Does anyone else feel like we really dodged a bullet by today NOT being Friday the 13th?! The next Friday the 13th will be in November, but hopefully 2020 will be done torturing us by then. This week has been H.O.T. in Texas. Like I feel like I’m living in someone’s armpit after running a marathon hot. The forecasted high tomorrow is 107, but thankfully next week looks MUCH cooler.
The black kittens are smart kitties and they prefer to stay in their air conditioned cat/feed room rather than hanging out in the heat. Their cat gym isn’t the sturdiest thing ever made, but Black Caviar is brave enough to nap on the top floor of the thing.
Black Caviar and her brudder Sunday Silence keeping cool in the AC.
Don’t tell the other dogs I said this, but Quila really is the BEST girl! She keeps as close to me as possible and is a bit protective yet snuggly. Her only misbehaviour is that she likes to open the freezer and help herself to frozen meat and ice cream. She went out on a pasture inspection mission this week to help try to find the hole where Dickens and Lilybet snuck out and didn’t return home until 3a the next morning. BAD DOGS!
Quila AKA the BEST girl.
Boot City sent me this photo the other day. This is Annie nonchalantly resting next to the wheelbarrow while the chickens root through it and kick urine soaked shavings and manure ALL over her. SO gross. But, truth be told, Annie likes to roll in the dirty bedding when it gets dumped. It is extra disgusting because I let it sit in the wheelbarrow for a day or two and fill it with water so it’s an extra disgusting poop soup. Why are dogs so gross?!
Annie and her hen friends.
Last, but not least, is a lovely sunset from the top of the driveway. I have a love/hate relationship with this paved driveway. I love that the road isn’t as rough for the horses to ride up and down in the trailer, but I miss watching people freak out and park at the end of the road and walk up and get to the top to drop off their cars for Boot City to work on. It really was the best judge of character to see if people could or would at least try to drive up.
Hot August Texas night.
Y’all have a great weekend and stay cool!
Against my better judgement, I have been “talked into” another round of foster kitties.
One of my kitty-loving friends who also fosters for the local shelter and humane society sent me an email with pics of a pretty darned adorable litter and asked if I could foster them.
Side note: I keep my foster kitty families in the tack room in my barn. This way they have plenty of space, can run and play and climb things, and there isn’t a worry about a dog misbehaving and hurting a kitty. The downside is that there are kittens climbing all over my stuff and getting kitty litter all over the floor. For these reasons I was taking a break from fostering kitties. It was nice to have my tack room back!
My initial mental response was “no”, until I read “there is a male calico kitten”! You see, male calico kittens are very rare. Of all calico kitties born only 0.03% are male. To have a calico male requires and extra X chromosome. Male calicoes therefore have TWO X chromosomes and a Y. This also means that the majority of male calico cats are sterile. Only 1 in 10,000 is fertile. So they come “neutered”!
Here is our boy. He is mostly yellow and white, but has a grey spot between his shoulders which makes him a calico!
The rest of the litter are pretty darned adorable. The little guy on the far left in this pic is the cutest, fuzziest little yellow tabby and white you ever did see! The calico boy is on the far right and a yellow tabby sister is in the middle.
This is a calico female.
There is also a sweet gray tabby and a Siamese and white kitten. Mama is a solid yellow tabby so Dad must have been fuzzy. WHY ARE KITTENS SO CUTE?! These kitties are about 5 weeks old. We will probably have them until they are about 12 weeks or so. Old enough to get spayed/neutered. I am not 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure we will keep the calico boy. If our current house kitty will allow another house kitty.
I feel like I’ve woefully neglected the farm critters lately, so here is a pictorial update of some of the creatures.
Goat babies! Lots of goat babies! This is the only set of triplets this time around (thank goodness!)
Penelope, one that we bottle fed as a baby because her poor mum couldn’t feed all three of her triplets, with her baby Periwinkle. Twinsies!
Baby goat napping. They love them some tire time. Sadly they are starting to get too big to fit in the tire these days.
Kittens! All four are adorable yellow tabbies. Two are fluffy and two are short coated. Who wants a kitten?!
Pablo a few weeks ago when he was snuggly. Now I can’t get near him. I blame having sprayed him with fly spray recently. Poor fella.
This is our crazy juniper tree that is growing out the side of a hill. The kids like to play on it when they get let into the front pasture. That and we’ve had lots of glorious rain lately so have seen some beautiful skies.
Happy Thursday!
