7-16-14 – Crooked Acres Wednesday

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I never mentioned this back when it happened, but remember the night that Dennis got out into the back yard and was missing? Well, the next morning he was home again, and when Fred went out the side door to do his morning chores, a little black and white kitten came running from the front porch. Fred is 100% convinced that Dennis brought her home! Well, I named her Monday, and she was tested and spayed and neutered, and went to the shelter since we didn’t have room for her here. I thought she was maybe three months old, but as it turns out she was more like seven months.

Last night, she went to Petsmart, and Susan sent me her pictures and description. I thought y’all might like to see them.

Guess when Monday was found! No, guess. Of course, it was on a Monday. One of the house cats accidentally got outside and when he came back to his home, he had little Monday trailing behind. Her kitty rescuer now wears an electronic collar so he stays close by in the yard but since there was no room for another kitten, Monday came to Challenger’s House on June 2, 2014.

Monday is a wonderful kitten who loves attention and likes to be picked up and held. She gets along well with the other kittens and isn’t afraid of the 2 small dogs that live at the shelter. She will walk over to you and if you don’t pick her up she will put her paws on your leg insisting that you pay attention to her. If you don’t, she will jump on your lap for a snuggle.

She should do well with other pets if introduced properly and would probably love a human child or two to throw toys for her or wave feather teasers so she could show off her jumping skills.

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Sights from around Crooked Acres.

Dragonfly, watching us watch the garden.

The Sungolds are ripening, finally. I’m usually able to get 5 or 6 to have with dinner a couple of nights a week, but I’m impatiently waiting for them to come in for REAL.

Cantaloupes, hiding.

Teeny tiny toad (frog?). He was hanging out on the fence post and didn’t seem to mind being picked up. That’s my thumb he’s sitting on.

Toad ‘tocks.

When I put him down, he clung to this weed for a few moments before sproinging away.

Brahma hen would have liked to eat that toad and can’t believe I just let it go.

Brahma hen taking a dust bath, while her sisters (and that stupid rooster) look on.

If you’re one of Fred’s Facebook friends and wonder why he’s been going on about his nipples, here’s the answer: take a food-grade bucket, put holes in the bottom, attach nipples, fill the bucket with water, and hang it. I worried that the chickens were too dumb to figure out this way of getting water. One hen figured it out almost immediately, but it took a few days before the rest of them caught on. Now they all know how it works, and we don’t have to worry about the ducks mucking up the water dishes. (We used to use metal waterers, but they rust far too quickly. So we switched to rubber bowls, and the ducks started swimming in them as soon as they were filled with fresh water. STUPID DUCKS.)

For a while, I’ve been putting the game camera out in various places on the property. I just KNEW that I’d find a spot where tons of wild animals come wandering through, and the game camera would catch them. But as it turns out? Not a lot goes on. I think that George and Gracie (as well as the dog next door and the dogs next door to them, and the dogs… well, you get the idea) help deter most wild animals. Here are some pictures of what I did catch.

Stefan, in the blue coop yard (this blue coop is uninhabited for the moment, but we’re planning to one day reduce the flock back down to less than 20, and move them back to this yard. That won’t be any time soon, not while George and Gracie are with us, but it’s an eventual goal.)

Robin, taking flight at the water station (a bowl of water and a bird bath, which I clean and refill pretty much every day. It’s located in front of the blue coop yard.)

Possum at the water station.

Bunny at the water station.

Weird scary alien-looking thing at the water station. I think that must be a bird or bat in flight. Kinda creepy, isn’t it?

Cardinal checking things out, over by the garden.

Bunny in the garden! (Look above the “and” in the watermark, at the edge of the garden.)

If you look to the far right, toward the top, you’ll see a bit of Fred, who was out picking blackberries. And if you look to the left of him, near the fence post, you’ll see Stefan coming along to keep him company.

Bunny in the blue coop yard. (Pretty much dead center of the picture.)

Raccoon on the feeding station; possum waiting his turn.

That possum sure looks pregnant to me.

There’s a small gap in the tractor shed where a possum fits just perfectly. Thus we have a possum living in the tractor shed, in and amongst all the junk. I am less than thrilled with this development, but since I never go in there, and since Fred doesn’t seem concerned, I’m not going to worry about it too much.

Make yourself at home, Mister Possum (this is not the pregnant-looking possum from couple of pictures ago. Might be the father, though!)

Possum at the feeding station, possum waiting his turn.

Raccoon keeping an eye out while he eats.

Chachi (who still needs to be neutered.)

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The catnip in the raised bed has gone nuts, so I trimmed it back. Most of it, I hung up to dry. I gave some to the permanent residents, and then I took some up to the Cheez Doodles and Angelo.

Gilbert took to the ‘nip immediately.

Mooch did not quite get what was going on.

“Would you care to dance?”

“This stuff is AWESOME.” Gilbert was more interested in biting the stems than eating or rubbing on the leaves.

“Why are they actin’ so weird?”

After eating some of the leaves, Grant was also fond of the stems. Angelo came out from hiding to see what was going on.

“Ohhhh, mannnnn, I feel so goooood…”

Getting high on the ‘nip and taking a bath. As you do.

“DUDE I FEEL SO WEIRD I CAN’T FIND MY FEET THEY WERE HERE AND NOW THEY’RE GONE AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M GONNA DO.”

Angelo, the ‘nip connoisseur, knows that you have to really take your time with the good stuff.

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I pulled out the cat tree in my room so that I could clean behind it, and put the cat tree ladder on the bed to get it out of the way. Within moments…

“This works perfectly for me!”

“I am the king of the ladder! ::RAWR::”

Just so PLEASED with himself, that Dennis.

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Previously
2013: “Who IS that mysterious older woman who’s ignoring me? I am intrigued!”
2012: Caspian’s a chatty fellow.
2011: No entry.
2010: “And then we was tutored, and it was EXHAUSTING!”
2009: That is one happy little cat!
2008: Sisterly love.
2007: And then the guy sat down to talk to us, and I turned into a pouty teenage brat.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.

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