Karla's Cottage

A Heroic Rescue

Since we got big dogs, our outdoor cats have made themselves scarce to me.  Ryan took care of them from his porch, where they had a safe place to enjoy a peaceful meal, with no dogs around.

I knew he cared for them, but had no idea how much time he’d spent with them until he was gone and they started to brave the dangerous hounds to come out to get our attention.  We often see them talking to us from the top of the shed, or climbing up to the patio for a visit.  If the dogs aren’t out, Joy Joy will follow me around the yard.

They miss him too. 

The other day, Pumpkin was crying loudly and sounding desperate.  Rich guessed that the dogs chased her under the shed.  My husband was equally desperate to get her out, and I figured that if she’d crawled under it, she’d find her way out if given time.  But he insisted, “he wasn’t going to let anything happen to Ryan’s cat.” And went to get a shovel, a hydraulic jack, and some cement blocks.

I was fearing that jacking it up one way, would smash her on the other side. But the area she was we thought she was crying from was butted up to the garage and he couldn’t lift it from that side.

And the shed was sitting on the edge of the hill down to the creek.  When he started jacking it up, it even slipped a little that direction and I could just picture it rolling down the slope, bouncing off trees and throwing its contents every which way.

Rich placated me by raising the building a little at a time on each side, and sliding rocks under it as he went, until he got all 3 sides high enough to brace with the cement blocks.

It scared me the whole time, but I am a big chicken about stuff like that.  I imagined smashed fingers, knocked over buildings, and worse.  Plus, I was not 100% sure the sound was coming from underneath.

He assured me, he saw Pumpkin’s white face under the front corner.  
After getting the building high enough, we still heard her crying.  But it did sound different.

Yep, there she was, up a tree. 
Did she climb out the back while he was raising the front?  Or had she been in another part of the tree the whole time?

Under the front corner where Rich thought he saw her, we found this- a mama and seven babies.  She had a white face too.

Maybe Pumpkin ran from the dogs, discovered the opossum, and froze under the building, hiding from both? 

Well, the cat was now safe, no matter where she’d been or how she got there.

But we couldn’t (and when I say ‘we’, I mean Rich doing all the work while I fretted and worried over his shoulder) lower the shed and not be sure we wouldn’t smash babies.

The shed had to stay on blocks over night, hoping that the little family would find a better place to nest.

Of course, I fretted that the dogs would try to get to the babies and somehow knock the building off it’s blocks, so we kept them inside just in case.

Everyone relocated as we had hoped by the next morning and I let Rich put everything back without my shrieks of “be careful!” “Watch out” “that does NOT look safe” and more. 

 

Backyard water cooler

The local nursery had these fountains on a 75% clearance, and the grand fairies are fascinated with fountains, so I picked it up for them to play with, for only $10.

The girlies aren't the only ones who were interested in it.  All of the kittens have taken a liking to the dancing water.

But Honey is the reason why I can't leave it running. She thinks it is her personal water fountain and drains it dry in a few giant, big dog, gulps.  

Yet one more adjustment that comes from owning a dog tall enough to reach anything it wants to.  

 

 

Although, she doesn't realize yet that she is a big dog.  Her favorite spot to be when outside, is under Sugarwings' golf clubs out in the breezeway.  Those are some pretty short, little clubs, and Honey won't be fitting under there much longer!

 

 

The world's happiest dog

For one thing, yorkies are usually just plain happy.   I started calling mine 'dorkies' because they are often such silly, little, joyful dorks. 

Twinkle adores her buddy, Sugarwings, who she grew up with (both are now nine years old).  Especially when the water hose comes out. Those two can spray the hose together to no end. (glad we have well water!)

I was watching them the other night as they played outside as the sun was setting, Sugarwings was in charge of the hose, Honey helped her a bit, the other dogs and Dewdrop stayed out of reach of the water. But Twinks? As always, she was voraciously chasing droplets and attacking the spray. If her girl got side tracked and sat the hose down, that dog would go and get her. Trying to tempt her back into playing.  She would run towards Sugarwings, then back to the hose, over and over, till her buddy picked it up and sprayed her with it again.

