10-2-13 – Crooked Acres Wednesday

Posted on by Robyn

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Kar asked in the comments yesterday why the comments to older posts are no longer available to be read. They actually are available – you just have to click on the post title (today it’s 10/2/13) to go directly to that post, and get the comments to show. The comments close on posts after 3 weeks because I get hit with so many spam comments that it’s easier to just have them shut automatically (Akismet caught over 3,000 spam comments last week, by the way). The theme I’m using now doesn’t show the link to comments if they’re closed (but the comments are still there – you just have to know how to get to them!)

However, since not everyone knows that, I’ve decided that it’s easiest to just put a “jump to the comments” link at the top of each post, and a “comments” link at the bottom. Those will keep showing up even after the comments are closed, which will make life easier for us all.

Now, since I have to remember to change the post link every time I write a post, and since I’m 100% sure that at some point I will space on doing that, if you click on the link and you’re taken to a previous day’s comments, PLEASE let me know!

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Sights from around Crooked Acres.


This is Wanda; I don’t remember if I’ve introduced y’all to her before. She escapes the back forty just about every day, and wanders (thus the name, get it?) around the property. She spends most of her time eating bird seed under the bird feeders in the side yard. When Fred goes out to gather eggs and feed the chickens in the afternoon, he lets her back in.


Time for a dust bath.


George and Gracie like to hang out in the pig yard (since we didn’t have pigs this year, Fred left the gate between the back forty and the pig yard open), and when they see one of us coming, they slink out, looking guilty. I don’t know why they’ve decided they’re not really supposed to be back there – and they haven’t gotten in trouble for it – but they still look SO guilty.


“Ah lubs it back there. It smells like bacon!”


This is the hen we call “The Basketball.” She was one of the Cuckoo Marans we got at the flea market in the Spring. Fred started calling her The Basketball because she’s round, but it wasn’t until recently that he realized why she’s round – her back is severely curved to the side. She doesn’t seem to be in any pain, and she gets around just fine. I’m not sure what will happen if her body decides it’s time to start laying eggs, because I can’t imagine that her insides are constructed properly. All we can do is wait and see. She also manages to get up on the roost at night, and balances by hanging one of her wings over the front of the roost. She’s kind of amazing, actually. I hope she’s around for a good long time.


Adolescent rooster. He’s obviously hit his leggy stage.


The Rock Star is still rockin’ that mullet.


I made a recipe that neither Fred nor I cared for – but the chickens thought it was AWESOME.


She got a big ol’ chunk of sponge cake and ran off to eat it in peace.


The dogs couldn’t have any of the cake (since it had chocolate in it), so they got whipped cream as a consolation prize.


Gracie was like “WE NEEDZ TO HAVE THIS MORE OFTEN!”


::thlurp::


“MORE ON MY TONGUE RIGHT HERE, PLEASE.”


Cruella with a whipped cream-covered beak.


“MY TONGUE NEEDZ MORE.”


Happy, happy pup.

Okay, the next segment is a few creepy spider pics. Click here to skip ’em.

Putting space here.

So you don’t have to see the spiders.

If you don’t want to.

Making room…

Spiders coming…

Are you ready?

Here they come….

Okay, that’s probably enough space.

Right?

A little more.

Okay, I think the spider-haters have skipped by.

Here we go.


Dolores has come and gone. The instant the nights went below 60, ol’ Dolores was gone. I look forward to seeing her again next Summer!


Black Widows just look SO freakin’ evil. This one lives in the compost bin in the back yard (it has a cover on it; the cats can’t get into it. STOP WORRYING.) I probably should kill it… but I haven’t yet, because I forget she’s there, and then I don’t have anything to kill her with. I don’t think Fred knows she’s there, and I’m not telling him because he’ll get all prissy about it.


I’m not sure what she’s got all wrapped up here, but it looks… leggy. I hope she enjoyed it, and didn’t choke on any legs.

Space

Space

Spider space

Space spiders

Hey, no one tell the skippers that they missed space spiders.

It’s our secret.

