8-30-12 – Crooked Acres Thursday

Posted on by Robyn

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Sights from around Crooked Acres.


I love Morning Glories so very much. I don’t even care that they climb all over everything in the garden. They’re so pretty.


Autumn Clematis. This is growing over the greenery in the back yard where the cats hang out. It’s pretty invasive, but it’s blooming right now and smells SO good, so as far as I’m concerned let it invade!


It grows on the back yard fence, too (I transplanted some so that it would grow there.)


Okra bloom. I love these, too.


Itty bitty okra (about an inch and a half long).


And BIG okra. This one’s about a foot long. They grow so fast that it’s hard to get them all before they’re too big. Luckily, if they’re too big and tough to eat, we either give them to the pigs (pigs are not known for being picky) or give them to the cats to play with. I swear I’ve got okra pods kicking around here from three summers ago. The cats love ’em!


The okra took a long time to get going, but now the tallest plant is probably approaching 7 feet.


Honeysuckle’s blooming, too. It smells so good in the back yard right now – if you don’t smell the Autumn Clematis blooming, you smell the honeysuckle. They make up for the occasional Eau de Steenky Peeg that wafts through the back yard.


The honeysuckle is growing all over a boxwood. This is directly outside the guest bedroom window. When you see pictures of the kittens who are in the guest bedroom (currently, the Pickles) sitting on the cat tree and looking out the window, they’re looking at this bush – and probably bees and birds flitting around the bush. This is also the bush where Alice hid when we first spotted her, almost two years ago.


Fred tilled the dried corn stalks into the garden. That green you see to the left are weeds gone wild in the row of peppers. The fence is what the pole beans (now mostly dead) grew up, and which is currently supporting a nice crop of morning glories.


Cookie time!


Is it just me, or do they look like they’re about to charge at me like short, round bulls? (There was a fence protecting me so they wouldn’t have gotten too far.) Warning: the pigs will be going off to freezer camp in another month. Don’t get too attached.


Dragonfly?


Damselfly!


Toasty the rooster would like you to stop eyeballing his wimminfolk, please and thank you.


Happy pup.


Unnamed rooster looks a little worried and confused.


Now, is that a fine figure of a rooster, or what?


That spells Tom Cullen.


Dust bathing in the maternity yard.

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Petey Pickle would like you to know that he weighs OVER two pounds now!


Not to be left behind, Polly Pickle ALSO weighs over two pounds.


Percy Pickle, over two pounds as well.


Joe Pickle’s the heaviest Pickle, at two pounds, 4 ounces.


The Terrible Pickleheaded house elf (occasionally known as Tony Rocky Horror Pickle) is, however, NOT over two pounds. He’s a mere slip of a kitten at one pound, nine ounces. Considering only three weeks ago he was fading away to nothing, on the verge of death, and dipped down to half a pound, I think he’s doing great!

Although all the Pickles (except the Terrible one) are over two pounds, they’re not even two months old yet (they’ll hit the two month mark on Sunday), and so they’re not being rushed off to be spayed and neutered. Because really, what’s the hurry? They won’t go to Petsmart ’til they’ve had all their vaccinations, and that won’t happen for another month.

They’re healthy, they’re having no litter box issues, all we have to do now is just enjoy them! I’m going to give them another 10 days or so (Polly has started sounding snuffly, so I want to make sure it’s not going to develop into an upper respiratory issue), and then they’ll be released into Gen Pop during the days.

I assure you that Miz Poo can’t WAIT.

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Bath time for Purslane.


And Dandelion.


“Blegh. This paw tastes awful.”


“A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”


Thistle’s eyes have improved a ton over the last week. You can still see a bit of her inner eyelid, but a week ago her eye was half-covered with it. Not that it slowed her down any, you understand.

Speaking of weights (like I was up there regarding the Pickles), all of the Weeds girls are now over a pound. They started out at 13 1/2 – 14 ounces, gained a few ounces, lost a few over the weekend, and now they’re all solidly over a pound. I bet the Terrible Pickle would look like a giant next to them!

(A giant belly, anyway.)

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Today’s Crooked Acres Cover Boy is Joe Bob, the long and lanky lovebug.


“What?”

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Previously
2011: Everett’s all “I’ve got it, bro!”
2010: Martin and Melodie battle it out.
2009: Earlier today, my husband referred to Sam’s “eyelips”, and I laughed until I wheezed.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Don’t you FORGET IT.

Comments

59 thoughts on “8-30-12 – Crooked Acres Thursday”

  1. Joe Bob is gorgeous!
    Love all the pics around Crooked Acres! OKra blooms are very pretty!! The pigs DO want to bulldoze you over because they have HEARD of freezer camp!!!!
    Over 2 lbs!!! Congrats!

