Natasha

Our oldest barn kitty has crossed The Bridge after several months of spa treatment in the luxury of the wool shop.  She was a great kitty and had an easy, gentle passing.  See you again, Natasha.

Natasha

2002 - 2019

Cat-ness

Despite being underfoot one way or another every hour of the day the cats have gotten short shrift on the blog all summer with the exception of both Ivan's and Alexi's passing.  It's about time to rectify that with some kitty updates.

First, Kittin got clipped by a car in early August the day after Daffodil died.  A glancing blow left her laid out, unconscious, in the center of the road and relieved her of about seven of her lives.  Except for a broken tooth she miraculously had no outward injuries (or broken bones) but closed head trauma and severely bruised lungs kept her at the vet hospital for four days and  I've held her in the wool shop to recuperate ever since.   Her right side appears to have taken the force of the blow and she has loss of strength and coordination in the right front leg leaving her with a rocking, limping gait.  She can't flex the toes of that foot yet and perhaps never will.  I'm hesitant to let her out because she's so compromised and she actually doesn't try to dart out the door which surprises me but I'm sure she's realized how hampered she is.  She spends her days sleeping, eating, chasing flies if they land on the floor, washing her fur and thinking cat thoughts.  She's getting kind of fat.  She enjoys our company (me and Holly, that is) when I'm in the shop and lays under the skirting table with abandon, oblivious to the bits of cruddy fleece that drops down.

And when that gets boring she moves to the blanket I have for Holly to lay on.  

Natasha moved back to the barn after it warmed up in the spring and has been doing just fine down there although I haven't seen her do more than step out the back door to sit in the pasture on sunny days.  She does like her sun patches and now that it's getting a little colder she seeks them out as soon as morning sunbeams come in the east-facing door.

She's intimidated by Clem, but Chloe gives off different vibes and they seem congenial with each other.

When it gets seriously cold I'll take her back to the wool shop too.

"Heck, take her now, would you?  She's hogging all the sun."

Chloe's brother Clem has become the defacto king of the barn.  He's quite a regal boy although he's more silly than serious.

And boy, does he love him some sheeps!  (Includes scenes of intense cat sniffing!)



Popeye is growing like a weed. His bum eye doesn't give him any problem but he seems blind on that side for sure.  At least it doesn't look gross, just like a gray marble.

Pretty soon I'll make the appointment to get him neutered.  "Unpack his bags so he won't go travelling" as they used to say but since he's going to be an indoor cat it's a moot point. Calvin is his best play buddy, but surprisingly Dexter is the one he sleeps with!  Dexter and Calvin don't like to sleep together, but the little furball has worn him down won Dexter over in this regard.

But Calvin is a good 'buddy cat', always interested in helping even if it just means sitting on the other office chair keeping me company while I do computer stuff.

"Really?  The intertubes are full of cats?  Amazing!  Tell me more."
House, barn, shop..... cats everywhere.  ;-)

Tales From the Old Folks Home

AKA 'the wool shop' where I skirt, wash and dye wool from the flock.  I've waffled over how to refer to this building.  It was my father-in-law's woodworking shop before I inherited it for my purposes.  I've tried calling it the wool barn or the wool shed but it's a nicer space than a shed or barn.  Heat, lights, concrete floor, windows, electric, cupboards.... but it's not quite as grand as a certain 'wool house' I know (and drool over) so I guess I'll stick with "shop".  A utilitarian place where work gets done.

But back to the point - the wool shop is now doing double duty as a winter home for two aged barn kitties, Ivan and Natasha.  Ivan is almost 18 and while Natasha is just getting into double digits she doesn't tolerate cold well at all.  I can sympathize.  Losing weight, shivering and obviously miserable - I won't make anybody suffer that if I can help it.  She spent some time here last winter too although it was only a couple weeks of single digit conditions.  I think they are both in here for the whole winter this year, especially Ivan.

"I remember this place.  About time they brought me back here."

"Mom, they're hogging the bed again."

The sun shines on Holly's blanket most of the afternoon.  Pretty nice deal if you're an ancient cat.

Ivan has also discovered the fun of boxes.  Liking cardboard boxes must be written into the genetic code of cats or something.  He's never seen a box in the barn, but put one on the floor and he's a kitten again.  I needed something to keep the cats from having access to the front of the shop which has indoor/outdoor carpet and would not be forgiving of 'accidents' and this big box happened to fit the doorway perfectly.

I've been enjoying the warm shop too.  Washing fleece.....

And being able to indulge in a past passion - orchids.  Because Ivan and Natasha are too well mannered too old to get on the counters this is about the only cat-proof space I have that plants can exist in.  When you can get mini phalaenopsis for less than $10 at the grocery store.....

Hothouse plants and hothouse cats. :-D

Small Business Saturday

Today is Small Business Saturday and so I was happy to spend several hours spinning at the Fiber and Art Emporium where a good bit of our yarn and spinning fiber is offered for sale.  It's great to have a brick and mortar storefront available for me and a lot of other local people to display our wares.  The rug hooking aspect of the shop has really taken off and they now carry the largest selection of wool rug hooking fabric in this part of central New York.

 
There are an awful lot of talented people out there!  I really liked this wreath of paper flowers made by one of the vendors (yes, they hold classes on that).

Someone had hand puppets and was working on a presentation for the Christmas event in the park coming up later this month.  How stinkin' cute are these?  Baby birds in a nest and a porcupine!

 

A local caterer had supplied the shop with a super array of snacks and refreshments.  I don't know about the rest of Hammondsport but we were having a par-tay!  (Tip of the day - to keep apple slices on a platter from going brown dip them in a bowl of Seven Up.  Who knew?)

