Enough Already!

I think this is kinda funny. Here is Mama Kitty in the kitchen along with her entire litter. They are 14 weeks old and still nursing! Minnie Mao is looking on with bemusement, I think. She lost all interest in the whole idea some weeks ago. Of course, she has not had constant access as the others have. She also figured out how to lap her formula from a bowl within days of us bringing her inside. She was on soft food not long after that.

I don't know if this is Mama Kitty's first litter, but I suspect that it is. If she'd had another, she might have figured out that it's best to fend the kits off long before now.

Thoughts on new Landscape/Shade Trees

We need to plant some new trees on the property. Several trees have died, but we wanted to make sure that we replaced them with trees that are native to the area, have attractive fall color, are disease and wind resistant and are tolerant of our soil conditions...

I had no idea it would be so difficult choosing a tree! After some searching, I have come up with the Sour Gum or Black Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), and although it is not native; the Ginkgo biloba.

Nature Hills Nursery looks promising as a place to find many of the trees that I want. Not only for these, but also for fruit and nut trees that we need to get planted. Read more here...

Back in December of 2006 we planted a Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) and two Eastern Redbuds (Cercis Canadensis). These were all pretty good sized trees; transplanted here by a local tree farm with a tree spade. The Tulip Poplar is doing very well, but the Eastern Redbuds are struggling.

It may very well be true that we are planting trees that we will never be able to enjoy ourselves in their full splendor. We are planting them for the grandchildren!

Could I BE more cute?

Here is our sweet little Minnie Mao, just waking up from her nap. She has three favorite spots to be: we have a pillow and her favorite blankie fixed up in the middle of the couch between us. That's where she is in this picture. Another favorite spot is on the bed in the spare room--on top of my fleece PJ's and her most favorite spot is on top of the treadle of an old sewing machine table--which just happens to be right over the floor vent to the furnace---toasty! I have a little corn pillow there for her to sleep on and her beany baby mouse and teddy bear to keep her company. Kitty Heaven!

Fall Colors at Home

I don't remember the fall colors ever having been so vibrant right here at home in the four years since we have lived here. These are the sugar maples that line the driveway next to the house.

I am very anxious to get some new trees planted for an even greater variety of fall colors in the future. These maples are the real motivator...quite beautiful this year, but they are also nearing the end. Some have already been lost to disease or storms. The majority of the shade trees on the property are maples that were presumably planted at the same time. Another reason that I am anxious to get more trees planted is that there is the risk of a sudden loss of most of the old trees in a very short time.

Our deciduous trees.

More on Asparagus

I had been asking around about companion plants for asparagus. It doesn't seem to me that the idea of companion planting gains alot of attention around here. Maybe I just haven't asked the right people. I finally googled it and came up with a good start. One that I had read about long ago was feverfew, I think. I didn't see it on any of the recent sites I had looked at, but more than one mentioned Chrysanthemum and any of the same family. Parsley is also said to work as a companion to Asparagus to repel Asparagus Beetles. So while I don't have feverfew or parsley on hand, I do have hardy chrysanthemums that were still in pots and needing a more permanent place in the garden. So there you have it! This afternoon I took the post hole digger and punched some tidy holes in the mulch in front of my asparagus bed. There are now twelve nice mums looking very happy there all in a row. I am expecting to see great things happening next spring.

A Pocket Full of Minnie Mao

Minnie Mao is our little sweetie. She is still thriving and has become our source of sweet little kitty kisses! She has also done a great job of entertaining us (and sometimes annoying us! She regularly wakes me up in the middle of the night by pouncing on my face and biting my chin and cheeks! OW-- tiny little kitty teeth are SHARP!)

We were not planning on having another kitty any time soon. I guess we got one anyway, didn't we?

Mom sent lilies....

It happened a few days ago.
DH brought the mail in, "You have a box."
"I do?", surprized, because I wasn't expecting anything.
Michigan Bulb Company. Yes! Now I remember Mom mentioning something about it maybe a month or so ago. She was sending lilies to brother and I. They were shipped out at the appropriate time for planting here, of course.

