Continuing the intro of our babies...

Sure haven't done much on the property in a while.  Weather has just been too cold and wet.  Hoping to soon get out and begin working again.  Until then I spend a great deal of time on the PC learning Adobe Illustrator.  I'm not bad with Photoshop, but I've really wanted to expand my art techniques to include vector art so taking the time to learn Illustrator during the poor weather is a good opportunity.

I had introduced some of our babies earlier, but didn't have photos of the others until now.  So, I figure it's a good time to get at least two more of them into the blog

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A little beauty is one we named Dusty Rhodes.  Actually, the last name had been Roads - since that was where I found her; on a dusty road - but Cara preferred the Rhodes Scholar address.  So a scholar she is.  Dusty was on a dirt road being friendly to anyone who would pay attention to her.  I had held her as had a few other friends, but when I tried to walk away and leave her, she followed me to the truck.  I returned her to the group I had been with since one lady remarked that she might take her home, but again when I left, she followed me and beat me to the truck.  I figured after that, that she had to go with me.  Cara was reluctant to take in a new cat and was trying to be adamant about me returning her, but alas, Cara is weak and she fell in love with her.  Dusty is sweet, still small, the youngest, and lively and has become one of Cara's favorites.  Dusty loves to sit in her lap while she's working on the PC.

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Lizzie Boots is one of the few we've adopted off the street.  Cara and I were out running errands and we happen to see someone giving away kittens in the parking lot.  We went over to see and immediately saw two that looked like they needed us for parents.  Lizzie was an orange one and the other was a calico.  Both girls had white boots on each of their four feet, thus the last name attachments of Boots to their names.  Unfortunately the calico didn't make it; she died within a few weeks.  But Lizzie stayed and earned the effable nickname of The Napster because of her knack for grabbing a quick nap with me as soon as I laid down.  She now gets quite upset if her position is usurped by any of the other babies.

Not much work lately...

Weather has been poor; cold, rainy, miserable. Not very good for working on the land. No progress has been made for a few weeks - well, since Christmas I think. Hoping that, with the rain, the burn ban will be lifted so I can, at least, get in to do some burning. Since we sprayed a large area of the rose bushes are dieing out as hoped. Those will have to be plowed down with a skid-steer in order to make way for the RV.

Camera has been malfunctioning so I haven't been able to load any new pictures. Hopefully that will be corrected soon.

More briars . . . and I'm winning!

The briars (wild roses . . . whatever!) I sprayed on Dec. 27 are showing significant brown and wilt.  The wood remains green, as I broke off some twigs today, so dead roots are probably still awhile off.

I have now gotten the wild roses up our path from camp to the projected RV location.  From the front of the property (where we marked off our 25' road last week), I have thoroughly sprayed roses where the electric pole will be installed (come on $600!!!!) and up the proposed road to where we'll make our turn for the RV location.  From our trail on the other side, I've worked my way back down to the turn on the proposed road.  So . . . . I have a complete loop made of roses having been thoroughly sprayed.  I hope we can rent our first skid-steer around the 20th, so we can begin pushing those dead briars aside.

Victoria has a burn ban in effect, so only the Goddess knows when we will be able to burn.  Some areas cannot be burned because we will damage healthy trees, so I guess we'll keep renting the chipper until we get them ground into mulch.  In the meantime, we are dragging the cut materials we can handle to a large burn pile which will probably be the biggest bonfire in Victoria County history when the ban is lifted!!!!! (As a retired firefighter, I know we won't be burning anything not in a ring or fire pit until we have water on the scene!  Just don't tell Jay!  (Come on $700 for the down payment on the well!)

School starts again Monday.  Part of me is missing my kids, but I have enjoyed the stress-free physical work at Tranquil Moon.  I am reluctant to see these days go.  I have resolved to spend a full day out there EVERY weekend working, however; I hope it serves to help me keep my stress level down for this last semester.  This semester spells PDAS observations and more conflict with the AP, but she'll be gone next year.  So, as I see it, I just have to tie a knot in the rope, expect to get chewed on . . . and name some briars after her when I spray . . . "I win! HAHAHAHA Take that, you ol' sticker!"