 

 

In other news.... we've had some pretty sunrises -

 



 

It was cold then - around 12 degrees in the barn and Natasha was suffering again so I moved her into the wool shop like last year.  I can totally sympathize with being cold and not being able to get warm no matter what you do unless you come inside.  She was very happy there although probably bored most of the day.  She was super chatty whenever I came in to do some wool work.  Holly does NOT snuggle with the cats - considers them to be way beneath her - but Natasha enjoyed some stealth snuggling when Holly succumbed to a nap.

 

 

And then it warmed up for one magical day and we had rain and a double rainbow!

 

 



Breeding season is over and the rams are back in the bachelor barn.  They are calming down quickly and we'll probably release them from close confinement in the next couple of days.  I've been washing and dyeing wool to make another run of Ferns and Moss roving and I need to dye more yarn for next week's Christmas on the Farm event.  (Uh...next week...yeah, I better get that dyed!)

 

And it IS that time of year, so when you're shopping for gifts remember to support your local businesses.  They appreciate it!





A Gem of a Day

Tuesday's weather was a real gift at this time of year.  We reached the mid 70s with a stiff wind and bright sun.  Knowing we probably won't see another like it this year made it all the more worthy of appreciation. 

The bulk of the flock had a grand day outside.  The breeding groups ( rams were put with their groups Monday) are in the barn but as we're only breeding 37 ewes this fall it leaves the largest proportion free to continue pasturing.  We opened the farthest pasture to them one last time and they stayed down there a long time before trooping back up the hill to get a drink and have an afternoon siesta.

Some chose to sit in the shade of the barn and trees (not that there was much shade from the trees - it was more a philosophical statement on the part of the sheep) and others settled down in the full sun.  'Melted' might be a better word, at least for Velvet.

Bacardi, with Tahiti behind her.

 

Pickles, with Ida to the left.

 



 

Snowflake, almost alseep with her eyes open.

 



 

Clunk.  No sense pretending...

 



 

Snubby, dozing........

 



Daisy must have been elected for guard duty.  You hardly ever see everyone down and sleeping.  Usually at least one ewe is up and half way alert.

Angel sat like this for a couple of minutes.  I've seen some other 'overly large' sheep doing this occasionally, clearly thinking "I don't really want to hoist myself up but I'm so full it's not really comfortable lying here, either."  What a dilemma.

But some kids just don't want to go down for a nap.  These two are telling each other stories.

While the sheep were enjoying an leisurely afternoon Andy was putting a tire back on one of the tractors.  The valve stem had leaked over the winter and the calcium chloride the tractor tires are loaded with corroded a big chunk of the metal rim.  He found a metal shop that could weld in a metal patch - no small feat since the area had multiple convex and concave planes all bent into an arc - and he picked it up yesterday.  The newly painted area is the repair.

Once the rim was mounted back in place he had to drill a new hole for the valve stem to come through, but it was such a nice day to work outside the task wasn't unpleasant.

A stiff wind kept the flag snapping.

Even the barn spiders were hard at work.  We leave a nightlight on in the barn and there are always webs right around it.  A 24 hour diner!

This is an especially pretty one.

Of course, if you're a senior citizen you don't have to work as hard and are allowed a few extra kitty kibbles now and then so it pays to stay handy by, like Natasha.

"I didn't get old by being dumb."

 

"Did somebody say something about kibble?"

 

Clem isn't that old.  He's the guy that checks the breakroom for doughnuts four times before lunch.

 

"I heard that!"

 

It's in your employee files, too.  Just so you know.

 



All Together Now

It worked well to keep the non-breeding group separated from the ewes with lambs for most of the summer.  We were able to utilize some pasture to better advantage and it was just easier to eyeball two smaller groups daily instead of one giant enormous big flock.  Both pastures reached their limit at the same time so we combined the two groups and sent them to the farthest pasture which they haven't had access to all year. 

They were pretty happy to go since the previous pastures weren't yummy anymore.  Plus the trek doesn't seem so far since it's downhill ;-)  They spend most of the morning ranging to the farthest corners and then work their way back.  I can see that the hillside is looking alarmingly like early fall.  Yikes!  :-0

When they do get back up the hill to the barn they get a drink from the water tub and then hang out under the locust trees.  It's been so freakishly cool this summer that the sheep are comfortable almost anywhere but the little bugs are less annoying in the shade.

Salsa, Madeline, Nora, Nancy and Snubby

 

Drambui, Fuzz and Madeline

 

Ashes, Madeline and Nancy

 

Pretty..... who has been rubbing her head on the red snow fence.  Sigh.

"I know I'm Pretty - my ear tag says so.  Plus I have a beauty mark on my muzzle like that famous human woman Cynthia Crawdad or whatever her name is."

 

A cute Cotwold ewe lamb

 

"Mom?  Are you coming?  Everybody's going!"

 

"Yes, we're coming.  You wait for me!  Don't go by yourself."

 

And she went with her mom and sister back down the hill.

 



 

Ivan was enjoying the fair weather too.  He came out the side barn door with me and was poking around in the grass.  He's on the thin side but feeling well and has a happy attitude.

 

"You know, I think I should go sit in the sun today."

 



"Oh yes, much better! "

 

Earlier this week the sun was out for two whole days in a row and I was able to give our stone sheep a new coat of paint.

 

 

Remember that super moon we had a few nights ago?  I wasn't able to get a good picture of it at night but the next morning it was still showing just above the trees to the west.  I sure wish I could remember what setting I used :-/

 



 

Natasha says.....

 



"I love a full moon!  All the better to see them mouses by!"