Our kitten won't be happy when I finally fill this planter with flowers. She likes to sleep in it.
It's mostly up and out of the reach of dogs. The pupeesh go running full tilt through the breezeway to the studio without even glancing up. But their mom, Twinkle has found the cat's hiding place and often stops for a visit.
But she is wary of those tiny claws and is always ready for a quick retreat!
We dyed eggs last week, a bit early for Easter, but we'll do more closer to the holiday.
And while we had the dye out, we had a great idea to dye lace too.
After Easter last year, I bought a few boxes of Paas for 10 cents each, figuring that stuff is fine to save till the next year. Well, it's not. We had to grind the tablets up, we couldn't get them to disolve. And the colors never really took off, they stayed pastel. Which is fine for me, but Sugarwings like a blast of color in everything she does.
We'll buy some fresher dye for more eggs later on, but this batch was excellent for making ribbons to hang plastic eggs from.
And Joy Joy Angel Joy Nathan thinks that makes the best cat toys she has ever seen.
I wonder how many will still be hung from the tree by the time Easter arrives?
Chances are they will be all over the farm. Dew drop has already plucked the few within her reach.
But there is no way that Dewdrop and Joy Joy can reach them all. We have some pretty high up there.
We have a new family member. Dewdrop was very sad that when her mommy moved, they left her kitty behind. I hear it was actually the neighbor's cat, but she thought it was hers. So, I dropped by the shelter to see who was there, and this little kitten (that looked just like my cat when I was a child) was waiting for me.
Plus she was wearing a collar with a name tag that said "JOY". Sugarwings' middle name and one of my favorite words.
I knew she belonged with us.
She wasn't so sure. The minute I opened her crate, she ran and hid under this wall, to a boxed off area under the porch
. For two days.
I slid her food underneath the wall until she was ready to come out and get to know us. In the meantime, we laid on our tummies and looked at her with a flashlight while talking to her softly and sweetly. 
The only thing that enticed her to come out was our ancient, tough old farm cat who hates almost everyone and all animals live in fear of.
For some reason, he adores her. She rubs all over him, purring and happy. Once he got her to come out, she started becoming our friend too.
But not the dogs' friend. That might take time. We hold her and let them observe. She will curl up and sleep, completely ignoring them but they remain hyper-vigilant, ears cocked, eyes staring.
For now, she seems quite content with living in the breezeway and coming in when we can hold her and protect her from the dorkies. But poor Dorothy Rosebud, she can't seem to realize that non-stop barking out the window at her is NOT required.
Joy Joy Angel Joy Nathan (named by Sugarwings) doesn't seem to mind the barking. In one week, she has gone from terror filled and hiding, to taming the meanest cat on the block and dismissing all the yapping that comes from the dogs.
I have a feeling that she is going to rule the place soon.
I've tried putting them altogether with me, and all of a sudden, the dogs lose their bravery. See how Twinks keeps her distance? And the Puppeesh hide behind me? None of them will even look at her if she is close. But man, if she (and her hissy voice) are across the room, they are fascinated.
It's been quite the show around here lately.
There are more photos of our Romantic Gothic Ghost weekend, as well as the Zombie parade, but first I wanted to show you some of the cuteness that is always under foot around here.
We took the pups out to run and enjoy the great weather (where was this sunshine while company was here??? We had to cancel our trip to the Renfest, everyone was too cold).
The babies were so excited that most pictures I took were just a blur of joy.
They followed Twinkle like baby ducklings. Or I guess, like baby puppies. But when the tough, old barn cat came by, they veered off after him.
Which he didn't care for.
Luckily, no one was hurt. A hiss was enough to give the pups pause.
Well, most of them. This guy was too curious to let it go. They have seen nothing but snuggles and love all of their little lives and have no idea that not everyone thinks they are adorable.
ps- I'd pretend that our grass looks so awful just because of the draught this year, but honestly, we don't have much of a yard. So, please, avert your eyes from the pufts of grass sticking out of the dirt and enjoy the pups. You would never know from looking at our yard that my husband works for a golf course company, huh?
We have been under siege for a while around here. Sandy was sitting on the deck, and saw a Giant Cat of some kind, (bob cat?) step out of the flower bed, scoop up a chicken, and calmly walk away.
In broad daylight!
So, we called Critter Catchers and had some traps set around the property, and have had all the animals and kids on lock down.