I have the perfect place. Recently we had to fell an old maple tree near the house that finally gave up the ghost. It had been on its way out for a couple of years. We've still had to mow around that ugly stump and the chickens have taken to scratching basins around its base for their dust baths. Not that I would want to deprive the chickies of a good spot, but I decided that this would be an ideal place for a new flower bed. Right now I am working on making the yard as easy to mow as possible. Circles and curves are nice to zip around in the mower. Any trouble spot for mowing gets a flower bed around it. This seems the most logical way to proceed as I MUST have more flower beds anyway! We can work on removing the entire lawn in the future...
So on a cool autumn morning week before last, I dropped a nail in the center ring of that old tree stump. With a string and my handy can of neon orange marker paint I drew a perfect circle; large enough to be comfortable for the mower to go around. The new Bad Boy mower is a breeze with its zero turn radius alright, but that doesn't mean zero turn radius without the tires tearing up the lawn!

The bulbs that I had on hand are white daffodils that came from the dear lady in Paris. These have been sitting in a nursery pot in the shade since we dug them in June. There were a few blue hyacinth bulbs as well. Also, a few of the single tone yellow daffodils from the potager that were beyond the boundaries of the wood edging that we are working on.



These had to be moved along with some small unknown narcissus (or would that be narcissi?)
maybe N. poeticus 'pheasant's eye' that were in there as well.
All of these will go in the tree stump bed with Mom's lilies.

She sent Corina Lily


Rising Star Tree Lily


and the Sterling Star Lily
was exausted, so Michigan Bulbs substituted

Snow Princess Stargazer Lilies. .

Looking forward to Spring. I can't wait to see the new lilies! I don't expect much out of the daffodils the first spring, but the following year should be fantastic. The finishing touch will be a fine carpet of Johnny-Jump-Ups...the happy little guys!

Mama Kitty and Minnie Mao

Teeny Tiny Minnie Mao has survived and thrived up to this point on formula.

Lately Mama Kitty has noticed Minnie Mao mewing when we open the back door. She is still uncomfortable, since she has never really been indoors, but we finally managed to get her inside. After nervously darting around for awhile she finally settled down under the dining room table. Minnie Mao quickly went to Mama and found comfort at her mother's teat. As you can see, both are looking very contended at this point. Soon after though, Mama Kitty decided that it was time to bring the little runt back out to the barn with her brothers and sisters. She is still way too tiny to compete with the others for food! As much as I would like to see her back with her mother, we know she would not survive. The mother would likely hide them all again and there is no way that we could get supplemental formula to her.

So sadly, after a little battle of the wills, we managed to get the mama back outside sans baby. Hopefully, she will become a regular visitor and more comfortable with the idea of leaving the baby here.

Teeny Tiny Minnie Mao

Teeny Tiny Minnie Mao

This little bit stole her way into our hearts just yesterday. One of the feral cats "Precious" had decided to stick around earlier in the year along with her sweetheart, Rocky. The two have been practically inseparable, coming around to the back porch to share their dinner bowl each evening. After some months of this we noticed that she was getting awfully wide around the middle!

They faithfully returned every day, hardly missing a beat. We were even able to gain their trust enough to allow an occasional petting. Sometimes Precious would show up first, however; and she would never permit us to touch her until Rocky came. He is the more assertive and I think she just felt safer with him there.

Finally, Mama Kitty (as we sometimes now call her) disappeared for three days. She was gone from the 21st of August and we did not see her again until the 24th. I knew that she must be off having her babies!

Sure enough, Mama Kitty showed up on the 24th minus the bulging belly. Wonder where those babies are? Three days later she led me right to them. They were up in the hay loft. She had found a little "cave" between some bales of hay and there they were.

I eventually found out that there were seven in all... everyone one of them so tiny and sweet. Eyes not open yet, but full of spunk and personality. Mama Kitty was so very protective of them, certainly--not even allowing her beloved Rocky anywhere near.

