Far Away Friends

Last week our missionary friends from Tanzania stayed at our place. It was a busy fund raising/supply gathering trip for them here in the US. They are vegan and so all meals needed to be healthy and all veggie. I made lentils, bean enchiladas, oatmeal, and lots of other bean dishes.

Lentils from the book Vegan 101.

Vegan enchiladas from the 7 Secrets book.

Their son is now almost 18 years old. How time flies as we have watched him grow.

Taking the smooth tire off the one wheel and replacing it with a knobby off road tire.

The gang the 3 Tafts, the 3 Schochs and Alfreda and  Mr.Jean. This will be the last time they are all together here as they are no longer ordering Country Life co-op foods. We used to order food in bulk and all meet up at the local church for distribution. But their kids are leaving the nest, the Schochs are going back to Tanzania and Alfreda and Jean are getting married! I am so happy to see the young ones grow up into adults and the adults still falling in love. 

And they are outta here

Silver boy was a rescue of 10 weeks got adopted on a farm.

Three stooges hand raised from birth are now all living in new homes.

Bobtail and Torti live together in a new home/farm.

My Frosty cleaning the kittens.

This deaf boy got a special home. The adopter drove in 2 hours away to pick him up. She had raised deaf cats and was looking for a very rare flame point Siamese.

Always boxes of food and pee pads also great kitten cubbies.

Frosty can now rest after helping to teach the kittens how to eat, use the litter box and clean themselves. He is a great mom cat. Frosty is a kitten no one wanted one winter and so I kept him. He is a priceless silver tabby and my constant companion.

Furniture no Further

It amazes me how furniture styles come and go even here in the Ozarks. Several years ago at the local auctions nobody wanted antique wood furniture. They could not give it away bedroom sets. We had a trailer and could move the unwanted stuff. Then the milk paint craze took over and everybody painted everything white.  So we acquired a lot of antique furniture in our shop. Where it remained -for years. I wanted it out since we do not need it. We have a small house but a large shop.

And again antique furniture takes a back seat. Sofas and large flat screen TV's are hot and not big pieces of heavy wood furniture. So we offered to even take these pieces to the local charity- they don't want it. But a friend is expanding his headstone business and needs nice storage in a Victorian style. They are taking the largest pieces off our hands. I had to uncover them and take photos. I had forgotten how nice these were.

Our friend is handy and willing to clean them up and use them in his shop. I will be happy to have room in the shop. They are well made solid wood and do not need much work. But they are too large for our house -since I got the piano. We had hoped someone might want these pieces, a family in need. But even people who's house burned down did not want these antique pieces. I think people are very mobile these days. And if you move a lot, heavy furniture is not easy to move. You need more than two people to move "granny furniture" and a truck and muscles. Whatever the reason, I am glad they will be getting a new home/business instead of gathering dust unseen.

Deaf as a Post

Here are my three latest foster kittens. The mother was killed the day they were born. And now after weeks of lack of sleep and a ton of bottles and KMR we are now at almost 8 weeks of age. Eating dry and wet food and using three litter pans. This is a bobtail female the smallest of the litter but she is the feistiest. The owner did not want them back so I have to find homes for them.

Her  brother is a flame point Siamese with blue eyes and deaf. I noticed this the first week and he is 100% deaf. Going to be a challenge finding the right home for him.

For now he gets along with a sweet male cat of my household to show him the ropes.

Stunning looks!

And the sweetest one the tortoise shell female. She loves attention and cuddling. She is not very pretty to look at but she is a attentive kitten. Waiting to see what color her eyes become. So happy the other two females can hear. Very lucky to have healthy kittens this go round.

All are up for adoption in our town. But there are a ton of
kittens this season. I have the edge with getting them vaccinated, trained and UTD on shots/worming. I am hoping the right person needs a healthy kitten in their life. And I never name my foster kittens. It would be too hard to re-home them and give them away. So I can enjoy the cute time as they are growing fast!

Green Bean Harvesting.

These late summer rains have filled my garden with green beans.

I was able to get in a quick 7 quarts before more rains came. Very happy to have something to harvest this late summer.

Four Weeks Old Kittens

It has been a busy lack of sleep 4 weeks. But the three stooges (the foster kittens) have survived and thrived. Now I am trying to get them into soft food. Oh so messy!

The white and orange male is the biggest eater/complainer. He eats so much them vomits. But I now stop him from over eating. The rest are normal at feeding time.

The gloves are for my protection from tiny claws.

Bobtail is always a hungry female.

The tortoise is very relaxed and loves to have her belly rubbed after a meal.