Dewdrop was happier with the dry kitties.

Or snuggling with her Pop Pop.

Twinkle never let Sugarwings get too far away from her, because she always wants to be in on the action. And while "Joy" is the fairy girl's middle name, it could just as easily have been "Action".  

This is our idea of a perfect evening.

Can it get any better than this?  Girls, bikes, garden hoses, with pups to play with as kittens watch... add in a cool evening with a bright sunset and, yes, that is perfection.

 

Pet pics and what is new in the Boutique

Honey is fitting in better than I had expected. She pees on command, fetches, knows to go into her kennel when told, and has stolen everyone's hearts.

She is even learning to pose, but isn't the best at it.  This photo is a fluke, she isn't very patient with the camera like Twinkle is.  Of course, Twinkle sees a camera in my hand and thinks all photos are of her.  She jumped right up in the chair next to her blonde nemesis to make sure she got her share of camera time too.

Actually, they are getting along pretty good.  Twinkle has her jealous moments, but as long as Honey remembers that Tinks is alpha dog, they seem to enjoy each other's company.  Albie isn't happy with her at all, though. He takes every opportunity he gets to nip at her tail.

I don't know if Twinkle likes being around her, or is just making sure that the new dog doesn't get more time with me than she does.    

These guys are champion posers. The puppeesh are almost as talented at modelling as their mom. Although they do it just to please me, they don't care about being in a photo. Twinkle likes to think that the camera is always pointed her way. Sometimes, I have to agree to take her photo to get on with my business of snapping what I had meant to in the first place.

Honey doesn't get the point. Most pics of her look like this.

Or this.

I have to act fast to get all four of them together. I'm going to keep trying. It will be fun to have a record of how big she gets in comparison to her peers.  I'll try to get a weekly update of the group as she sprouts up.

Even if Honey can't keep her eyes open in the shots.  Poor dog, I know what it is like.

Not everyone can pose like Twinkle, of course.  Pumpkin's kittens can be elusive. And this one, Gourdie, always has RBF (Resting B**ch Face).  She is a perfectly nice cat, she just looks cranky.

 

PS- I've added quite a few ephemera packs to the Boutique.

Wallpaper scrap packs, ephemera, paper dolls...

Fairy book kits, and more.

Oh, did I mention wallpaper?  I loaded a few packs of that too.



Plus, a completed Fairy book over at the Etsy shop.

As well as an art journal with an included ephemera pack, ready for you to fill up and create in.

A quiet 4th of July

We had quite a nice holiday weekend. Not at all typical for us, no parties, no people, no fireworks, no trips.

The weekend started on Friday with a performance at Theatre Lawrence, from the workshop Sugarwings had attended there.

It was very impressive to see how the teachers could corral all of these little ones and get them to understand the workings of being in a play, learning lines, songs, and choreography in just one week. And it is great for the kids to have a chance to be on the fancy stage.

Sugarwings is very serious up on stage, but does sneak looks up to where family is sitting, to make sure we are watching her. And at one point, she broke out in an impromptu, improvised tap routine that had nothing to do with the show. 

Maybe tap lessons should be the next class she takes...

Her favorite part seemed to be the way her sparkling cape could swirl with some twirling in the lobby.

The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back.  My husband and I did some hiking at the lake each morning, then spent the rest of the days doing yard work around the cottage.

Now, my husband isn't exactly a yard work kind of guy.  At least as far as flower beds go. He is more of a chainsaw  type, but when I mentioned that my rose bushes had become so overgrown that they weren't blooming the way they should and were more like thorn bushes than flowers, he was right there with a chain to wrap around them and pull them out with the John Deere Gator.

The roses were planted in bad places, that seemed fine when the plants were little. One was by the patio of the studio, and three were along the side walk to the front door.  As they grew, they needed major trimming to stop their thorns from snagging unsuspecting people walking by.

I've not got a lot of experience with roses, but it seems to me, that the more you trim them, the woodier they become, and the less they bloom.  These were turning into giant thorn trees with woody trunks, not green bushes with flowers.  So, out they went, and the one by the studio was replaced with a hydrangea instead.

