Snugging in on a cold winter night

Cooper passed out in my chair 

The cats melted in their chair

The reason everyone is so relaxed 

There is nothing more pleasant than snuggling in with the woodstove going full bore. The critters have it right.

Lazy Days

Well, for some members of the household anyway. With the snow and cold neither cat likes spending time outside. This is their second winter and they’re handling it with a combination of deep sleep and aggressive wrestling. I’m never sure if I’ll find them curled up somewhere or running through the house like a herd of elephants. Not quiet kitties when it’s time to play.

Sunday

Sunday-lightly raining, pleasantly cool, a perfect day to cuddle in and read a good book.

 George agrees

Of cats and chipmunks

Our cats are excellent hunters and are averaging 4 chipmunks per day. Unfortunately that’s 4 caught per day, not necessarily 4 killed. See they, much like many cats, prefer to torment their prey rather than cleanly dispatch it. Luckily Cooper the dog is quite willing to serve as executioner. This becomes particularly important when the cats decide to bring those chipmunks home.

And I don’t mean to the front door. I mean into the house. Like yesterday for example. I’m on the front porch sweeping up when I hear the sound of a cat meowing with her mouth full.

Never heard that sound? It’s distinctive. Makes me jump right up and run to shut the door. Sadly, I’m nowhere near as fast as a four-legged feline. In she goes, live chipmunk hanging prominently from her jaws. I run in right after her, calling very urgently for Cooper because that cat is no sooner three feet into the house when she releases one very motivated chippy. It darts deeper into the room but Cooper executes an impressive snatch and grab before it has a chance to really make any progress.

Awesome!

I tell Coop “outside!” and worry not a bit that that’s the end of my problem. Can you see this coming?  This is where I make my big mistake. Instead of following the dog outside to praise her, I chastise the cat...and Coop comes running back in to see what I’m doing, chipmunk in hand, so to speak. And then she releases it. Because obviously I want it inside, right?

Now I’m yelling, the cats are watching, and Cooper is running around nose to ground trying to track the darn thing which has escaped into the closet under the stairs. The very deep, very full closet.

Argh!!!

Chris soon joins in the mayhem and we’re now all involved in trying to outwit the wee beastie. Stuff is moved, the dog alerts on a box of Christmas decorations, and BAM, she’s got it! “Outside! Outside! Oh my God she’s dropped it!” “Just kill that fucking chipmunk!”

Victory was ours.

The new cats

Cole and Satchmo have officially settled in. The ringworm nightmare appears to be over although we're in the second pulse treatment period. But Cooper never did catch it which I consider a very good sign.

So here are the new boys.

Cole in bed attempt #1

Satchmo hunting in the flower garden

Satchmo watching Cooper trying to find the chippie

Taking over Cooper's chair

I may not be able to keep calling it "Cooper's Chair"

Can you believe how big Cole is???

Jungle cat

"Who goosed me?"

"Not me!"

The better bed option

Bringing home cats

When we lost T'bd to a predator last summer we really struggled with the idea of getting another cat. But she was more than just a pet - she was an important part of the homestead. Specifically, she was an excellent mouser (and moler, and chipmunker, and unfortunately, birder). But since we didn't want to risk losing another cat, we held off. And then the mice moved in. Now, Cooper is an excellent mouse killer. But she doesn't have the patience of a cat. She's more a "see it move and kill it quick" kind of hunter. So we decided to get a couple kittens and have them be indoor only cats. Solve the mouse problem and solve the predator problem, right? Nope. Turns out Chris's allergies, which are fine with the indoor/outdoor variety of cat, went into hyper drive with permanently indoor cats. So we needed cats that were familiar with outdoor life but that we could train to come in at night. Enter a local shelter's barn cat program. 

After some discussion, two cats - a 1-year old gray male and a 3-year old spotted male - came to the house. Chris immediately renamed them.

Meet Cat King Kole

And Satchmo (and notice Cole in the background)

After a week of separation and gradual introduction to the dog (see the baby gate?) we integrated them into the household. This method worked beautifully. Of course, it helps enormously that Cooper is just a great dog.

Curiosity...

After a couple weeks of being indoors so that they would imprint on us, we let them into the great outdoors.

On the porch, under the bed 

"It's scary out there"

It didn't take long for Satchmo to fully embrace the wild.

He's right in the middle of the photo.

And he also embraced the dog. He looks scared in the photo below, doesn't he? Nope, two seconds after the shutter clicked he was running full tilt after the dog. They play chase, and Satchmo is typically the one doing the chasing.

Fast dog

Cole, the older cat, isn't as sure about this whole "outdoor" thing. Best guess is that he was a city cat, not a woods cat. He was very offended by the grass and spent a lot of energy making sure none of it touched his paws. Porch to rock patio to rock path to landscape timbers, okay. Grass, no.

Their favorite place is definitely inside though. And they play with anything. Including baseballs and softballs. These are big cats! Cole weighs in at 13 pounds and Satchmo is nearly 11 (admittedly, his weight is a bit of fat). 

Killing slippers and baseballs, of course

 They are kings of all they survey.