Feeding the male, again. I have de-wormed them and will have to again. The white one ate the clay litter in the litter pan. I had to give him laxatone to get the GI track mobile. A first in all the years I have worked with kittens- litter eating. One cool thing, a human baby wipe warmer is the best. My kittens are clean and never complain about the cold wipe. It has an LED light for nighttime wipes- very handy. I have not used a bottle warmer, yet. But have one in the wings in case I have a larger litter to foster. I just used hot water to warm a cold bottle. Oh and a test tube holder rack to dry sterilized kitten bottles. That is a time saver!

This 11 week old single male foster only got adopted last week. Very happy for that. And I have three people wanted the three stooges. Very happy to see them go to new homes in about 5 more weeks!

Furry Spuds

Foster Kitten update they are getting fed every 3-4 hours, so happy for the extra time at night. Day time is more frequent feeding and activity. They are crawling all over their kitten tent. The white one is the only male of the three. Have to say that having a baby wipes warmer nearby is wonderful. I can clean the spuds after feeding and they do not get shocked by cold wipes anymore.

And their eyes are opening. This is the tortoiseshell female and the first to open up its optics.

Meanwhile my silver tabby Frosty is a great surrogate for the older foster kitten. No name is 12 weeks and still small for his age. He was found starving between walls of an office and covered in fleas and ticks. But he is doing great at our place.

Foster Kittens day 6

And then there were three, Curly Larry and Moe

The white runt did not live after the first 48 hours. The rest of the litter is thriving including the other white kitten.

Torti is a female.

White one is a male.

Bobtail is a girl.

I am busy feeding and cleaning them around the clock. Being a mom cat is hard work.

Unflocking

So with the heat wave, projects, heatstroke avoidance, lazy farm dogs and lots of non farm stuff, my poultry has taken a major hit this summer. I am down to 10 hens, 0 roosters, 10 ducks. Was 21 ducks, 2 roosters and 20 hens. The culprit- coyotes with pups. Saw them, got one and still the hunt continues. They are smart predators and my best dog is too old and my younger dog is too lazy. This was unexpected. My husband is ok with it as it saves money on feed and time. But I feel cheated to loose all that time and effort.And I love my farm fresh eggs. Our birds are free range and come in at night. The coyote hit during the heat of the day. My birds are an easy snack as my neighbor no longer has goats. The rest are all cattle and too many for the coyote to deal with. So my birds take the hit this year. I always counted on my dogs for years. No dog no protection for my birds. Which is sad since I have always wanted to have my own flock. I am sad that is slowly going away. But my husband wants to travel and poultry and livestock keep you at home. So I guess that is the bright side, for now.

Space Science in the Ozarks

I saw this guy at a quilt shop and quilted it for the local library Space month. Libraries had volunteers decorate, presentations, book readings and crafting for all of July.

Picked up some large shower curtains and photos backdrops to decorate the library.

Part of the craft I taught the kids. Used a clear plastic plate, glued a snap in the center and mod podge colored cello to the plates. The kids got to add the moons as per my directions and then the top black paper plate snapped on top of the cello/moon plate. Held up to the light and turn to see the moon phases. Below is the kids working on the top part.

The kids then got to eat freeze dried fruits, veggies and ice cream like an astronaut. My husband did a slide show of the gross things doctors deal with for astronauts in space. Our part of the event turned out great as my husband worked for NASA back in the day.

When it's cats, it pours!

This tiny 10 week old was found abandoned inside walls of a local business. He was feral, covered in fleas and ticks and very underweight. I was called as a last resort. Today he is almost his correct weight, tick and flea free and ready for the world.  He is tiny but very fast and very clean little man.

He is up for adoption here in the SW Missouri area. I need him to find a new home so I can deal with my latest event- newborn kittens.

I got a frantic call from my vets office, they were given a box of kittens by a local farmer. The mom cat had been run over by a brush hog machine in the field. The kittens needed care and no one was available. I was given five cold kittens in a shoe box in the middle of a busy clinic.

I live close the the clinic so I got them home fast. One died about an hour later, it was huge but not acting right. It had hydrocephalus and was poorly. The rest made it through the first 24 hours. And there is where I am today. Every 3 hours I am up and feeding them. They have tiny umbilical cords still attached their bellies. I have not had time to sex them. I have too many things to do and do not want to get attached. But they are very soft and in good condition. Many I have raised were full of infections and fleas. This batch makes for 36 kittens I have fostered. I have the heating pad, formula, bottles and syringes and the time to deal with these babies. Luckily, my older kitten was ready to join the adult cat household. For great advice on kitten care go to the Kitten Lady.