Saturday, February 26, 2011

Kittens and Cutting

Alice

















Last summer we had one female cat here on the farm, and she had one litter of kittens out in the barn. They weren't found until Everett came back from his dad's, and by then they were a good size, but he tamed all five of them and now they come right up to the house, prance around the dogs, and sit under my birdfeeders with their whiskers twitching.

Alice is the spitting image of the wild tomcat that I first spotted in the garden before we moved over here. He had an entire saddle of matted fur on his back and you couldn't get near him. This winter he's been in the tractor shed with the cat herd, but makes himself scarce the minute you go in there. He seems to think that if he hides, you won't know he's there.

The kittens were all given names that start with an A, so in the years to come we might be able to remember how old they are. Besides Alice, there's Ace, black as a spade in the card deck, and Ash, a grey tabby. Don't ask me what happened to the other two kittens; something got them, obviously. That's the life of a barn cat. They have total freedom, but with it comes the danger of coyotes and foxes and heaven knows what else.

We should have several litters of kittens around here this spring.



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To make this page download quickly for family members still using dialup, I've changed the settings so that only one entry shows on each page. Alas, now my lists of favourite blogs extend far beneath the end of the one entry, most days. And this bugs me.

I've been trying to ignore it, but that can only go on so long. I know myself; eventually I'll slash and burn, and that list will be drastically shortened. Which I will hate, because how can I pick and choose? I love all the blogs that are listed there.

Even the one written by someone I can hardly stand. (No, it's not you. The writer of that blog is far too self-absorbed ever to read someone else's.) That's right, I read the blog of someone I am sure would make my teeth ache were we to meet in person. I like the photos and the extensive text about a life that seems to be well lived, though the writer has obviously never received the kick in the ass that might have improved the personality. The writer is condescending, arrogant ...

Well enough about that. How often do you hear me say something "bad" about anybody? It's a slippery slope I'd best stay away from.
Needless to say, I'll have no problem deleting the link to that blog.

Anyway, if the link to your blog disappears (has disappeared; I started deleting links right after saving this entry) from that list, now you know the reason why. And also, that I have probably signed up to "Follow" your blog so that I will be notified of your new entries in another way, though it's less convenient for me to keep up with your exciting life via the Follow feature.

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Aunt Reta sent this video about peeling potatoes:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7375897927147969009#
It stars the actress who played Maryanne on Gilligan's Island.