Over the next few weeks, she moved them around to various places. I guess to keep the predators (and peoples) guessing. Well, we didn't see them for about a week in the end of September and we wondered sadly if they had become some coyote's dinner...

One day DH went to pull the mower out of the barn and "Lo and behold", they were back in the barn again, this time downstairs by the barn door. The kitties were now about four and half weeks old and becoming very brave as they romped and played around all the junk in there...

...all except one. We found this little runt sitting quietly next to a bag of sawdust. Not playing. Not really moving at all. Just sitting there. I picked her up and she was just lethargic...not much more than a furry bag of bones. It was no exageration to say I could almost feel her spine where her belly should be. Husband said, "We've got to bring her in". I nodded in agreement. Poor thing could not compete with her six hardier brothers and sisters at the milk bar!

All we had was cow's milk to give her. I knew this wasn't the best, but I would make a trip to town the next day. Her tiny body just fits in our hands. I had a little dropper and I filled it with warm milk. She couldn't even really take it. I just gave it to her a little drop at a time.

By her second feeding, she was already beginning to perk up. I sure hope the little one makes it...

New Roof on the Chicken Coop

The coop is at least 80 years old. FIL says he remembers that it was used as a brood house when he was a kid. Indeed, I found penciled notes on one of the interior walls stating that in 1925 so many red leghorns and so many white leghorns (pronounced LEG'GURNZ, or so I hear) were purchased from Murray McMurray Hatchery...

I would guess that the roof had not been replaced in those many years. When we bought our chicks three or four years ago, we had to do some work to get it ready. One entire wall was missing. The door between the coop and the feed room was down. Roosts needed replaced, nest boxes hung...and a wire enclosed run needed to be added on. The roof was intact at that time, but some of the joists were cracked. The corrugated metal on top was pretty rusty and had some holes.

It lasted us for the first two years, but then with some heavy winds one winter, the metal roof was peeled back and that was the beginning of the end! Things soon began to rapidly rot and deteriorate and last winter was a messy mush inside. I have been using composted peat moss as litter. I have about a four inch layer...peat moss and chicken doody mixed with rain makes for a sloopy, sloppy mess! I had buckets everywhere! Nothing could be done about it until summer though. The chickies and I just had to deal with it! The floor of the coop was one place where freezing temps were welcome!

With many chores and things to do on the list, we finally got around to getting it done. We were not going through one more winter in that mess!


DH getting it done for me!

A nice shot of the interior with the new roof.

I also gave the nest box a new crazy paint job and painted one of the walls white. I did paint over the 1925 penciled notes.

An outside corner.

There is still work to be done. Not on the roof, but walls will need to be replaced as they continue to deteriorate. By the way, two years ago I used Behr's soy based water sealer on the two walls with new siding. It already needs to be redone! Guess it's back to Thompson's Water Seal, unless I can find something better.

Visit to Mom's: a Photo Essay

What's in Bloom?

This was a great day for pics in my own garden. I will have some posted soon...

Demonstration Gardens at Alwerdt's

Coming soon...

Rainwater Catchment Project

We were fortunate to get our hands on these old pvc drums. These were used for chemical sprays for ag applications. They probably held Round-Up or some such thing to be sprayed in the field. These are being phased out for some type of bladder bags, or so I hear. These sat in my garden until I had time to think about how I would like to use them. Many ideas came to mind, but finally I settled on rainbarrels. There are two perfect places next to the house and the rainwater will be perfect for watering my container plants.


Our starting point.


DH cuts the top portion off using a Skilsaw. We used the lip of the red base to run a space bar on to make an even cut around the circumference.

Viola! There's my rain barrel in the back and this top portion looks like it will make a great container for a water garden.

I used Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastic to paint a brick pattern on this one to match the foundation of the house. I didn't like it at first, because the red was not exactly right. Too bright. I thought it looked like a Christmas decoration. I guess it's alright.

We also put a spigot in each one. I usually just dip my water can in the top, but it's nice to be able to empty it with a hose if I want to. If we are getting a lot of rain, I run the hose out to one of our new trees to keep the barrel from overflowing.