      1. Was she the first one named? Because I can totally see her inspiring the weed theme with her dandelion-y self.

        1. Actually, he came up with the theme and then found names to match it. She was almost Clover, except that that’s been used by the shelter before. I can’t imagine her as a Clover!

  6. Well now I know what that darned climbing thing I have is! Autumn Clematis! And I thought I had seen some honeysuckle blooming somewhere but I only thought it bloomed earlier in the year so you have answered TWO things that were making me go hmmm… Oh Wise One! Thank you! LOL!

  9. Gorgeous pics today. LOVE the morning glories. Oh and the pigs-too late I’m already attached. I would kindly ask that you refrain from mentioning the “unmentionable” any further. If they quietly slip away from the pictures on Thursday’s I will never notice. Especially if there are beautiful pictures of lovely little kitties to take their place. I thought that Polly was my pick of the Pickles but Percy is adorable and Joe has a certain twinkle in my eye as well.

    1. Haha thank you. I wasn’t sure if I would offend someone – it /is/ a trifle irreverent. 🙂

  11. One of my great childhood memories is that we lived in a house with morning glories growing all over the deck. I never got to see them because I slept to late. I was about 5 at the time. Every morning I would rush out and they’d be closed. Finally one morning my Mom woke me up at like 6am so I could see them. I now have them growing on all the short fence that leads to the back yard.

    1. Morning Glories can NOT be killed off and need no taking care of btw. Get some planted somewhere you don’t mind having them forever and walk away. Every year – no matter what you do (except for maybe burning and salting the ground, but that’s only a maybe) they will come back. I love them too – and have NO green thumb (unlike Robyn and Fred) and they’re about the only thing I can consistently grow. 🙂 Seriously – I had them growing on a fence and wanted to put them somewhere else and it took 4 years of pulling them up and spraying with roundup and I still have a few that come up there each year.

      None of this is to knock Robyn’s growing abilities btw – she (and Fred) do have green thumbs and I am impressed at the number and variety of things they grow each year!!

      1. Do they climb? I have a couple of trellises that my hubby built for climbing roses, and the ivy has totally taken over there (where does it even COME from?). The idea of maintenance-free flowers appeals to me.

        1. “I don’t even care that they climb all over everything in the garden.”

          *sigh* Reading comprehension, Noelle…

          1. Heheh. Morning Glories are the ultimate in maintenance free. Fred hates them and calls them weeds, but he knows how much I like them and doesn’t pull them up. 🙂

      2. Not only do I think that Morning Glories are gorgeous, but I LOVE that they’re so tenacious and don’t need any babying. When it comes to babying – as far as plants go – if I can’t eat it, I don’t baby it! 🙂

  13. My neighbor has morning glories that are all over her yard and she keeps transplanting them to all her flower beds cause it is apparently the only thing she can keep alive. Since they are spreading to my yard – – You are more than welcome to come and dig them up. LOL!!!

    1. Several years ago, in our previous house, I actually saved seeds from the Morning Glories we had growing. I still have them because I’ve never needed to use ’em!

  15. I wish I had your affinity for Morning Glory. I had to chop down all of my Summit Raspberry canes a few weeks ago when the Morning Glory overtook them. They’ll come back, of course (the raspberries). I’ll be out all weekend clearing every speck of dirt out of the upraised berry beds and refilling with Morning Glory free (hopefully) dirt and replanting the berry plants. We don’t have that beautiful blue variety of Morning Glory up here in Washington, btw.

  17. Robyn – I CANNOT wait to see photos of Purslane cuddling up to MizPoo! PurslanePoo!! Oh my gawd.

    Your ever adoring fangirl – Sherri

    1. I’m looking forward to that myself – Miz Poo’s look of horror, Purslane ignoring Miz Poo’s look of horror… 🙂

      1. I’m at work – avoiding actually working…so I went to Miz Poo’s page. OMG – she was an adorable baby kitten!!! OH! And – of course – she is STILL adorable and beautiful. Give her a kiss for me.

        If you have the time…give them ALL kisses for me.

  19. I use to live in a small town right down the road that has a whole festival dedicated to okra (the Irmo Okra Strut). Besides yummy fried okra, they sell all sorts of crafts created with dried okra pods, my favorite being the Santa ornaments! But no one ever thought to sell them as cat toys!!

    *smooches* to Joe Bob!

    1. To be fair, if I had to actually buy okra for cat toys, I wouldn’t, but since they’re here…

      Okay, that’s a lie. I’d totally buy them as cat toys! 🙂 The down side is that once they’re dried out, they crack pretty easily when you step on them.

      I should use some as Christmas ornaments this year!