 

For the sidewalk area, I purchased 2 azaleas and a topiary. But the topiary wouldn't work, because there is a bedrock of gravel under the bed, and we couldn't dig through it.  The base of the topiary was just too large, but the smaller pots of azaleas were just fine. So, the tree is in a temporary basket for now, and I'll set it in a pot when I find one later (it's time for some good 75% off sales at the greenhouses!)

We also dug out mulch and added a row of gravel along the foundation, due to some termite issues we are having. My husband got to fill his Gator with gravel and use the dump truck function to fill the trench he'd dug.  

We also worked in the veggie garden, and had to pull some vines down from the walls. A vine covered cottage is a beautiful thing, if you don't care about termites and damage to your siding.  If I could let them go, I sure would. Especially since they just start climbing on their own, it looks so charming and natural.  But, nope, they had to be ripped away.

Lots of hard work got accomplished, and we had a good time doing it. I really can't remember the last time the two of us were on our own, and hung out together all weekend.  We tend to have a lot of separate interests and many other people that take our attention from each other.  This was nice.

I hope your weekend was a memorable one too.  I thought I'd work in the studio and add some things to the Boutique, but didn't get around to it til Monday.  

And I didn't mind at all.

Here are a few things that I listed.

 

Kitties

Our kitties are venturing out of their nest and exploring a bit. But it is on wobbly legs, and they all still look very confused about the world around them. Although, this tough, little calico has learned to spit and hiss.

There is very little hissing, that is the first I've seen of it so far.  Mostly, we get this dopey look and a little crying.

Out in the yard, we have a bird that can mimic the sound of a baby kitten. I have no idea what kind of bird this is. but it has fooled each and everyone of us into thinking there was a problem with the fur babies and we have at one time or another gone out to find where the poor kitten is trapped and crying for help.  Just to realize it is a bird, not a cat. We all finally compared notes and now know to ignore the tricky bird. (any ideas on what kind of bird that might be?)

Then, last week, I had the studio door open to enjoy the springtime air, and heard that annoying bird crying out for a couple hours.  Ugh. 

Till it dawned on me that the sound seemed to be coming from the deck, not the trees. I went up to check on the kittens to find that Punkin had moved two of her children into the litter box and she was just sitting and watching them.  I don't know if she was potty training, or if that was punishment of some kind, or who knows what. But those kitties seemed very happy to be back in their cozy nest after two hours of crying and being stuck in a toilet.

Kitties galore

I've had some help in the kitchen lately.  

Although, as much as she likes cookies, she likes kitties even more, and it is hard to drag her away from these guys.

I have to admit, I tend to spend a bit of time visiting them too.

We tried to keep them indoors, but the mama is not a house cat. See what she did to the screen when we kept her indoors? Not just one, two windows got torn up.  And there is no way she could pretend it wasn't her, there was orange and white fur all around the openings she'd torn in them.

So, back they went, out to the deck off my husband's office. It isn't a bad spot for them, up away from predators, and in an insulated dog house, under a table that is under an awning. No rain gets in, and they are pretty cozy up there.

My husband not only built a ramp for Pumpkin to get up to the deck easily, he added an 8" high wooden rail around the base so no babies could slip off the side of the deck.  They now have a play pen.

There are five kitties, we hope to find homes for a few, but if not, I think they'll be pretty happy staying here. If you want one, let me know.  They will be snugglers, they get lots of holding time, and that always makes for a good pet.

One was supposed to go to Sugarwings' home, but surprise! Her cat had a kitten. What are the odds that her orange kitty had a calico kitten the day after our orange kitty had calico babies? 

Now, please, no lectures about spaying and neutering. I'm not uninformed or uncaring.  I simply like babies and will either find a good home for the kittens, or keep them all. We will spay all that we keep, including the mama.  One litter was plenty and we are thrilled to have them. We are kind to our babies and treat them very special, they have good lives.  