The finishing touch was fish for mosquito control. One barrel has feeder goldfish and the other has Gambusia, otherwise known as 'mosquito fish'. Surprizingly, the goldfish seem to do a better job of gobbling up those larvae.

Tommy Tiger

It seems that Tommy Tiger has successfully gained dominion over the back porch. Tommy Felix, the pretty black and white tom, has not shown his face around here for awhile, and now it is Tommy Tiger who comes for dinner. He is a sweet tempered kitty (at least to humans), but not much to look at. Slightly scruffy with battle torn ears. Now he has become the regular fixture here... but for how long?

The saga continues...

Hydrangea paniculata

Yesterday DH and I took a drive up to Prairie Gardens in Champaign. I have been coveting the lovely Hydrangeas for as long as I can remember and now I finally have some! I first saw the cultivar "Pinky winky" at one of our seminars. I think it must have been the Proven Winners rep who came... I knew that one was going on my list of "must haves"! I picked up 3 in six inch pots and a "Quick Fire" in the 12 inch pot.

I really wanted these for the east side of the house near the front porch. I have visions of sitting there in my Adirondack chair, the cool breeze rustling the leaves of the fifty year old sugar maples that shade the house, the air filled with the sounds of birds happily singing and twittering all around ...and the Hydrangeas covered with those fabulous panicled blossom heads.

First thing this morning I got up to monitor the amount of sun that shines down on the spot that I had in mind. There are those maples, but I knew that there was some morning sun, as we are awakened on the sleepin' in days by the sun baking us through our bedroom window on the east. As it turns out, the border will get between one and a half to two hours of sunlight in the morning and a little more sun in the afternoon. Hmmm... both labels that came on the shrubs say 'Exposure: full sun to partial shade'. If that's the case, will they get enough sun for the magnificent floral display of my dreams???

Finally, I went to Hort Answers on the UIUC Extension website and this is what I found: full sun, partial sun/shade for Hydrangea paniculata. It doesn't really specify if that means full sun for some Hydrangea paniculata and partial sun/shade for others or if that range applies to all of the paniculata species. So I decided to give it a shot. I realllllly want them here by the porch! I hope they find great happiness here, but in a few years I may be sorry that I did not place rhodies here in the first place. Time will tell.

--------
Update, 12 Dec 08--

More info on 'Quick Fire' and Pinky Winky'. One thing I have noticed so far is that the 'Pinky Winky' was much more tolerant of less water. All three 'Pinky Winky' flourished without any supplemental watering, but the 'Quick Fire' was much more sensitive. It would begin to droop and look pretty sad if I did not keep it well watered. Both varieties did bloom well this first season here in the partial sun. One thing that I want to remember of these two varieties is that they both bloom on new wood, so they can be pruned in spring or fall. The flower color is not effected by soil pH, which if I am not mistaken, would only apply to H. macrophylla. But don't quote me on that!

The Generosity of Gardeners

Some of the most generous folks I have met are gardeners. Out of their abundance they are able to share freely and happily. Whether it is from the overflow of their harvest (tomatoes, peppers, green beans and the zucchini--oh, the zucchini!), or when it comes time to divide their many lovely perennials, there is always something wonderful to give and receive.

Yesterday, I was the happy recipient of plants from the garden of a lovely grandmotherly lady in Paris. One of my dear master gardening friends had contacted me and asked if I was interested. Was I! This same lady had shared some of her plants last year as she is no longer able to do the upkeep of a large flower garden anymore. We went in the cool of the morning yesterday to see what we needed to do. This lady came out and pointed out to us what her hired gardener had scolded her about (smiles) and suggested she have removed to make the maintainence chores reasonable. What a jackpot to someone like me, who has aspirations of creating an outdoor paradise, but on a very limited budget...

Not surprisingly, the ground was a little too wet to do much digging without creating a huge mess. We did lift a few sedum groundcovers and the hostas. The rest we will leave for a couple of days and hope that things soon dry out.

