I don't have any neighbors with outside cats roaming around. If it gets caught in the trap and doesn't have a collar, it's getting a free ride to the shelter! I may have felt sorry about it last year, but that humane feeling is all gone.

I still have several projects that need completing. I really have no hope that my quilt will be off the frame before we have to move it, but other things aren't so hopeless. In fact, there is an Enrichment mtg. tonight and I'll be bringing my baby afghan to work on. I think people expect it of me by now.

If anyone knows anyone looking for a decent-sized house, in a quiet neighborhood (if you don't count the barking dogs...one of which is our new neighbors. Can you believe he put up his dog kennel in the corner of his yard that is about 7 feet from the boys' bedroom window and 2 feet from where buyers would be passing? It's a little thoughtless. The kennel is closer to our house than to his!), and in a great ward - send them to our house!

OK. I'm sure that last paragraph broke a few English language/mechanics/grammar rules.

I get to have a nap tomorrow! (Watch - now someone will want to look at the house between 12 and 2 most days.)