Queen Mum's Dancing in the Rain

[Queen Mum]

I found out what happened to the mother of the other kittens. My landlord raises turtles. Cats are bad news for turtles so any cats found on the property are killed and fed to the turtles. The mother cat was a likely victim. So no cats will be on the property.

Well, we took the kittens to the sale barn and found good homes for all 6 of them. I made sure that there were instructions given to each and every home. I feel confident that each person who took a baby knew what they were getting and that they would be loved.

While we were there, a lady came up to me with a kitten (AP says Siamese) that someone put in her daughters hands and ran away. She was fit to be tied. I took it home and gave it a flea bath. The poor thing was so covered with fleas that when I put it in the water the fleas went up to it's head and you could even see the color of it's head there were so many fleas. The fleas are all gone now. (She is about 6 or 7 weeks old.) I will find a good loving home for her as she is going to be a very sweet and loving little cat and quite pretty too. She is quiet, gentle and easy going. Very affectionate.

 

[Queen Mum]

Kitties in a cage taking a nap. The light colored ones are boys and the dark one is a girl.

Here are the girls on my knee. (It's a self portrait.)

I named the calico "Pocket Watch" because she liked to ride around in my pocket and watch what I was doing. She was the first to be adopted. All were adopted into good homes.

This is Jacket.

I am not sure if she hears at all. She is about 7 weeks old. She was left with a kid at the auction by some lady who said she could hold the kitten, the the lady ran off. I took her in and like I said, she was covered with fleas. She was also full of worms. (Now taken care of.) She needs to be spayed.

I have to find her a new home as I can't afford to take care of her. She is very cute and sweet. I have been getting her ready for a new home. She is almost box trained. She is very playful and very quiet. It's easy to love this little thing because she has a lot of personality. I know that she will need vet care and food and lots of attention and time. I can't give her that so it's better that I find her a home where she will get that.

 

[Queen Mum]

My sister said she was sending me a care package and it would arrive on Tuesday so she asked for my home address to send the delivery man. I waited all afternoon and texted her that the UPS man didn't arrive. I said I had posted my address on the house and sent her a picture. She sent me a text saying we would talk when she got off the road.

I was sitting in my room looking out the window when a car pulled up and out popped my sister from North Carolina. I kept thinking, "I need to text my sister to tell her that my sister isn't home yet from work." It kept running over and over in my head. Then I realized she was standing right in front of my window.

WHAT A WONDERFUL SURPRISE! She had driven 12 hours straight to get here. She said she came to make sure everything was going OK and that I was in "the right place."

She stayed for a couple days and helped me put up a fence so I could move my goats to the new place and we had a great time. She brought some plants for my garden and we made home made soup for dinner and pancakes for breakfast.

My sister works for an animal necropsy lab and has raised goats for years. (She doesn't now.) But she knows TONS about animal health and husbandry. I got some really good advice on care for my goats and for my new chickens. She bought some wormer for my kittens with AP's help. She saw my baby goats and my big goats. (She liked Mama the best.)

But the most important thing about the whole visit was she was here and I got to see her and hug her and spend time with her. IT WAS GREAT! I sent her home with some cheese. (I have to make some more for AP.) Here is a picture of my sister, her dog, Spike and I outside of the goat area near the new fence.

My sister is the taller of the two of us. (She is 6'1".)

We are in front of the house that we pushed up onto my truck from the dump area near the house. We are going to use that for a goat shelter for the bucks. (It weighs about 400 pounds.) It was a bit of a chore getting that little building up on the truck.

And this is us by the rose bushes across the drive from my house.

 

[TTs Chicks]

What a great surprise from your sister - that is really sweet that she came to check on you.

 

[Queen Mum]

Well, Jacket hears OK now. I had noticed that she loved to have her ears rubbed... and rubbed and rubbed. She liked it so much she would fall over backwards asleep after a while. So, I cleaned out her ears with peroxide and treated her for ear mites. She must have had a HUGE infestation because after a couple days she started noticing every little sound. She now runs to the door when I come in and answers when I call "Kitty". She still likes to have her ears rubbed but not as much. She's also got much better balance and is climbing on everything.

She is paper trained now. I tried putting the paper in a box to box train her. Sigh. I don't think she is understanding the concept of paper training. She spent about 20 minutes dragging it out of the box and then pushing the box out of the way so she could place the paper it in the right spot on the floor so she could use it "on the floor" where it belongs. She looked so proud of herself.

I can't afford kitty litter yet. I think it would help.

 

[redtailgal]

Instead of kitty litter, try paper, just tear it into strips.

Dry leaves work well.

With a kitty that young, a pie pan with some sand or dirt would work too.

She will have a natural instinct to bury , so just place your pie pan on the paper and let her figure it out.

 

[Queen Mum]

Oh, good idea. She would probably love the dry leaves. Or even strips of paper.

 

[daisychick]

That is one of the cutest batches of kittens I have seen in a long time. Our outside cat sure loves the kid's sandbox to use as a litter box, so I know they like sandy soils.

Also wanted to tell you that I Love the story of how your sister gave you a surprise visit! How neat that she came to see you and nice picture of you two together.

 

[Queen Mum]

OK, I tried the newspaper strips and at first she loved to play in them. Instead she used the box of spare papers that I had elsewhere. However, she did start using the newspaper box once I added some sand. So, Jacket is now officially "box trained".

I had a bit of an adventure. I came into my bedroom and thought something looked out of place. The corner looked rather dark. Then I realized it was moving. YIKES, two four foot long snakes were there using the bedroom as a place for spring romance. They had pushed out a wall outlet and crawled into my bedroom. I don't know the local snakes and someone who was with me told me they were cottonmouth snakes.

I ran to the neighbors and got someone to help me evict these squaters from my bedroom. He proceeded to kill them with a shovel which made an awful smell. Then he took them outside and said they were "chicken snakes". He showed me how to tell a cotton mouth from a chicken snake. Cotton mouth is shorter and fatter with a more diamond shaped head.

Am I going to get right up close and personal to check these finer details? I think NOT!

The next day I came face to face with another HUGE FAT black snake outside and decided to just run away rather than check to see if it had a more diamond shaped head.

I need a snake guide book.

 

[redtailgal]

Now, queen mum. A chance at seeing two snakes being "romantic" is a rare thing. Honestly, you should have taken some pics for me.

lol

There was a mouse in a wood pile the other day..............I landed on the hood of the truck screaming "eeeeby gee woka, bi dee osh gamma". I have no idea what all that means.