I was hoping that there might be some things to go in the prairie/butterfly border that I am working on for a master gardening project in town, but I don't think that much or any of it will work in full sun or drought conditions. The sedums would work in full sun, but I don't think they are really a prairie plant. I will have to look that one up. That's OK. All things will work out in due time. As for the hostas, I found a great shaded spot near the front steps of my house. Things look better already.

Bluebird Babies

They're here! This is my first year putting up the bluebird boxes. I had never actually seen a bluebird here on the property before, but I put up three boxes in good faith. The one pictured here is actually the first one to go up. The other two did not go up until later as I was not sure about where to locate them. It didn't take long for the bluebirds to find the box. I guess good real estate is high in demand!



Here's a little closer look at the eggs:


Sweet little babies...
they really don't mind being looked at all that much.


I never did get a photo of the bluebird parents at box number 3, but this male was very nice to pose for me at box #2.


Box #1 had a family of tree swallows move in which was fine with me. Notice how the tree swallows line their nests with many feathers. Most of the feathers here are from my African Geese. Not sure about the one feather in the upper left...maybe pheasant?

Loren Hughes' Sparrow Spooker story in the Paris Beacon News(added February 21,2009)

Asparagus...YUM!

Finally, the long awaited asparagus bed! We started this whole venture over six months ago with the raised bed on the south side of the garage. DH cut 2x12 osage lumber on his sawmill for the sides and we spent a day installing this 4' x 32' raised bed using osage stakes pounded into the ground for support. This osage wood frame will never have to be replaced for as long as we live (and probably not for many years thereafter)! Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera)aka 'Hedge Apple' is well known for its durability. Farmers have used it to plant hedge rows and the limbs or 4x4's have been used for fence posts that never need to be treated. This is one of the hardest North American woods and the fence posts made with it will last for a hundred years!

Here's a good article: The Versatile Osage-Orange American Forests, Autumn, 2000, by Jeff Ball

So the asparagus bed is here to stay. A very good investment of our time and energy, methinks. Once the raised bed was in, our attention was next turned to amending the heavy soil. In the fall we collected the end of year grass trimmings, and all of the leaves from the trees were mulched and dumped into the bed to break down over the winter. Also the litter from the chicken coop which included Sphagnum peat moss and chicken doody went in. And all winter when the gooses' pool was cleaned the goose doody sediment went in there, too. More turning this spring and at that time I dug down to a depth of about 1 1/2 shovels. There is a lot of clay in the area, so I am still concerned about the drainage needs of the asparagus. We will see how it likes the spot now with all of the compost mixed in.

Yesterday I dug my trench down the middle of this four foot wide bed and put in another layer of compost. I planted 31 two year crowns ordered from Gurneys. I chose Jersey Giant which is on the west end, Purple Passion in the middle and Jersey Supreme on the east end of the bed. The Jersey Supreme is a little close. The recommendation is spacing at 18" to 24". My only option would have been to leave out some of the crowns, but I went ahead and planted all of them. If they are really gigantic and not happy this crowded, I can dig out every other one later and move them elsewhere or give them away.

I chose these particular hybrids because they are all male plants (not the Purple Passion) and will produce better than the female plants. They are also disease resistant. The Purple Passion is said to not produce as well as the Jersey Giant or Jersey Supreme, but I thought it sounded interesting with its purple spears that turn green when you cook them! The Jersey Supreme has the added benefit of an earlier yield. Now everything is in place. The crowns are covered and I will gradually fill in the trench as the asparagus begins to grow.

As for the harvest...we wait and wait some more...but only a couple more years.

Curb Appeal

I'm working on "decorating" the front porch. What was empty, cold and unappealing will soon be a sight for Better Homes and Gardens! That's the dream anyway. It may take a couple of years. Story and pictures coming soon...

Homegrown Tomatoes!

Viola! After a little prep work, the vegetable garden is on its way. Every year, it seems like I tell myself that I will get the tomatoes in ASAP! "Just can't live without those homegrown tomatoes..." Now it's several weeks after I could have had them in the ground and the task is completed. Most gardening friends I know have been on the ball and managed to get 'er done before these last weeks of cold wind and rain. Their garden was given quite a boost by all the rain and I still had to wait until the ground dried out before I could even think about getting in there.