Shhhhhh.

Space

Space

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They look so sad and serious at this age, even though they’re the happiest little things. (That’s Dr. Melfi, pinned down by Meadow.)


Meadow is just a tiny little morsel that will fit perfectly in your mouth and tastes like cotton candy and marshmallow fluff.


Livia appears to be having Funny Thoughts.


“HI MAMA! TIME TO EAT!”


“Aren’t they too old for this nonsense?”


“Seriously?”

I put out litter boxes on Monday because I found that the blanket in the crate was soaked through (thankfully, I had a washable waterproof pad on the bottom of the crate!) Monday evening, Paulie Walnuts was acting whiny and like he didn’t know what he wanted to do, so I set him in the litter box. He looked around, whined some more, and then used the litter box. He did it again during the day Tuesday, and Meadow did too, so I think we’ve begun the figuring-out-the-litter-box stage. Which involves lots of litter-eating. Although I’ll say that I’m not sure they ingest all that much litter – they seem to get it in their mouths and then just walk around with it in their mouths. Then they spit it out, or let me dig it out for them. Silly kittens.

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“EXCUSE ME, LADY, I’M GOING TO HAVE TO ASK YOU TO RETURN TO THE BACK YARD, WHERE I CAN PROPERLY PROTECT AND KEEP AN EYE ON YOU.”


“Is for your own good!”

Those pictures came out pretty well, considering that I took them with the fence between us.

Yesterday, Kara had her annual trip to the vet (she’s perfectly healthy, it was just her turn). She is officially our smallest cat, at just over 8 pounds (Maxi’s the next-smallest at just over 9 pounds). She’s so small and light, in fact, that one morning last week she jumped up on the bed with me, and I couldn’t figure out where the kitten walking around on my bed had come from.

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Previously
2012: Toesday.
2011: No entry.
2010: No entry.
2009: Good LORD, the smell.
2008: No entry.
2007: Crazy Eyes say, “I am a fearsome creature.
2006: The black Momma cat we first saw about a month ago was back Friday night. (NOTE: This is Maxi!)
2005: No entry.

Comments

39 thoughts on “10-2-13 – Crooked Acres Wednesday”

  1. Great to see George and Gracie’s beautiful faces. I have missed seeing them this summer.

  2. Dr. Melfi, and whoever it was yesterday who wanted to call her Melly, makes me think of Melanie from “Gone With The Wind.” Have you ever done a GWTW theme? Rhett, Scarlett, Ashley, and Melanie want to know! Not to mention Suellen, Careen, Pittypat, and Pork!

    1. I haven’t, but I think another foster mom must have, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen most of those names on the names list. However, Pittypat and Pork? Those are AWESOME kitten names! 🙂

      1. There are LOTS of other GWTW names!

        Gerald
        Ellen
        Brent
        Stuart
        Prissy
        Jonas (even though he was not a nice guy)
        Big Sam
        India
        Charles
        Frank
        Bonnie Blue
        Beau
        Maybelle
        Belle

  3. YAY a crooked acres post! I love crooked acres posts!!!! I have never seen a spiderweb with that zipper running down the middle. It really is cool.

    I think I have a theory about why black widows look so evil. Their color and shapes are all wrong – they are TOO perfect. Seems to me like in nature, when things are black, they are actually extremely dark brown. And the red – it’s TOO perfect of a red. They look manufactured, like some evil alien scientist is making these perfectly round, perfectly marked spiderbots to come take over humanity. And their only flaw in their evil plan was that we have SHOES with which to squish them. Yikes.

    1. I find that using a shoe to squish Black Widows makes all the skin shiver right off my body. I usually use a stick. A LONG one. 🙂

  4. Ok, I love, love, love Kara’s grumpy little face. As soon as I saw there was fence in the picture and Kara’s mouth was open in a meow, I knew you were being chided for being outside the fence, lol.

  5. Like mother like daughter. Dora (Inara) is about the weight of her bio-mom Kara. At her last check up the vet asked if she was a hunter because she was so muscular. You would have thought I had made her that way with the look of pride I had on my silly face!

