The kitten Boxtrolls

These two are on their last day of medicine to clear out the Coccidia they developed from the stress of abandonment, new home then a vet trip. They are each a month old and underweight for their age.

But with kitten food, Forti Flora and quiet time they are slowly acting normal. They still hiss at me but less often. They were found in a box and a box is with them in their tent. They are truly Boxtrolls. They hiss, love music and eat a lot. 

Male black and brown with stripes

Brown spotted tabby male.

Both the vet and everyone else asked if I would be keeping them. That is always hard as I love black cats and have never had one I kept. I want them to both go to the same home together as they are longhaired littermates. No, these two just stumbled into my life. I never name them and always try to rehome them. With the exception of the two we did keep, fifty have gone to new homes. So these are 51 & 52 and that is what I call them.
 

Kittens in a box

So yesterday evening after a long day of house restoration and old door donation delivery we were driving home on the back roads and I saw two kittens dart across the dirt road and run into this heavy wood box on the corner of a property. We pulled over and I stayed with the heavy wood box box and my husband went to pick up a cat carrier at our house about 3-4 miles away. I looked around for any other kittens and a mama cat, nothing. This corner is a forest and cattle pasture, no houses. The property owner came to see me as she was putting out hay for her cattle and I showed her the box with the kittens. She had just moved hay from that lot and that box was not there an hour ago. We had also been by that same part of the road and that box was not there. She did not want the kittens so I offered to take them to foster and apologized for being on her property. We got them home, flea removal, washed, fed and in a kitten tent for the night with a heating pad. They have teeth so about 3-4 weeks of age longish hair, one is black and one is a brown tabby. They are not photo ready as they are as tired as I am. I do not know who left this very heavy wood 15lb wooden cage/box but there was no food and no water just this box the kittens ran to.  I got two very tiny very thin weak kittens. Today, they will go to the vet an hour away to get evaluated and wormed. From there we have to decide on keeping or putting up for adoption. These will be the first kittens I have fostered in three years. I still had all my kitten supplies saved just in case. I shall have to call them 51 & 52 after having fostered 50 thus far.

This is the 30 inch long wood box with a heavy mesh flap that the kittens ran into when I walked up on them. I could not ret my arm down to reach them, so I brought the box and the kittens home in it.

UPDATE: this is called a rabbit trap by the old-timer trappers. I was told this box was missing some parts but I was shown how to use it. It was overkill for kittens but was probably used to catch them.

I was electric long staple gun assembled out of old barn wood. It is about 8 inches tall and 30 inches long. The wood is very old dry barn wood about 2 inches thick! The whole thing is about 15-20lbs of weight.

I have always wanted a black cat. I have fostered 4 and never kept them as they were adopted quickly. These two are a bit feral but use the litter pan. It will take some time to figure out their personality. I will post photos after they see the vet. Just too busy this time of the year on the farm.

 

 

Bustin my Deer

This is what a deer can do to a t-post. They bent two of these running into my garden fences. 

Our herd is quite used to me doing my farm chores around them

waiting for me to go back into the house

 

Greenith Goeth Gailey

My tiny 6 for greenhouse is full again with seedlings I got going in April

Roma tomatoes

Kale makes me happy

Oh so many basils

 

Nottaway and Crawfish

My husband and I joined the fun down south to a family reunion. They had good food all over the place and crawfish.

Strawberries grown in old igloo coolers so when it floods they float.

Our wonderful host with the most.

After that we stayed in an historic plantation with very old oak trees.

The cemetery was in bad shape after several tornadoes and hurricanes in the area.

This one is in good shape.

Nottaway plantation. It used to be a great well run place but it has changes hands and the family no longer tends it and the old gardens are not take care of like it use to. A corporation bought it as B&B but they are not running things well. Nice staff but way short staffed and the cottages, buildings and grounds are in bad shape. The historic cemetery on the grounds is in severe bad shape, a big faux pas in Louisiana. Time to fix the headstones and the tombs and show a little respect.

One nice thing, since the gardens have gone wild, there are blackberries, honeysuckle, kumquats and more all over the place in the late month of April. Great for snacking outside with the squirrels.

 

Easter 2022 Banner

I was inspired to make this for Easter. With heavy rains, travel, raising ducks in my house, spring farming I was a bit crunched for time. But the week before I got busy and had some late nights. I was finished the morning before mass. My sewing room a disaster but this was done.