This year I have planted the tomatoes by the row of cedar branches on the north side of the garden. I am trying to work on a three year rotation, so this was my only easy option this year. Why not? The cedar branches are solidly implanted in the ground and I think they should work fine to train the indeterminate plants and keep them off the ground.
I also am using soaker hose this year...every little bit I can do to ease the upkeep.

Today's list:

1. Supersweet 100- days to harvest: 65 = July 25
2. Better Boy- days to harvest: 70 to 75 = July 30 to August 4
3. Red Cherry- days to harvest: 75 = August 4
4. Roma- days to harvest: 85 to 90 = August 14 to 19
5. Rutgers- days to harvest: 80 to 85 = August 9 to 14
6. Crimson Cushion Beefsteak: days to harvest: 90 = August 19

Between all of the tomatoes are marigolds. Also seeded today are:

7. Table Queen Acorn Squash- days to harvest:
8. Straight 8 Cucumbers- days to harvest: 58 = July 18
9. Tasty Green Hybrid- days to harvest: 62 = July 22
10. Unknown cucumber.

The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get!

As usual, the plan is always to makes leaps and bounds of progress in my garden landscape. Then spring comes...itchy as I always am to get moving and create this magical garden, progress never fails to creep along at a turtles pace from my perspective. The last three days have brought us unbelievable winds and cold rains. So now the digging and seeding will be held off yet another few days until things have a chance to dry out some. At least my energy is well spent making treks to the burn pile with armloads of branches and limbs that were blown down these last few days.

I am still behind on getting the tomatoes planted. What was bare soil will now have to be reweeded where I don't yet have it mulched. Maybe I'll just throw the flakes of hay down over the weeds and forget about it.

Keep What You Pull Day

Today was a day that I had been looking forward to for a few weeks. The Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken Gardens in Indianapolis has their annual "Keep What You Pull Day" in the sunken gardens. Every year there are 10,000 tulips planted and when the show is over in the spring, the gardens are opened to the public to dig the tulips and replant them in their own gardens. So last night I loaded my car with tools and trash bags and a 5 gallon bucket...I would set my alarm for five in the morning and be on the road by six. I wanted to be there when the the floodgates were opened at 8:30!

I forgot one very important fact: Indiana is in the Eastern time zone. So I ended up getting there thirty minutes after everyone else. About the only tulips left were plain white. They are nice, but not the lacy pink ones or the deep violet tulips I was hoping for. Oh, Well! I did get quite a few of the white and maybe half a dozen of the violet bulbs. Can't complain anyway. Afterward, I enjoyed a stroll through the conservatory. Took lots of pics of the "rainforest" and bought a polka dot plant...

Lilacs have never looked better...

Thanks to this very rainy spring! Pics coming soon...

Fox Ridge State Park

My favorite time of year to drive through the park. Coming soon...

The List.

No, this is not my "Bucket List" (although there may be actual buckets involved at times). The problem or advantage (half empty/half full) of gardening is that the work of art known as a garden is never "done". There will always be another new cultivar to experiment with, or something that needs moving, dividing, or tossing out...mulch that needs to be added to, turf to remove to create new beds, containers to plant, pruning, or something to deadhead, etc., etc. You get the idea. In addition to all of the things on my list that I know need to be done, I must make the time to learn something new.

I suppose that winter is a great time for this 'learning', when there remains nothing else I can possibly do. Since it might be 15 degrees Fahrenheit outside and air that bites if I do anything more that hurry out to warm up the car; a hot cup of tea, a cozy chair and a stack of gardening books sounds pretty good. But winter is not the only guiltfree time to take a break from the toil. I have grown a little wiser after all, and finally figured out that it is OK, in fact a whole lot smarter, to take a siesta during the sun's most brutal hours of midday in the middle of July or August.