The children have to stay in the yard by me, not run around the property to play, and the kitties get locked up in the breezeway every night. The little dogs only get to go out in the fence, or stay by our side if we are out.
The poor chickens have been cooped up in the coop since their sweet little red sister was stolen away.
We've got 3 large traps set, and baited with nasty smelling dead creatures. So, being outside isn't all that pleasant any way. On hot days, nothing smells worse than a 3 day old, skinned weasel.
The trappers say that big cats only need to eat every few days, and that they have a range of territory, it might be a while before it comes back through.
He showed us all the signs and tracks in the woods of where the cat had been. This is a footprint, and is as large as Sandy's hand!
I wanted to make a plaster cast of the print, but didn't get to it in time, and rain ruined the trail. I've checked the woods daily, but have not seen any new tracks. Which, I guess is good, but it doesn't mean the beast is gone, I feel like he is waiting for us to let the ladies back out of the coop so he can stroll by and nab another one!
In the meantime, we have trapped an entire raccoon family. A large male, smaller female and 5 pups. Are they called pups? Cubs, maybe?
Trapper Tom retrieves them, and takes the cage to the river to let them out. If my husband is around, he will dump the coons or possums himself. He and the grands load up the big, red, pick up truck and head to the Kansas River and let them go. There is a caged coon behind the hen house right now, and my husband is out of town, so I'll keep it fed till tomorrow when he can unload it. That's better than us paying the trapper to keep coming up to empty the traps and I don't particularly want to do it myself.
Our count so far:
7 Coons
6 Possums
0 Giant Cats
Almost 3 weeks of checking traps and locking down pets
This is one thing that freaked me out. Trapper Tom showed us this area out in the woods where we had dumped straw from the hen house. On the pile was a selection of toys. Some were decorations taken from the tree house in the fairy trail, the others were dog toys.
I was told that this is where the Giant Cat likes to play. Trapper Tom says that a bobcat will play like a house cat and will collect toys. He was probably attracted to some of the feathers and the chicken scent in the pile of straw, so chose this spot to make a play house. It gives me the creeps to think he might have been attracted to the scent of kids in the tree house when he stole toys from there. Ugh. And where did he get the dog toys? From someones yard? I hope the dog he took it from is ok.
(artwork by Guncle Randy)
We got back from our trip just in time for me to celebrate Beth's birthday with her.
She is notoriously hard to shop for, because she is the world's best shopper. If she wants it, she'll find it.
So, I prettied a box up with vintage wallpapers, made her a necklace, and filled the box with tibbits I thought she'd enjoy working with. Because its always fun to get new arty supplies!
I asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate and she said she was going to her regular, twice a month auction. Years ago, I used to go with her to this auction, but since I closed my antique mall booth, it became too dangerous for me to attend. I have a history of always buying the heaviest thing in the whole place every time I go, and since I no longer drive a van, or have a booth to put big heavy pieces into, I just don't need to buy that kind of junk. Even though I can't seem to stop myself.
This time, I proudly constrained my urges to buy big things, and just picked up a few smalls that I didn't need.
It helped that the auction goods that were offered that night kind of sucked.
Big time.
The auctioneer even seemed bored with the offerings and started playing games with it all, like seeing how high he could stack them.
This is a stack I couldn't resist, even though it wasn't very heavy. I paid $17 for all of these Oz books. And I bought a flat of Oz dolls for Sugarwings. Beth mentioned that it wasn't complete, there was no Dorothy. But I assured her that we might have a couple around here to fill out the set. Lil Sugarwings is a bit of a Dorothy fan.
While the goods for sale weren't all that good, the company was, and we laughed and chatted all night. I packed a birthday picnic to feast on and pretty paper plates and napkins to serve it on. It ended up being such fun, I was wishing I had a birthday coming up to spend there.
Its good to be home, and I have plenty of vaca photos to show. But for now, here is what greeted me when I returned, our new cat. She was a stray that decided to adopt us, and Sugarwings has named her Sweet Sweet Sweety. (that name is said really fast with some jumping up and down, each time it is said)
She is a pretty cat. Or he is a handsome cat, I'm not sure yet which.
Twinkle is not around right now, she has gone to see her boyfreind for a week or so. Looks like our vacation ended just in time to get her over to see him, so we'll be having some puppies in August! Maybe about on Sugarwing's birthday, August 16th.