We live in the country, we get rats and snakes. We need hard working cats outside to keep the critter population down, but they are also cuddled pets.

A ramp for the cat

We do love our animals around here.  And my husband is one to spoil them a little.  He is very fond of Pumpkin, and leaves his office door open for her to visit when he is upstairs working. But being the soft hearted guy that he is, he worried about her climbing the vines to get up on the deck.

So, he built her a ramp, complete with stair steps for good footing while climbing.

Then, he taught her to use it by treating her with some melted ice cream and running upstairs to call her up, then running back down to get her to walk down the ramp to get another lick of ice cream.

He even removed one of the slats on the railing for her to get through easier. (It is still too narrow for a small child to squeeze through).

She is pretty happy with the set up. I think we might get a pet door that fits into his sliding glass door so she can pop in as she pleases once summer comes and it gets too hot and buggy around here to leave the door open.

She loves her ramp and private patio so much, she had her kittens up there! 5 little furry balls of cuteness.

Some of our Cottage Critters

These shrubs were planted in front of our farm house decades ago, and bloom abundantly in the spring. 

The rest of the year, they are just overgrown bushes that are a bit overwhelming. I used to cut them back to waist high every fall, but they grew so fast, it seemed like a sisyphean task, and I decided that I should just grow to enjoy them as they wanted to be- giant and shaggy! 

 

 

These two kitties are soul mates, Pumpkin and Joy Joy are the best of friends.  While their cuddling looks adorable from inside the window, I'm not thrilled about their choice of snuggle spots.

And neither is this newly planted lavender in the window box. Their habit of using this box as a perch might not be an easy one to break.

Unless I plant cactus? Nah, probably not a good idea...

Sometimes, you just have to let it go and give in to nature.  Giant, overgrown shrubs might be a bit much, but the blooms they share in the spring make them worth it. And while I'm not pleased about the kitties taking over the planter box, it sure is funny to see them up there taunting the short, little dogs and it is cute as a bug to watch them curl up together and purr.

Time to replant the lavender, I guess.

Kittens and corn

We have not had the best luck with kitties lately. Poor Terrance Snowball disappeared.  Our other cat, was distressed and lonely, so we got a kitten for her (and for Dewdrop, who is a major cat person),

Dewdrop named her Cocoa and loved her.  Then, one morning, I woke up to find the tiny baby dead. We don't know why.  I was able to maneuver Sugarwings out the door, and off to school without seeing the body, so that we could sit down and talk about it later, not right before class started.  

When Dewdrop and I went to the pumpkin patch, she had spent a lot of time holding this kitty with the pumpkin colored eyes and heart shaped nose.  So, I called Pendleton's Country Market to see if they had any kittens available and found out that this kitty was looking for a home.

Sugarwings and I took a trip out to the country to get the new cat, and of course, spent some time playing while there.

Her favorite part was the corn bath.  It was an extra large horse tank filled with shucked kernels, and she couldn't get enough of it.

First of all, it is great for jumping in.

And you can bury yourself in it, roll in it, or just sit back and enjoy it.  

I played in there for a long time with her, but got a bit itchy after a while. She was enthralled and stayed about an hour.  

I'm afraid I got a bit slap happy while she dwaddled in the vat of corn.

I was finally able to coax her out by mentioning the slingshot.  This place is a year round, working farm, not just a pumpkin patch.  Farmer John culls the veggies that are going bad from the good stuff he takes to market and has the bad ones in baskets by the sling shot, so that you can test your skills in flinging rotten apples or eggplants. 

There were some issues with getting the cat into our carrier, but all in all it was a great day.  And Dewdrop has named her new kitty, Pumpkin Pie. She remembered her from the previous trip there and was thrilled ot see her.  

Her little heart is broken over losing Terrance and Cocoa, but having Pumpkin Pie to snuggle has helped.  I hope this sweet kitty is here to stay, and is still around for ages like our previous, old barn cat.  It hasn't been easy to go through this revolving door of kittens for the last couple of years, after having the same old tom for over a decade. 

Wish us luck, please. And Pumpkin Pie too, she probably needs it more than we do.