Lately, I have been reading a couple of books that I picked up at the thrift store for 50 cents each. They both are about 30 years old or so. It is interesting to see how commonplace thinking has evolved in that time. One book is from Rodale Press: Mulching the Organic Way and was first printed in 1971. The tone of the book suggests that it was a rare breed who practiced organic gardening or did any kind of mulching at all. What a novel idea! Of course, it was nothing new, but an idea that had made it full circle. For thousands of years, agregarian peoples who did "garden" made do with the best that Mother Earth had to offer in order to nourish their crops and enrich the soils: from manure to fish to seaweed and everything in between. In dryer climates they had to find a way to keep the crop from shriveling up for lack of adequate moisture. Of course, irrigation has been done in one fashion or another for many thousands of years, but nothing inorganic about that. But that job would have been rather inefficient and labor intensive, unless a way was discovered to slow the moisture from escaping the bare soil.

Speaking of mulch (and I was) this is what occupied my non-siesta hours today; in the cool of the morning and again later in the afternoon. I had to remove the broken field tiles that I had placed for mulch around the tulip poplar planted a year and a half ago. Originally, I had made a circle around this tree and an earthen well around it for watering. The tiles had worked fine for weed suppression, but the radius of the circle was a little too tight for the lawn mower. Soooo just to make things a little easier this year, I removed all of the tile and expanded the circle by about a foot all the way around. I am all for making gardening chores easier! The moisture content in the soil was just right today, as I was able to take the sod that was removed by the shovelfuls and easily shake the soil loose and back into place. The chickens and geese were right there with me the whole time. They helped me out by quickly snatching up all of the grubs and earthworms that appeared. The geese did double duty by devouring all of the dandylions, roots and all. What fine helpers, I have!

That finished, I stirred in some bloodmeal and some bonemeal. I had never fertilized this tree since planting it, so I supposed that it wouldn't hurt and might help. [Note to self: get those soil tests done next year.] I did add a root stimulator when we first transplanted the tree. This particular brand "Bonide" was a liquid concentrate and 4-10-3 percent Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium respectively. I am still working on learning how to do everything "organically", as well as figuring out the definition of that word, since "Organic" gardeners will use elemental sulfur and limestone. These are certainly chemicals, but not tampered with in a lab, I suppose. But I digress.

Tomorrow, I will toss down a couple of bales from the hay loft and mulch the bed with flakes of 50 year old hay...after a good ground soaking, of course. Hey, it's free, it's organic and it works! I will replace the field tiles as they are more attractive than looking at flakes of old hay. Then the plan is to pull it all back and fill the bed with tulips and grape hyacinth in the fall. Not only this bed, but several others around the yard as well. I am already anxious for the early season extravaganza next spring!

It's a BOY!

It has been confirmed. What we have is definitely a little tom cat and he has certainly become braver since the last post. Our little friend has recently developed the habit of coming for his dinner of leftovers every night on the back porch. For awhile he was untouchable, but just in the past few days we have been able to pet him for as long as it takes him to clean the plate. Then immediately he will back off and remain on the porch just out of reach.

Last evening it was pouring down rain. Our friend had stationed himself on the back porch standing watch. I think because of the rain, DH was able to tempt him to cross the threshold into the mudroom for a short time. Later on, I prepared him his dish of leftover T-Bone steak. I set the food about three feet inside the door and invited him in. Slowly, cautiously he stepped inside and began to devour his dinner. At about this time, one of the other feral cats tiptoed up the steps and sat down... unnoticed by our voracious kitty. The new guy sat there and waited. I know that if cats could drool, this one would be drooling. "Where's mine?", he must have been thinking. I continued to pet our American Shorthair as he gobbled down that scrumptious steak dinner. As soon as he finished, the plan was to dart away and out of my reach. He finished his last bite and quickly turned heels to head out the door to a safe distance... but WHOA! There's that other cat! Our friend screeched his little brakes, hissed like he has never hissed at us, and let out the best growls he could muster as a warning.