It was a combination of several applique techniques, painting, stump work, embroidery and sewing. No pattern except the drawings on freezer paper I used.  I love the ombre cotton fabric as the background.

Now I have to make one for ordinary time.

 

Going Green

Walking onions and irises grow happy together.

The deer eating everything in my flowerbeds including my lavender!

My overpacked with seedlings greenhouse. Love my bought before the pandemic hose real. I had it and never installed it because I was too busy. This year my husband installed it and I am sooooo happy. I have about 100 feet of hose that is out of my way.

Time to plants the seedlings.

 

Dragon me around

I saw this on eBay and it was way overpriced for a tourist trinket.

But I loved the embellishments.

The gold chaining and the beads are so cool looking and feeling.

I have always liked the dragon from illustrator Gyo Fujikawa and I want to remake it in this style.

Orange and gold dragon would be so cool!

 

Lent Banner 2022

I finished this banner for our church just in time for the second week in Lent. It is purple satin with burlap applique cross and hanging violet drape. The backing is vintage brown satin. Satin is hard to work with but I love how the colors dance. The crown is yellow felt I cut out and used a paint marker to seal/define the edges of the thorns, also machine appliqued that. Our church does not have any banners for outside the sanctuary. So I decided to make a few to brighten up the space. I am working on an Easter one. 

I have offered to make some for the sanctuary but that has not been updated in 40 years and they like it that way. Also, it is very hard to make church art unless you stick to the Church laws for artist, materials, committee choices and theme. I prefer the freedom of just making this for now.

 

They grow so fast

Here are my Muscovy 2nd generation. These guys hatched in early February and had been in my house for 4 weeks. The weather warmed up and I put them in the coop with a heat lamp for two more weeks with food and water daily to teach them the coop is home. I removed their food and water from the coop and set it outside the coop. After a day the ducklings figured out how to go in and out of the coop.

They stick together all the time and stay close to the coop for now. Once bugs appear they will begin                    to expand their territory.

They love their green bath tub. They swim in it all the time.

They take turns and I refill it often with clean water.

They still have baby fuzz and not fully feathered yet. But thankfully the night temperatures are above freezing. I have a mother setting on her eggs this month as well. I will catch her and put her eggs in the coop to hatch with the mama this time. I am not house raising ducklings when a mama duck can do all the work for me.

At night I have this young possum with half a tail eating all the chicken food it can get. I have to trap it and move it away from the coop. It will eat my chickens and eggs if I left it stay.

 Life on the farm never ends. 

 

Bearily there

I have been sewing again, a lot.

This is a bear for a friend whos husband  passed away from the virus and also dementia. These last few years were hard as he had to be in a nursing home and she could not visit. She did not have any of his clothes. So I dug into my stash and pulled colors she liked. I got it done and mailed before her birthday.

I make memorial pillows and bears as needed for friends and sometimes clients.

It is an easy Simplicity pattern. Unless you have never sewn before, it can be tricky. I have adapted this pattern to my needs over the years.

This pair is a special one. A friend had pancreatic cancer and it took her very fast less than 6 months. She was a good friend, mother and wife who really enjoyed doing things in life that she enjoyed. She was about my age when the cancer took her. I hardly recognized her when I was sent the photo. But I am glad for a small moment she had a bit of happiness. Her adult daughter can have something to hold on to in her memory. These were very special to make and send.

Sickness, dying and funerals are hard but are a part of life. When you are involved with a church your experiences with death double with your church family and friends. Here in the Ozarks we have lost all ages from driving wrecks, no seatbelts, virus, farming accidents, cancer, hunting accidents, heart disease and dementia just to name a few. I try to bring a bit of happiness one stitch at a time.

 

Duckling Snuggles

One single duckling hatched in the coop under a poor Harlequin first time mama during the ice storm. I saw it left on the nest and ignored and cold. So I brought it in to warm up and set up the brooder box. Meanwhile my husband and our eldest cat babysat while I put the brooder together.

He was alone for a week before my Muscovy hatched 16 ducklings. All were brought inside without their mother in the second snow storm. In total 13 survived the first 24 hours indoors in the brooder. The others 2 died outside in the coop from the cold. I thought mama duck could keep her 3 remaining ducklings alive outside but she could not, so I brought the last one indoors. And my daily chore is washing out the brooder box while the ducklings swim in the bathtub. I put in clean bedding, food and water and cedar shavings. And watch them grow up. They have to stay inside until it stays above 50 degrees in the coop.