The ladies seem to be adjusting to their new home and are happy to be here. They came from a larger group of chickens, and I think they will like their extra space and room to roam. Ariel appreciates the mirror.
They've been up on their perches too, and even like the chandeliers. I'll have to get a picture of them on one.
Sugarwings tends to think of the coop as her playhouse, but it hasn't been covered in poo yet.
Soon, it will be much less appealing to hang out in.
Ariel, Small World, Unicorn, and Mator don't use their nesting boxes yet, though. The eggs (yep, we already have egg production starting the first day!) are nested under the table holding the boxes instead of in them.
We started with 4 Rhode Island Reds, and have room for lots more, so will pick up a variety of different kinds of birds later on. We found these on Craigs List for six bucks a piece, and the farmer met us halfway from his place in the country to drop them off.
I'd really like to get some that lay those pretty blue/green eggs.
And I look forward to the time when I can let them have the whole yard to play in and find bugs. For now, they are penned in till they adjust.
The other animals will need some adjustment time too. Twinkle and the cats have been pacing along the fence trying to find thier way in to properly greet the new arrivals. I have a feeling that Twinks will need to be locked up whenever the ladies are having a promenade around the yard.
Or the birds won't be surviving very long. I'm not sure about the cats. Can a cat take out a hen? I know they want to.
We were told that our coop could hold 50 chickens comfortably, but we aren't interested in doing that. Maybe 10-12 at the most. I don't want so many that I can't get to know them!
We finally got a snow this year. Not that I missed the cold, bad roads, and frozen toes that come along with it. But I do know my garden needs the moisture for a healthy spring, and we need the hard freeze for a bug free season ahead.
But the white stuff came as a surprise to Panda Bear and Rainbow Bright Joy Nathan. Sister wasn't quite sure if she should head out the door to see what it was about or not.
But Brother took a running leap right into it and soon she joined him, and my snowy, pristine, backyard wonderland was turned into a scene of mangled carnage. There wasn't a drift or smooth spot left. You'd think they'd been huffing cat nip, not snow flakes, they went crazy playing out there.
Too bad they only get one day of winter. For Valentines Day, we warm up again. Not quite to the level of the false spring we've had most of this winter, but not bad.
I can live with a One Snow Winter. It wouldn't be terrible if this is all we get for this season!
Valentines Day is special to me. Well, I do tend to LOVE most holidays and get sentimental about them all. But this date is even more important because its the anniversary of my sons' adoption.
And the anniversary of the beginning of my blog. I had friends over for brunch the morning of my first blog post,and I took a tiny, little, dark photo of the table and wrote about it. Wondering if anyone would ever see it or find me in my little corner of the internet.
(these pictures are all new stuff in my shop, and in the Etsy store,)
And no, I don't think anyone did. But I'd taken the first step and put myself out there. Months later, I'd made lots of blogging friends, and I can't imagine not having this blog to blabber and blather on in.
Sadly, we weren't able to have our big, family adoption celebration on Sunday night, our littlest fairy was so ill that she had to go to the ER for re-hydration. Dewdrop is better now, but it sure was sad to see someone soooo tiny, feel so bad. She was pale and fragile, not her normal bouncy, in charge self.
Dewdrop is doing fine today, and we'll do some sort of celebration when we can. In the meantime, I'm hosting another little Valentine's Day brunch just like I did 5 years ago. Then, in the afternoon, is a craft day with Beth and Mary. I think that I'll take a trick from one of my favorite characters, Leslie Knope, and call it, "Galentines Day".
A festive day of treats and fun with the gals!
I'm counting my blessings this year and am enjoying all the loves in my life.
My handsome, hardworking husband who sweeps me off my feet and leaves me breathless, and who surprised me with flowers on Sunday
My cute little fairy grand babies who I can giggle and be silly with.
My sweet boys, who I love so much and who were lucky to have such a great dad come into their lives.
My girls who are loving mothers to those sweet fairies I adore.
My gal friends who keep me sane, friends I can share both woes and laughter with.
My blog buddies who have given me a place to blather and babble, for 5 years now and who have visited me over a million and a half times. I tell ya, when I wrote that first little, dark post without much to say, I had no idea I'd be talking online years later to bunches and gobs of people, and to actually get to make great friends online and in person with so many of them.