Now he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Myself, on one side, along with the unfamiliar territory of the indoors and this rival tom just outside on the porch. What was he to do? The stand-off lasted for a few minutes. The new tom was not going anywhere and our friend had no intention of going further into the house. I finally ended it by grabbing a bone out of the kitchen and tossing it out the door to the intruder. He took off and promptly collided with the bone as it flew through the air. Whap! Oooh, sorry, guy! But this opened up the chance for our cornered friend to make his getaway and scramble he did! It was during this stand-off that I was able to confirm the presence of "boy parts" on our little guy as he circled around the mudroom between myself and the door, wondering what to do.

Our little friend has been very vocal...almost more than the Siamese I have known. His nervous but friendly "MEOWS" are interjected with startled hisses if we move too quickly or get too close when he is not preoccupied with wolfing down his plate of food. But progress is happening! I hope that the episode in the mudroom will not deter him from braving another entry into the house. Hopefully we will not have to wait for another downpour to find out.

Here, Kitty Kitty!

Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Where have you been?

This is the latest feral cat visiting us. He has been coming around off and on for a couple of months. I say 'he' but have not yet been able to spot any proof! I am guessing it's a 'he' due to his size and build though. Feral cats have always come for awhile and then eventually disappear...probably by way of hawk, owl or coyote, unfortunately. We did have a female that stuck around for awhile. We called her 'Barney' since she lived in the barn until she began to trust us; then promptly moved in under the back porch. This turned out to be not such a good deal for us. After taming down, she needed constant petting...if we dared to stop petting her, or even worse-- tried to walk by without petting her at all-- Barney would show her displeasure by quickly swiping with razor sharp claws any bare skin she could reach. Even though I love cats, this did not bode well with me since, as far as we knew, she had always been feral and had never had any shots.

Unlike the Toms, she did not wander very far or for very long. We became her people... she owned us and the porch! Alas she did not meet a more pleasant end than the Toms did. One day we noticed a wound on her shoulder. We noticed a perfectly round opening on this swollen bare patch. We managed to hold her and upon closer inspection saw that there was a creature of some sort living in this little cave under her hide! Well...even though she was a feral cat, this simply would not do. We made an appointment with the vet for the next day.

As it turns out the vet was elated! We brought her the first Cuterebra that she had ever had the pleasure of meeting in person! See the Merck vet Manual entry. After removing it from its hideout in the cat's shoulder, she asked for permission to keep it (Did she really need to ask--Ha!) and then proceeded to drop it in a bottle of... formaldehyde maybe? What a gift--she refused to charge us for the cat's minor surgery, so we went ahead and got her rabies shot taken care of anyway.

It was not long after that when Barney disappeared. In spite of regularly having to dodge her claws, we were concerned for her. This was so unlike her to disappear. It was weeks, I think, that we would call for her every time we went outside, hoping that she might turn up alive. At this time the back porch was still closed in with old wooden lattice panels. A small animal could squeeze underneath. There were a bunch of dried leaves under there that might have made a good nest... I remember shining the flashlight under there on several occasions looking for her. Never did find her. Never did stop calling.

Finally one day I went outside, and there in the 6 inch gap between the concrete steps and the cellar door was Barney...she was gone. We never really knew what happened, but we do know that it wasn't a hawk or owl or coyote that took her life. She just died of some unknown illness...most likely due to the cuterebra ordeal. I think that she must have been hiding under the porch all that time. I think she crawled out at the end so we could find her. If only we had known, we would have taken her back to the vet. Feral cat or not.

There have been others, always Toms, that have tamed somewhat. They always disappear. So as beautiful as this black and white is, I'll try not to get too attached.

Getting Started

As Spring has now sprung, I am sure that the nearest up and coming posts will weigh heavy on the side of gardening and all things that sing of rebirth... If I can find the time. (smile) Since it is still a little too early to actually enjoy the garden, I've included a pic of the Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) that graced my butterfly garden with his presence last summer. This was the first time he visited us and we have the Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) purchased at the EIU Botany Club's plant sale in the spring to thank for it.
I am anxiously awaiting the day I can add new species of native forbs to the Butterfly garden this spring and the enjoyment of the Giant Swallowtails' only slightly less magnificent relatives that are sure to follow... Stay tuned!