  20. I have to let you know I finally caved and bought Da Bird. After watching my Cat from Hell show, I realized I was being a lazy cat mom so I got a wand toy and my Gus loved it. He’d bring it to me when he wanted to play. He also stopped, for the most part, chasing and attacking my other two cats to prove his alpha-ness. So I got even a better wand toy – he’d brought that one to me even more. SO Da Bird arrived. Not only did Gus go crazy, but so did Kiefer. My other 2 cats pretty much did not play with the wand toys because of Gus. So I got them both tuckered out and they were happy. Gus is currently hunting down Da Bird. He hasn’t figured out where I put it, but it will be just a matter of time.

    I do have to admit that I did not get Da Bird earlier because I could never find it at the pet store and the cost of shipping drove me nuts. So I got the Da Bird and attachments in one shipment since I knew it would be a hit due to the pictures you’ve posted over the years.

    Gus and Kiefer love you Robyn for bringing Da Bird into their lives!

    Val

    2. I, too, have become a fan of Da Bird! I haven’t tried it with the older kittehs, but Philo and Maggie love it.

  21. I noticed Dandelion’s (and the others) eyes looking much better. Which got me to thinking… how’s Dandie’s hearing (sorry if asked allready)? That’s the first thing I think about when I see an all white cat w/blue eyes.
    I’ve also been thinking of buying Da Bird. All of my crew of 6 are seniors or close to it, so don’t know how big of a hit it would be to them. Guess I should give it a try.
    Joe Bob is one handsome fellow. Would love to meet him.
    Hope Isaac missed you guys.

  22. I think you’re missing a trick here – rather than Sights around Crooked Acres, how about Scents of Crooked Acres?! Because I know there’s plenty of time in your day to mail out ‘Eau de piggy’ and ‘Pong de Peppers’! I bet a wee kitten scent would go down a treat 🙂

  23. Freezer camp! Oh boy! I bet they’re excited!! unless they know what it means… lol
    Did you know you showed every weed with her tongue out today? Kitten tongues, too cute!
    And Joe Bob! Holy crud does he have a long tongue! Was his grandfather an ant eater?? He’s so cute, I can’t stand it!

  24. Re: The Miz Poo/Purslane connection, I was thinking to myself that you created quite a segue there by mentioning Poo and then immediately transitioning to the Weeds with Purslane. I do love the torties…

    And Joe Bob! He looks an awful lot like our gray tuxedo, Buddy. Bud has a narrower band of white down his face and a gray chin, but he is a long an lanky dude as well — though he does have a little fat/loose skin pad that swings to and fro when he runs. He needs a little tummy-tuck to really show off his svelte form.

    1. The Miz Poo/ Purslane segue was entirely unintentional, I promise. 🙂

      Most of our cats have the loose skin pad you mention. In fact, the only ones who don’t are Joe Bob and Kara.

  25. I find I need to share these two photos (not mine), that brought lumps to my throat and made my eyes prickle:

    http://imgur.com/gallery/FNDu9

    http://imgur.com/gallery/PLT2N

    And when I saw that the brown tabby is named Vincent, that gave me an idea for a series of names for a future litter or litters of kittens…not that there will be any more at your house any time soon. Anyway, has there been a series of painters, or artists, used? Names could include Vincent van Gogh (or Vincent and/or Van Gogh), Pablo and/or Picasso, Georgia and/or O’Keeffe, Leonardo and/or daVinci, Peter Paul and/or Rubens, Claude and/or Monet, Salvador and/or Dali, John Singer Sargent, Edvard Munch, Maxfield Parrish, Norman Rockwell, Jackson Pollock, Paul Cezanne, Andy Warhol, Grandma Moses, Rembrandt, yes…I have a classical/liberal arts education and my head is full of very important stuff that serves me well in games of Trivial Pursuit. It’s just a thought.

    1. Oh good lord, those pictures are so SWEET. God bless those hospitals for allowing the cats to come visit.

      There has NOT been a series of painters/ artists – YET. I’m going to add the idea to my file, though, thanks for the suggestions! 🙂

  26. Joe Bob certainly has a long tongue!!! He still has a special place in my heart (the former Moon Man).

  27. “The Terrible Pickleheaded House Elf” ha! that’s great. as long as they don’t need him at Hogwarts,TRHP should be able to continue mingling with the muggles…

  28. Tony & Purslane…
    are the ones I have begun to look forward to reading/seeing about… Lil’ kittheh purrfection I say !!
    Also-
    Am I the only one who laffed until I cried reading ‘tags & filed under’?

    “Chickens, George, Joe Bob, Pigs… George & Gracie, Permanent Residents, Pickles, Weeds”

    xoxo

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