Yep. My heart is full.
Thanks everyone, for five fun filled years of blathering!
Oh, and the winner of my chalk board topped heart shaped box is:
Judi Storm
Thanks for all your well wishes on the additions to our family!
This book just happened to be sitting on my desk and I thought it was quite appropriate to our situation. Although the little girl clutching the cat at our house isn't quite this lady like. She's every bit as happy to have a kitty to hold and cuddle, though.
This is scanned at high resolution, if you'd like to print it to use in your art, please click on it to open in a larger window, then save that one to your computer and you'll get better results than saving it directly from my blog.
No, we didn't adopt an eight legged cat, Sugarwings is carrying them both.
Everywhere she goes.
And it surprises me that the cats seem to like it. If she sets one down, it will follow her around till it gets picked up again.
Little Dew Drop is not as interested in the kittens, I think she is more of a dog person. She likes the new family members, but is more fascinated by Twinkle and Agnes.
Plus, she has other things on her mind, like learning how to walk and celebrating her first birthday this week!
My goal of adding new stuff to both shops every day kinda slipped from my grasp.
There was no school on Friday and Sugarwings kept me hopping. That and the new kitten/lost kitten/ new kitten/ found kitten excitment that we had. Then, along came the weekend including a concert, a fun craft day with Beth, a big family dinner, and before I knew it, I'd missed three days of getting photos posted in the shops.
But I did get a chance to make some new things!
These decorated 1" wreaths are in the Boutique.
And their ready to be decorated cousins are in my Etsy shop.
There are lots of trees added to the Etsy shop, I got to work on listing some Monday afternoon. The white ones are always popular.
And so are the eensy teensy ones.
There are still a few million trees filling up one of my work tables ready to be sorted and packaged and sold, but at least that is a start.
Some of my paper clay fairies are now in the shop too. This one is made on a vintage cake topper.
And this one sits on a wallpaper covered box.
Her eyes are vintage crystals taken from an old necklace. I pushed them into the wet clay, then added a black sequin crystal pupil, and painted the rest of the eye. They really have a nice sparkle when the light hits them.
I'll leave you with some photos of more new stuff listed. There is more to come too. I'm wrapping up purchases today and will have more photos taken to list goodies after that gets done.(thanks so much to you shoppers out there!) I also need to get pictures of all the new things I've been making. It sure felt good to get some time to sit at the worktable and mess around with all my toys!
We have a new member in our family. This 3mth old kitten came to live with us the other day and was a purrfect addition to our home (oh, sorry, I just had to do that)
Sugarwings was thrilled with him, and his previous family included a 2 year old girl who carried him everywhere, so he was used to being overly cuddled and even seemed to look forward to it. Plus, I hear he is already a proven mouser! Which is what I was hoping for.
He has a sweet temperament, and is very mellow. Just ideal for a household like ours, we needed someone easy going if anyone was going to be added.
But it was the love at first sight between these two that made me so glad to have him here.
They had a fun packed evening together, and at bed time she was not going to let go of him. But it seemed to be mutual, because after the fairy child dozed off, the kitten was still holding on to her.
That is when I made my mistake.
His previous owner said he was an outdoor cat and didn't use a litter box. So, I took him out of her arms and set him outdoors for the night.
He wasn't out there the next morning.
He wasn't out there at all through the whole day.
We looked everywhere and even sent the dogs out to hunt him. Twinkle was even more obsessed with him than Sugarwings, so I figured that that if he was out there she would sniff him out.
Notice anything different about this picture? Twinkle's obsession continues, but the cat's nose is now black, not pink.
Sugarwings sobbed after school when I told her that her kitty was missing.
So, of course, we went to the pound to find her another one!
When we got home, look who was waiting for us.
Yep, we are now a two cat family. Three, counting the big ole, mean tom that lives outside. I think that big meanie drove the new kitty into hiding for the day.
These two DO NOT live outside after the turmoil of losing the first one. My guilt was so overwhelming over that, I'll guard them with my life this time. I can't deal with my fairy grand baby's big blue eyes looking at me through tears for being careless with her beloved pet.
The pound suggested keeping the cat we got from them indoors for at least two months before letting it explore outside. I'm hoping I can deal with my itchy nose for that long. I was planning on having one outdoor cat that came inside to play sometimes, not two indoor cats.