Tag Archives: Pets

Our neighbor (who we love) has a few outdoor cats that occasionally we will see wandering around our property, checking things out.  Although I am completely opposed to the concept of “outdoor cats” (they don”t live as long, they get into fights, get hit by cars, eaten by predators, pick up diseases, annoy your neighbors by pooping on their herb garden or terrorizing their chickens or transmitting toxoplasmosis to pregnant sheep) I have never been bothered by these cats.

These ones don’t poop on my herbs.

Or pee on our car tires, or scratch up the paint job and make Paul crazy.

They also have never, ever once shown any interest in the chickens.  Even when those birds were free – ranging everywhere.  In fact, Miss Gaga used to escape her pen, wander over to the neighbors’ house, and eat the cats’ food off the back porch.  Sometimes that hen would scare the cats off and hog it all to herself.   The neighbor thought it was hilarious, and started giving her treats.  I made sure to give them eggs for their trouble.

But I digress.

Lately there’s a new dog living next door.  A very excitable young rescue terrier who thinks it is the best thing ever to chase cats.  Usually up the trees.  Sometimes over to our yard.  Where one kitty has decided to stay for good.

We noticed this little tabby with a gravelly meow hanging out on our back deck for a few days in a row and figured she was too scared of the dog to go home, so we fed her.

And then again the next day.

And again after that.

When Paul wanted me to put her in the garage one colder night so she’d be warm I knew we had ourselves a  cat.

She’s what we like to call “aggressively friendly”; you can’t stand or sit near her without a major purr – fest and some loving – up.

Naturally the kids were smitten.

One day we finally got a chance to talk to our neighbor about it and she told us miss kitty’s name: “Furball”, and that she is a pretty old mama cat.   She was sad that Furball had flown the coop in search of calmer waters but grateful we were looking out for her.  Maddie said she looked more like “Nermal” from “Garfield” than a “Furball”, and Paul began calling her “Furble”.

It stuck.

Then, one day Furble left us half of a frog by the back door, and that was that.  She had officially adopted us.

Since then we’ve gotten at least one mole, a baby snake (which she ate most of in front of us), several lizards, and most recently, a baby bunny. (Again, not everyone is going to appreciate it if your outdoor cat leaves half-eaten carcasses on the doorstep. Keep them safe inside!)

Furble spends most of her time laying in the sun on our back deck, or sitting by our back door, begging for food.  In nasty weather we try to entice her into the garage, but we can’t let her in the house.  Our resident house cats would never forgive us.  Also, we don’t know what sorts of weird cat viruses Furble could be carrying from always being outside, so we always wash our hands after petting her so we don’t transmit anything to our indoor kitties.

But, she’s a great little cat and I hope we can do our part to make her old age comfortable.  She’s certainly made herself a part of the family!

We heard the puppies over at Juniper Moon Farm were getting bigger by the second so we had to rush right over and get some cuddles!

Oona is completely in love.  She begged and begged to bring one home RIGHT NOW.

I can’t believe how fast they are growing!  They are making adorable puppy sounds now – barking and growling as the play.

I am in love with the two biggest, fattest ones.  They were totally chill, happy to be snuggled.

We’ve decided to call ours “Orzo”, once we have him picked out.

Much to Oona’s disappointment it will be quite awhile before a puppy comes home with us; he has to stay with his brothers and father as long as we can let him to learn how to be a good guard dog.

Not that Susan, Zac or Caroline are complaining.  More time for puppy love for them!

Okay, you can file this in the “Better Late Than Never” category.  It’s been busy around here!  There’s LAND CLEARING going on!

It’s been a bit slow going, but it’s been good because our landscaper is really looking out for how the land will look and how best to use it without working against what we’ve got.  The good news is there’s a lot of really good trees (read: really old, tall, straight, hardwood trees).  Enough, in fact, that we can sell some to pay for clearing the land and have some left to look nice and provide shade during the heat of summer. It’s going to be great, y’all!

We did take a break from land and house work Saturday to go to Juniper Moon Farm’s Spring 2012 Shearing Party.

And I am so glad we did!  We got to see so many friends that don’t live close enough and spend some time with the animals.

Maddie provided face painting fun for the kids.

The geese behaved themselves quite well.

We also got to meet Susan’s new cow, Luna!

She’s ridiculously sweet.

Our friend Michelle was there with her adorable baby.  Hi Michelle!!!!

Paul and Erin.  He was probably talking about buses.  That’s pretty much what he does these days.

Emily got to talk about her crazy mad skills as a shearer in between working the sheep.  She’s only recently back from a stint at the shearing olympics in New Zealand. (Seriously, google “Golden Shears”).

We all got some Jerry love.

Some more than others.

I’m not sure, but I think Jerry remembers Paul.

He spent a good five minutes trying to pull Paul’s shirt off.  Neve thought Jerry either really liked or really hated that red shirt.

But after he spent an equal amount of time trying to tear off Paul’s ears I decided he definitely remembers Paul.