  6. Today on the morning news I watch, during the entertainment segment, they mentioned that today is the birthday of the actress who played Dr. Melfi. Since I have never watched The Sopranos, your blog is the only reason I even know anything about Dr. Melfi. Thanks for the education!

  8. Wow, with all of that Au-thor-ree-tie resting on Sheriff Mama’s shoulders, you’d think she’d weigh a bit more! 😉

  9. Those pictures of George and Gracie with their tongues stuck out for more ice cream had me laughing for waaay longer than they should have!

    Also Sheriff Mama certainly seems to have the law-woman’s evil eye down pat. She sees what you’re doing and doesn’t like it one bit! I’m also amazed that she’s so light. Who is your heaviest cat out of all the permanent residents?

    1. I’ll have the definite answer in Friday’s post, but I’m pretty sure it’s Newt. Most of the cats weigh between 10 and 12 pounds, but Newt’s heavier than that, I believe (I need to find the notebook where I have it written down!)

  11. Sheriff Kara really does have that – “Don’t mess with me I’m the law” look about her! So funny… Love this litter Robyn… all of them are so cute.

  12. So funny about Paulie Walnuts and the whining and the litter box — the litter box success, I might add! 🙂

    Why does it amuse me so much to see dogs and chickens enjoying whipped cream?? (And cake too for the cluckers!)

  13. I thought I read somewhere that cats have a natural immunity to black widow bites?

    I’ve been meaning to ask, what kind of noise does Sheriff Mama make when you’re on the wrong side of the fence? My hubs and I like to sit on our swing outside, which happens to be within view of the front door. My cat sits on the other side of the door the whole time we’re out there, making the most pitiful, mournful meows because she’s not out there with me. Or because I’m not inside with her. But you make it sound more like Sheriff Mama is yelling at you.

    2. It’s a squeaky meow, but she looks so intense while she’s doing it, that we KNOW she’s not kidding! Here’s what her meow sounds like.

      Black Widows actually worry me more than Brown Recluses, as far as the cats are concerned, because the Widows can be aggressive, whereas the Recluses generally immediately run away (and they are FAST.) We’ve never seen a Black Widow in the house – I suspect if we ever did, the house would mysteriously burn down immediately after.

  14. Great to see the chickens and George and Gracie enjoying their special treats. Did Cruella get the whipped cream of of her beak ?

    Livia sure will be a happy camper when she doesn’t have to “tend” 7 little bottoms anymore !!!!

    I love going back to the video of Sheriff Mama’s squeaky meow!! Of course some of the expressions on her face you could “dub” in Clint Eastwood’s voice saying “Get Off My Lawn!”

    1. Yes, Cruella wiped her beak on the grass to clean it off. Lucky thing she did – the dogs might have licked it off for her otherwise, and I don’t think she’d like that at all!

  15. two other ways to jump to the comments–click on the number of comments at the top right of the post in the little cartoon caption, which only disappears when the comments are open. Or scroll down & click on the “comments” link at the end. Now we have three ways, and no excuse 🙂

    Spiders are cool! From a distance, that is, and not in the dark.

    1. The cartoon caption disappears when the comments close in 21 days, and I couldn’t figure out how to make that stop happening (a web site developer, I am not!), but this way with the hand-coded links at the top and bottom, they’ll continue to be there once the “bubble” goes away.

      1. I am an idiot. I never noticed that they disappeared over time! I look at L&H every day, but I haven’t tried looking at old comments.

        1. I about had an aneurysm trying to figure out what was going on – I still don’t understand why the design is set up like that, it seems a little ridiculous!

    1. Toasty the Rooster packed his bags and headed for Freezer Camp Saturday night, actually. He was a good rooster and did a decent job of keeping the hens protected, but we very much needed to get some new blood into the flock. RIP Toasty!

    1. I’m sure she’ll get a better name in time – right now, it’s just a convenient way to identify her. I’ve shortened it to BB recently. 🙂

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