Solomon in a Box

All of our cats like empty boxes but Solomon is usually the first one to find them. Today I was cleaning out my kitchen cupboards and sorting through Christmas dishes. The Christmas dish box was empty on the counter and the next thing I know, Solomon had taken up residence inside. Some days our animals are ultra entertaining.

The Charitable Side

Natural Connection is the charitable side of Little Shop of Hoarders. It will locally promote our connection to nature through garden programs. I expect that most of the funding will go towards the pet medical fund but most of the programs will be garden related. The pet programs will assist in keeping pets healthy and in loving homes. We will not be taking animals but rather, will be helping others keep their animals. It will be a much better solution than us taking every stray that shows up broken in the valley! We can't keep up with that.

A Rare Sight

It is a rare sight to see Samantha relaxing on the dog crates during the day. She tends to roam the main floor at night when the dogs are sleeping, rather than when they are running around. She is afraid of dogs, strangers, loud noises, the TV, crumpling paper, the vaccuum, the toilet flushing, anything crunchie, dry leaves blowing in the wind and probably a huge list of other things I have yet to witness. She has dopey eyes, a monkey face and a tiny little meep she tries to pass off as a meow... she is the cutest thing! Perhaps age has mellowed her and we will see this new daytime Samantha more often.

Jake on the Glass Truck

His favourite thing to do is climb in or on vehicles and he especially likes it when a new vehicle stops by that he can explore so I am not sure why he is looking so angry. Unless it is because I was trying to get him down just before I grabbed the camera. The glass truck didn't seem the safest place for him to explore but once I discovered he was too high for me to reach up there, taking photos seemed to be the next best option.

Animals, wild and otherwise...

I came upon Hannah sleeping in the bird sanctuary the other day and as I snapped a picture, she got up for this halloween stretch. The top of the ladder has always been her afternoon napping spot. In fact, that is why the ladder is still in the garden. It was right in this spot when we moved in and she used it every day so we have never moved it. Hannah can always be found napping in the garden. I had a more unusual occurance the other night when Gordon and I went into the city mid-evening. The road was full of frogs! It was awful. Impossible to miss them and they were even jumping up and making "thud" sounds as they hit the car when we went by. They were all over the valley bottom on the roads. The grids and the highway. They were gone by the time we came back from the city and I hope it doesn't happen again. It was no fun at all. On a better note, the 'Alexander McKenzie' rose I transplanted last week is doing great and the colour looks awesome with the speedwell purple that it is planted next to. Now I am just waiting to find out what colour the liatris planted with them is. Any day now it should open.

Embracing Change

Heliopsis 'Loraine Sunshine', monkshood and Linda's red daylily are just a few of the new plants in my garden this season. I also reduced the size of the sun gardens by more than half and surprisingly, I am really enjoying that because it has meant that it is almost always completely weed free! Taking the rock edge away where that garden meets the lawn has also made it easier to keep a clean edge. Overall, I am happy with all of the changes in the garden this year and am planning even more. Today I have been clearing out at the front of the house for my new rose garden. The excitement of the day, despite the blooming flowers, was the little female finch I had to save from Penny and Hannah on the front deck. She hit the window and by the time I got there, Penny had her in her mouth with just a wing sticking out and a high pitched tweet coming from inside. Fortunately, Penny dropped her as soon as I told her to but by then, Hannah was running towards us. It was a bit of a panic but I managed to get the bird into a tree and after awhile, she flew off. We spent the afternoon cutting up the latest tree brought down by the prairie winds. That makes 3 this year. Another change I made today was the blog background. I did that in honour of the awesome skies we have been enjoying here. We are in the land of the living sky here but the last few days it has been more incredible than usual. A very pure, bright, clear blue that I have been unable to capture in photograph and do it any justice at all. We see a lot of sky here. It goes out for miles and miles. So it takes something special to get me snapping the camera upward. The colour has been so crystal clear, I find it impossible to even describe.

Dog Watching

Solomon, as usual, with his shadow MoeMoe. They were bird watching on the window sill until Maggie and Didi started a commotion inside that caused them to switch to dog watching. All of the cats are just waiting for spring. They are constantly at the windows and poking their heads out the door but not wanting to actually step into the snow. It is OK now but by spring they will be wailing up and down the halls with impatience for the grass.

Dr. Seuss

For some reason, he always makes me think of a Dr. Suess illustration when he sleeps like this.

At it until dusk...

Helped Judy with roses today and when I dug her yellow climbing rose to move it, it was two separate roots. I have a yellow climbing rose now. I wrote down the name but then left it on her table. When I got home, I stayed outside until dusk when Jake came along to scream at me in an attempt to remind me it was getting dark. It was another beautiful day. Forecast is for rain on Sunday.

Sunday, Fun Day

Today was an awesome day. The weather was beautiful as we seem to be getting our long awaited Summer this Fall. Better than +30 today but I wasn't keeping track so I don't know how much better. We went into the city for my Dad's Birthday Bash. A good time was had by all and I got great photos of smiling faces. Then we popped over to Gordon's and took photo's of Herb for him. Sean was there so we visited for a bit before heading home. I did manage to get the Henry Hudson Rose cutting in the ground, watered and mulched so now it is just cross my fingers until Spring on that one. Still drying Dahlia, Calla, Begonia and Ranunculus. Still more to dig. If we have many more days like this, it will be no problem. It has been absolutely perfect gardening weather for more than a week now. I am lovin' it!

