OMG!!! KITTENS!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone is having a nice Memorial Day weekend.  It is quite eventful here on the farm.
Look!!!

Five kittens!

Here is the story...We are animal lovers and rescuers, and around about January this skin and bones young black cat appeared in the barn.  He was SO wild, we have spent months trying everything we could think of to catch this feral cat to have him neutered.  So we fed him, and he hung around.  All the wild cats that appear around here have always been males, as they are wandering.   Anyway, about mid April he finally began putting on weight, then disappeared for a day and returned all thin and sleek again!!
Haha, the joke's on us, she  showed us way up high behind a barn beam where she had her kittens  by deliberately walking to it right in front of me.  We never would hear anything up there, and we worried that maybe the raccoons got them.  Yesterday I went out to feed the horses, and there were 4 kittens!  She had brought them down from up high.

So now that they have actually been born, it is my responsibility to keep them from being eaten !  So I set up a large dog cage in the barn with bedding in it, put the kittens in, then sat ALL Afternoon in the heat about 4 feet away from the cage.  The mother FINALLY went in to nurse, and BAM, I kicked the door shut!  Success, finally!!!  We carried the entire cage inside and up to a spare bedroom.  What a relief...all is well.

Then yesterday morning (the next day) I went out to feed the horses again, and there was another kitten crying his eyes out!  We missed one!  I would have thought the mother would have known one was missing, but I guess she can't count.  This little kitten survived almost 24 hrs in the heat, without nursing, and with raccoons coming  around at night!  I brought him right in to nurse, and I think it spent hours nursing...all is well now and I can't even tell which of the two black ones it is.  There are two black, two torties, and one calico.

Now here is something else interesting.  While I was waiting out the mother the other day to get in the cage, I talked and talked to her, and told her that I wasn't going to hurt her, that life would be so much better for her and her babies, never hungry, never cold.  Then after I finally caught her in the cage, she just immediately calmed down, almost like had understood me.  This wild, feral cat now lets me pet and stroke her, and hold her babies,  and I think knows that all is safe now.

All five kittens are already spoken for, we have lots of animal lover friends!  They will all be neutered and have their shots, and live a nice life!

Sorry to ramble on so, but this has been quite exciting here, and such a relief to know that everyone is safe now.

Melinda

A few oldies but goodies

Hello friends,
As we go into a very dry Memorial Day weekend, I thought I would share a few pictures of samplers stitched years ago ...oldies but goodies.  We are having a drought here in sw Ohio, and in May!!  We normally have a wet spring, and everything should be so lush and green, instead of drying out already.  I spent all day today watering the garden, trying to keep things alive...I can't imagine what it will be like in the heat of the summer if it is this bad already.

Enough complaining, here are a few pictures I took today, sorry for the nasty flash bounce.

First is Hannah Pepper, from SANQ years ago.  The beautiful antique frame was given to me by my good friend,  Pattianne.  It was the perfect size!

Next is Mary Livcey.  I remember the day that Pattianne and I saw this chart in a shop, we were so excited!  We had never seen a turkey on a sampler, and from then on referred to this sampler as "turkey".  This was back in the day before all the internet shopping when you actually went to the local needlework shop, before they all went out of business :(

This is the simple God Bless Queen Charlotte sampler.  The frame that I used is actually an old side insert from a grandfather clock.

This is Sarah Piggott.  Christmas samplers are rare, and I still think this is so precious.

Finally, this is Martha Smith from Scarlet Letter ...way, way back.  See how at the bottom she didn't put in the letters that were missing, just xxx?  Something like Thomas Gibson was born July the 14?  Just my guess.

Wishing everyone a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend.  I took some more pictures of old samplers and will try to post more in a day or so.

Melinda

Happy Mother's Day to Me and You!

Hello, I hope everyone out in blog land has had a wonderful Mother's Day.  It was overcast here and spit rain occasionally, but nothing to put a damper on this special day!  My son gifted me with flowers and a gift card from Olive Garden to take me to dinner, and his long time girlfriend, Joanna (probably my future daughter-in-law) made me this darling terrarium with succulents.   She is so creative!

I also did a little Mother's Day shopping for myself!  I hope that is not too awfully tacky, but I picked up this beautiful mirror and the old spool box.  The mirror is, I'm guessing, Eastlake design, probably walnut, and I love the age on the mirror part itself.  The spool box underneath is also walnut, and both the drawers and the box itself are beautifully dovetailed.  Somebody has decided to "antique" it, but for what I paid, that is alright.  Perhaps I will eventually strip it down to the original finish.  I'll put that on my list :)

This tine of year, most of my day is spent in the garden.  This is a beautiful David Austin rose, Gertrude Gekyll, in bloom.  I love English roses, but most of them are not suited for this climate (I know, I've tried), but this particular one seems to love her home.  I've even ordered another one!

Here is a picture looking back toward the garden and barn.

The evenings are spent either rug hooking or stitching, and I try to occasionally work in some cleaning!!  haha!

Happy Mothers Day to all,
Hugs,
Melinda