Sunday

One of the things the Cooker and I like to do when the weather is nice is to go for a walk around the farm. I got an old used lens and put it on my new old camera as we decided to put the critter cam back in the woods. I took a couple of test shots before I left the house. Cats are always present, so why not?

Of course, on a sunny afternoon they all take long naps. Cotton is the mostly white one and the simonize cat is Katmandoo, or Katman for short.

So we are walking through the brushy part looking at bunny (snowshoe hare) tracks. Here is the Cooker looking.

 Going down the trail through the spruces and balsams and easily crossing the creek. We can even ride the horses across the ice. There is not much snow in the woods for this time of year so walking is easy with just boots.

Over by the ponds there are a couple of old cast iron bathtubs that were used to filter leaches and minnows  out of the overflow pipe. We left one just to keep erosion at bay and flipped the other out of the way, but as the snow slowly starts to melt on these above freezing days we get to see the bottom of the tub that looks like this. I kid you not!

Stitch needed a new vehicle as her old one was getting to the point of imminent disaster, so she has been shopping for quite a while. She likes to take care of her own mechanical issues as much as she can (her father was a mechanic) so it couldn't be too modern. I put the word out Wednesday to a friend who sometimes deals in vehicles and lo and behold, by that evening Stitch had procured a 1997 Blazer with 44,000 miles on it for quite a bit less than $2500. Amazing! It mostly went to the post office, but only left town a half dozen times a year and didn't go far.

I dreamed I could fly and when I looked down I saw this.

What continent and what bodies of water could this be? It looks a bit Middle Eastern, but it is not. Give up? It is the roof of Stitch's old truck. The rest of the vehicle was much worse.

Stitch's best friend since childhood, Andie, has to travel for her job. She had some trouble getting her laundry done while in Taiwan recently, so we got her two pair of underwear designed for travel. It is very wash one-wear one in style and purpose and it was our Valentine's gift to her. We sent her a card expressing our wishes in a most civilized manner and the women wouldn't let me do any poetry in bad taste to put on it. I think Andie got a good laugh. She is a most awesome woman in so many ways (don't tell her I said that), but in my position all I can do is dream. Actually, that is all I am allowed to do!

So in my last picture is an attempt at northwoods surrealism. A blue dolphin jumping over the boreal forest. It is so much fun using a 40 year old lens on a two year old camera. I am having a blast!

Old year, new year

Part of me wants to say good riddance to the old year, but I really don't want to rush things along too fast at this age. It's time to take down the holiday desecrations decorations and clean up the mess in anticipation of making another one. We will undress our 9-foot "Christmas" cactus and hope it survives the short days of another winter. Sorry for the picture quality, but you get the idea.


 
I got to do a few new things this year, like have major surgery (I wouldn't recommend it if you don't have to), and starting this thing, whatever it is/turns out to be. Some terrific bloggers stopped blogging, but some new ones have started. A lot of people died, but even more were born, and the planet is still turning on its axis. So while it seems there were a lot of new things going on, it's still the same old, same old on this tiny planet at the edge of our galaxy in an obscure corner of the universe. In our lifetimes the solar system has been pretty reliable and that is a good thing. Just before sunrise this morning it looked like this out the front door.

  Not much snow for this time of year, but it has been considerably warmer than what used to be "normal".

I am thinking about getting into some competitive napping when the activity level drops off during the day. The competition is tough, though (those words are almost the same) with a dozen cats. Here is what I am up against.

Of course, I have to clear off an area, probably on the sofa, to make a kitty-free zone for myself. I often meet with some resistance, but I am bigger than them, although outnumbered. I could send them to the window to watch the bird feeder. Someday I may start a network of cat entertainment channels which could be scenes out windows. I'll call it CATV. It will have to be a subscription channel as I have to make enough to keep the clowder fed. I better go warm up for the competition. I feel a yawn coming on. Gotta rest up for another year. I hope we all make it through. As Red Green says, "We're all in this together, I'm pullin' for ya."

Cats

We have cats. That's the plural of cat. That means more than one. Two you might think. No, actually its twelve. We are not hoarders. No, really we are not. We started out with just a couple and then tried to tame down a feral cat hanging around the farm. After a few weeks of leaving food out for it, it finally allowed me to touch it with my finger tip on its nose. Our friendship bloomed and as it started staying closer to us it decided to show us her newborn litter of four. Their eyes were still closed, but she trusted us and so did they. We started bringing them in the house at night as winter was approaching with its usual fury. As soon as weaning time came we made the necessary veterinary appointments and got all of them vaccinated and eventually spayed and neutered. This whole scenario played itself out again two years later. Then we lost a couple to predation and one to a vehicle. Then we rescued a couple more. So now we are at twelve. They are entertaining and cuddly and goofy like most cats. Some are bold, some are afraid, and some just don't care one way or the other. There are four litter boxes that get cleaned daily and no shortage of fur. We just look at it as extra protein. I'll post some pictures one of these days.