Sweet Smell of Summer

The last two days have been perfect for gardening. The weather has been dry but cool. Afternoons have not been too hot. The dahlia and seeds have started to bloom, giving me a taste of what it will be like next year if I can get it all in a little earlier. Funny how the gardener in me is always thinking of next year, or the year after. At least I don't do that at the risk of missing this year. I take my cues from the cats and enjoy my garden every day, usually more than once. Today, the hummingbirds came several times to the Nursery delphinium and we watched them for quite awhile. One even ventured as close to us as the Dropmore off the deck. We have stopped putting hummingbird food out because we finally have enough flowers to bring them and get them their fill. Then, when I came around the corner on The Road Less Traveled, the smell of sweet clover and vetch was undeniable. We are right in the middle of summer, the time the yard smells the best. Not because of the roses, the lily or even the summer phlox. But because the ditches are full of blooming weeds. It won't be many days before someone from down the road comes along with a big, billowing piece of equipment and mows them all down. Sadly, it has to be done. Many of the local fields are hayed and weeds do not make good winter feed. What they do make is sweet smelling air that I am on a countdown to enjoy and planning on making the most of it... this year.

Seeking Refuge

Caught Hannah seeking shade or a hiding spot from the dogs under the Columbine and Peony. I took another photo of the red Columbine today which I am thinking more and more is the same as the one I lost from the shade bridge garden. All of the roses are pruned now and the sun gardens are officially ready for the expansion plan this year. Three blooms on the poppy. It seemed like it opened suddenly although I am sure I just did not notice it in time. Hard to notice things knee deep in weeds which is where I have been when not still planting. Such an odd year. The end is in sight though on the weed front and with no rain today, dare I say, perhaps on the wet soil front as well?

Waiting Out the Rain

Jake tried hard to wait while I was doing a health check on Linda's Allium patch but Jake is really no good at waiting so this Serenity Now pose did not last long. These days I can empathize with him about waiting things out, especially as today, in the early afternoon, rain clouds arrived and stayed until dark... bringing rain with them. I will not wish the rain away though because I do remember when it was dry. They are equally bad garden problems here. On the bright side, I found two wild rose growing along the bush edge at the front. Right where I planted them. Still exciting though because I have been planting them what seems like forever and although wild rose grows prolifically all over the bush edge, it never seems to want to grow where you actually plant it. I was delighted to see it is finally taking.

Hannah About the House

This is Hannah sitting on top of an old ladder in the bird sanctuary. She loves to bird watch and would bird hunt if it didn't bring Miles with a hose to spray her out of the sanctuary. She contents herself with watching because Hannah hates being wet. We got Hannah with our house. She has lived 3 or maybe 4 more years here than we have. She was very happy to share it with us but she does not like sharing it with the other cats. Dogs she likes, cats she doesn't. She doesn't fight with them but she certainly doesn't associate with them either. Mostly she ignores cats. She thinks she is a dog and can be found playing with Moxie quite often.

Samantha Contemplating

Samantha is our Chocolate Point Siamese. She is very shy and most of our infrequent visitors have not even met her... she takes awhile to warm up to new people. She also does not like The Mayhem. She loves the other dogs but Didi, Maggie and Moxie move too fast and are too energetic for her. I call Samantha my little monkey face because she has the cutest little chimp face with big doe eyes. She also has the quietest little meow that sounds more like "meep" than "meow". Here, she is sitting on my garden maps trying to figure out where to plant all the tulips last fall.

Sleepy-Eyed Solomon

This is Solomon. Our Bluepoint Siamese. Solomon is relentlessly pursued by and very much loved by MoeMoe. Solomon has a really loud purr and he bites your head to show how much he loves you. He will actually bite you anywhere because he cannot contain his enthusiasm but your head is always his favorite place to bite. At least he doesn't try to use your hair as dental floss which one of our other cats, Snowball, used to do. Snow passed away last year but she used to be Mom to all the other cats. We miss her as much as they do.

Francis Flick Flake

Our old man. Francis is a seal-point Siamese and is our oldest cat. He is very mellow but talkative. He has a particular meow that sounds just like he is moaning "Ow, my eye!" Translated to english, it means "open the door, please". All of the cats like to spend time in the catmint.

Wild Thing

This is MoeMoe, our Egyptian Mau or... little wild thing ! In this photo she is very Zen, something we rarely see with her. When you pet MoeMoe, the end of her tail curls and starts to vibrate like a rattle snake. She is constantly on the move and has been known to attack sleeping dogs.

Moe Moe is Solomon's shadow. You have not yet met Solomon here but when you do, remember to feel sorry for him because she is relentless in her pursuit.

taken with Fuji FinePix S8000fd

Jake the Snake

photo by Miles with Canon Powershot A70

This is Jake. He was adopted from the shelter. I didn't mean to get him and actively tried to find others to take him but in the end, he was destined for us. I was at the shelter picking up someone else's cat when I felt a push on the back of my shoulder. I ignored it. Again, a push, just a little harder. I shuffled slightly away and ignored it. We already had 8 cats, I knew turning around was not a good idea.

Apparently I didn't shuffle far enough and the next push was accompanied by a meow. When I turned around, there he was. Seemingly desperate. After dropping off the cat I went to get, I started calling everyone I thought needed a cat. No takers. Two days later I was back at the shelter secretly hopeful that he had been adopted. Of course, in the end, I am happy he wasn't. Jake is sweet but persistent. He loves to stick his face right in your face and purr. If that doesn't get your attention, he will proceed to running his teeth along the edge of your nose until you really feel it!