Until next time . . .

Family intro...

We are finally putting together some pictures of our babies; cats to the familiar. This little lady is Marcie Diesel. Marcie got her middle name of Diesel because she was found at the Fastop Truckstop, abandoned and hungry. I was attracted to her because of her Tortie colors; black, brown, and tan. She's very similar to my first cat, Laura whom I had helped deliver, but died back in 2000, but Marcie's personality is very different. She doesn't know about the under the cover monster, but she does cuddle in her favorite spot at night - right between my ankles.

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Missy is the only one of our babies that was adopted at Adopt-A-Pet. Cara had lost her loved Calico, Anne, so to console her we picked out Missy at the adoption group. She is now the oldest and has adjusted to be the grand dame of the grouping.

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Athena is a high-pitched little lady whose life is owed to the Goddess. When we were moving out to The Tree - an earlier acreage that we rented that had only one grand old oak tree on it - I was clearing brush and grass from the area when I heard a high-pitched meowing. I followed the sound and came upon this very small kitten - an abandoned new-born - hiding in the tall grass. She's all black except for the locket on her neck and white tuffs in her ears. After stopping at a vet and getting formula milk and an eye dropper to feed her with, we took her home where we had, just a couple of week before, delivered a beautiful litter of 2 black female cats and one black & white male. We put Athena down and immediately Icie, the mother cat, took her to her nipples and nursed her like she was her own. From that point on Athena was a part of the litter.

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Another Fastop Truckstop baby is Axle Rose, who was found hiding on the axle of a truck - thus the name Axle; not at all after the lead singer of Guns n' Roses. Axle is a lovely little lady, but after a period of her disappearing for days at a time, I had to confine her to a cage to reinforce her home boundaries. Now she stays very close to home and cuddles up to me when I'm sitting on the couch.

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That's it for now. We have four other babies - Inca & Onyx - Athena's litter mates - Lizzy Boots, and Dusty Roads - to introduce which I'll take care of when we get some pics of them. We're looking forward to moving them out to the property where they can stretch their claws on any number of trees at their disposal.

And it shall be . . .

It is said that what one does on the first day of a new year foretells what s/he will do in the remainder of the new year.  And it shall be that Jay and I will spend a lot of time at Tranquil Moon.  Tonight he needs a $500+ run to Louisiana, so he'll spend some of next year on BIG MONEY runs!  Actually, I hope he stays snuggled next to me all night . . . but we do have to pay the bills, and, oh, those plans we have for Tranquil Moon!

Although today was cold and windy, we had lunch at our campsite. We both ate black-eyed peas, just in case Texas is right about the good luck!  We walked its trails and found a couple of new nooks and crannies.  We are determined to leave a lot of those little places that are just wide enough to enter with a golf cart . . . then there's this little haven inside that you can't see until you get there.  Some meditating benches, some deer feeders, some fire pits to roast marshmallows over . . . little treasure spots.

Jay tinkered on the new picnic table to get it just right.  What a joy that space is!  I no longer have to bend over to do everything.  I sat and read a book and thought about what I want in my life this new year.  We accomplished nothing except being there.

We talked about how we want to leave spaces in this new world which will be completely separate from our "work-day-to-day worlds".  A spot that feels like we aren't home . . . we're on vacation or at a weekend retreat.

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Also looked at fences and gates on our way out . . . we are planning to clear a path 25' wide, but don't want a gate that wide.  We need something that will be easily disassembled when we decide to build or put a mobile home on site.  I think we may just have to have the 18'x80' Fleetwood we saw a year or so ago!  It has everything we want and even at $50,000 it's cheaper than building when appliances and decorating are figured into the equation.

 

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No further sightings of our little feral kitties . . . I think about the one who had the respiratory infection the other day.  I think I'll build a little first aid kit for the kitties . . . just like I have for the big people!  A little all-purpose antibiotic, some itch relief, small tools to open abscesses.

Until next time . . .