I'm extremely happy to report that it has been easy to get them in at night (so far). They come in on their own around 7:30, have their 8 o'clock freak out, and go to bed at 9. They sleep in the laundry room and get a final meal to put them to bed each night. I'd had doubts that we'd be able to get them to come inside easily, but I'm hopeful this trend will continue. Oh! and I'm also happy to say that Satchmo is fulfilling expectations on the hunting front - he's already killed two chipmunks. And he and Cooper show signs of being willing to hunt together. Nice!

All the things

It's been a busy month. Individual posts to come with photos but here are the highlights:

The grove garden is growing nicely - the peas all came up and are now about 8 inches tall. Hooray! I've got two potato plants coming up out of the eight mounds. I dug down a bit into the mounds and the plants are on the way but I think I planted them too deep, or mounded them too early not sure which. So I'll change that next year.

The kitchen garden has kale (one that survived winter, five starts from the malfunctioning cold frame, three rows of seed), arugula (seed), basil (seed and starts), oregano (perennial), lemon thyme (perennial), dill fern (seed), and lettuce (starts) planted. I'm seeing some seed germination, especially in the kale.

The hill garden is no more. We've officially killed it off and moved or spread the soil. Why? Because the camp garden is ready for planting! Well, almost ready. Definitely need photos of this one because we cleaned up the site, rebuilt the rock wall foundations, and have topsoil on the way. So cool.

We've started the chicken pasture (orchard?) fence. Will also be cool.

Also, I've now got six new chickens. Added them when they were a week old and they're now six weeks. All are growing and doing well.

We adopted two adult cats and are now battling ringworm. So extremely not cool. Anyone have suggestions on how to eradicate this? I'm working with my vet to treat the animals, but I've read the spores can live for up to a year (!) in the environment. I can't bleach the whole house and I'm not sure bleach would help anyway. Help!

Chris is looking into doing a volunteer stint in Puerto Rico with MDS rebuilding houses. Will definitely have photos of that if he ends up going.

Finished the upstairs bathroom! Including a door!

We've also had some fun with bleach dying and more tie-dying. I'm working on an upcycle project involving old blue jeans (ooh, mysterious) and Chris is carving a decorative fridge handle. All the usual stuff!

What Chris did while I was gone...

In between building kitchen cabinetry and shoveling chicken poo, Chris decided to take a break and do something fun (and really, who can blame him?). Obviously this wall was just crying out for a special touch.

So he carefully removed the art work and attached a highly effective catchment system for drywall dust.

Don't want dust everywhere

Then he cut a hole in the wall, lined it with wood, added trim the same color and design as on our interior window trim...

Hmmm, what on earth?

 Added a gorgeous cherry shelf, and tossed up a few kitty treats.

The new cat feature

 T'BD quickly discovered the new spot. Especially since Chris put her catnip toy out there.

"Don't look at me."

But where is the rest of her?

Ah.

She can choose to go all the way out onto the shelf or hang out on the stair and just use it as a nifty window. Cooper can barely fit her head into the hole so no worries there. But if we ever get a bigger cat we'll be in real trouble.

The kitty

T'bd likes the new border of river rock that we put next to the porch. It gets great southern sunlight and apparently stays warm even once it's in shade. 

Aren't those rocks hard?

She's not overly fond of photographs.

No. You're bothering me.

She really loves the big rocks we're using for patio stones (a project we started last year and that resulted in me seriously damaging my neck/shoulder. Haven't gotten back to it yet). She carefully tests the rocks until she finds exactly the right one, then stretches out and sleeps on its radiant warmth.

Sun on the belly. Ahhhh. 

Miscellany - catching up on September and October

In between installing trim, visiting with family, and doing the normal chores we've also been working on little projects Throughout late September and October.

Chris started making me a bread bowl. I love seeing these things in antique stores and magazines. And he decided it would fun to make me one from some maple found on the property.

The beginnings of a large bread bowl (or trencher)

The cat adopted the wool tartan we brought back from our Scotland trip (more on in another post).

I started making our own training treats from the liver we got from the beef cow we had slaughtered. I use this recipe and Cooper loves them.

Easier to cut when the liver is frozen

Cooper is doing great. This is her favorite perch - it's chippie central around the flower garden. The perennials I got from my friend Jane are doing great, especially considering this was their first year.

Yes?

She's also been entertaining doggie friends.

Chris dug out a drainage ditch in the woods to direct seasonal runoff. Hopefully this will help eliminate standing water and reduce the mosquito population. 

Inspecting the ditch

I brought the herbs in from the garden in late September and put them in pots. This one decided to go for a tractor ride to Dad's. Unfortunately the herb pots I kept died horrible deaths while we were away on vacation. Should have just left them in the ground. Oh well, lesson learned. 

Every tractor needs a plant

Chris got out the welder to help with a smokestack issue. So far so good (it's stayed on 5 months now).

What the heck happened to working on the stairs?

For those wondering why I'm showing posts about crafts rather than actual work on finishing the house - the planer is still broken. 

There should be two sprockets

 So the planer is still in pieces.

Many parts

The part arrived but didn't quite fix everything. Another part had to be ordered (turns out the bushing was jammed which is why the sprocket broke). It has now arrived as well.

The broken sprocket 

We'll be returning to our regularly scheduled DIY soon. In the meantime, allow me to leave you with a cute kitty photo.

"Somebody let me in!"