Cat and garden sitting again

Snuggles - my neighbor's cat

Yes, Snuggles and I are together again.  I’m watching her and watering the garden again for a week.  I don’t know what my neighbor is going to do when I move.  I told her to find another sitter and she did for a while, but they had other commitments and couldn’t keep doing it all month.  Plus, my neighbor says, “no one can do it as well as you.”

Well I don’t do anything unless I give it my all, or the best I can do.  I don’t know if everyone is like that or not.

 Snuggles

 Garden

Snuggles is glad to see me.  I feel sorry for her because her “mama” is gone so much in the summer.  I’m not sure why Sherry even plants a garden when she isn’t here half the time to take care of it.  I know she likes her fresh veggies.  I just hope she can work something out because it looks like she’ll be gone most of the summer with only a day home here and there.  I want to be a friend and a good neighbor, but I have things I have to get done too.

Stain glass kitten

Raven making his move

 

 Raven - if you look closely, you'll see his body behind the stained glass

Isn’t this an unusual shot?  Raven finally made it to the headboard to look out the moon window over the bed.  He’s been trying that maneuver for a couple of weeks now.  He wasn’t sure of himself for jumping up there.  He kept trying and didn’t give up, as is the norm for a cat.  They are very determined.

We were lucky to get this shot of him walking behind the stain glass hanging in the window.  Even luckier, was the fact that he didn’t knock it down.

Have a great Memorial Day everyone!  Stay safe out there.

My Little boy has a Towel Fetish

 Raven playing in the bathtub

Raven playing in the bath tub

I don’t know what it is about a towel that’s so fascinating, but every time Raven sees one, he tries to grab it.  He pulls them down off the towel racks in the bathroom and likes to slide on them in the bathtub as he chases his ping-pong ball around.

Raven with a dishtowel

Raven with a dishtowel

He must really work at getting the towels he wants and then dragging them into place.  Unfortunately, we’re never around to see him in the act.  We came home the other day and he got this one down in the kitchen and carried it to the cat tree.  I’ve had to hang my dishtowels up higher temporarily.

He thinks its great sport to wrestle with these towels.  My other cats weren’t this interested in linens.  I’m enjoying him though because it won’t be long and he’ll be grown and this will be boring.

We have Babies

Look to the right to see the quail babies.  They're small.

Mom is waiting for the "children" to come through the pickets on the gate.

It’s that time of year for the next generation of wildlife.  We had our first sighting of baby quail last week.  They are so cute and more obedient than human kids are.  The quail make very good parents.  It’s fun to watch the interactions between them and the new “kids.”

Baby chipmunk

Baby chipmunk

I can spend hours watching nature.  The quail and chipmunks seem to have their own language.  The offspring will spend the better part of this year with their parents to guide them.  The only thing left out here is the rabbits, which seem to be out on their own at a young age.

Raven behind my house

 Ravens behind my house

Today I heard all this loud screeching and cawing.  I grabbed the camera and went outside to see what was up.  The ravens make a racket when one of their own is hurt or killed.  This time they were dive-bombing a golden eagle.  They kept this up for the better part of an hour.  I tried to get some good pics but birds are quick.  My husband also decided to call right at this time.  I never did succeed in getting a good shot of the golden eagle, but I bet it was only about twelve feet or so away.  However, this didn’t last long and it took flight.  I know one thing, the ravens look big, but this thing made them seem so small by comparison.  I never did find out what caused all this.  I imagine the eagle was probably hunting one of them and feasted on it for lunch.

Tara, the Hero Cat

By now, many of you have probably already seen this.  However, being the cat lover I am, I had to share.  This is amazing because this cat is so much smaller than the dog it’s taking on.  What would we do without our brave felines?  This is super cat to the rescue to save that little boy.  I’m sure the dog would have kept biting him.  He tried to pull the kid away until the cat intervened.

Click here to view the video from You Tube

This cat reminds me very much of the first cat I had as an adult.  Max was an attack cat always ready to protect me, bless his heart.  He was ready to go after anyone at the door unless I called him off.

Max

The Wicked Wind

On Saturday night, we had wind here that blew at 67 MPH (the radio reported this the next day) for ten hours straight.  Naturally, we were out there trying to tie up trees, etc.  This always seems to happen.  I’m just thankful it wasn’t 30 degrees, which is usually the temp when we’re out tying up trees.  However, it was chilly.  I came in and took some extra vitamin c.

 Dark skies before the storm

You could almost see the windows moving in and out as blasts of wind hit them while roaring around the house.  I was wondering if they would hold up and not cave in.

We went out later and moved all the patio chairs close to the house.  They are heavy metal ones that have blown over before.

The next day we looked out to see the damage.

Another tree bites the dust

 

 The port-o-potty turned over

We only had one tree down, but it was a big one so now we need to replace three trees in the front yard.  This is quite pricey, so we may not replace the one that just broke.  The nursery here has been getting trees in because of the hard winter we had.  The problem is they plant them into big boxes immediately so they can charge more.  What a racket.

There were trees down all over our little town along with several street signs and two outhouses sitting at construction sites.

The wind also blew out the pilot light on the hot water heater so we were without hot water on Sunday morning.  Tell me how it can get past two doors to do that.  The water heater is in a room inside the garage.

Surprisingly the power never went out.  That’s a real shocker since it’s notorious for going out around here all the time.

Vacant lot ready for building - notice the port-o-potty is at the right

On another note, work has started on the vacant lot two doors down from us.  The men were there yesterday to mark out the lot for footings.

 Tootie

Tootie’s eye is continuing to heal.  We took her to the vet last Wed and were able to cut her meds down to twice a day.  I’m glad she’s such a little trooper.  We would never have been able to endure all that we’ve been through with this eye had it been a couple of the cats we’ve had in the past.  They were little scrappers and wouldn’t put up with being doctored that much, or having the e-collar around their neck.  I’m sure we’d have wounds all over us by now.

 Our resident lizard

The lizard is still making itself at home in the fireplace.  I don’t blame it for wanting to stay in there on Sat night.  We aren’t using the fireplace right now anyway and its entertainment for the cats.

 New side-by-side fridge

The new fridge was delivered last Thurs.  It seems smaller, but I'm just used to the French doors.  At least this works and that's the important thing, right?

Look at this gorgeous thing!

Honeysuckle in my yard

Here's a close up of the blooms

Some things thrive in the desert and can endure the awful weather extremes.  Every year this honeysuckle looks like a bunch of dead sticks and twigs.  It transforms itself over night to a living gorgeous thing.  We’ve thought it was dead more than once.  The leaves come on fast and in a matter of a week or so, it looks like this.  It’s awesome it can do this.  This plant will bloom all summer and into fall, so it makes a stunning display for the yard.