Feed the Birds!

It is very cold here, and the birds are really clamoring round the birdfeeders these days.  My old wooden feeders have gotten pretty broken down, so Annie and Sammy helped me put up a beautiful new feeder I got for Christmas.

My old feeders need some refurbishing:

 

The new feeder is up and ready for birds!

This is mostly how the dogs "helped":

Meanwhile, back inside, kitty snoozes are underway.  Gold Kitty is bravely on the bed with Tiger in the same wing of the house as Winston.  Every time GK gets a peek at Winston, GK hisses, growls, spits, and makes a general fuss while Winston watches him wondering what his problem is.

Here is Winston.  He is working hard to put on weight & I think has succeeded a bit.

Last snooze picture: Miss Kitty Mittens and Mousie from last week --

New Faces

In 2012, we lost our beloved Alice and Harry Kitty.  It was hard to adjust to life without them, but in 2013, we added some new family members we would like to introduce now. 

Meet Annie:

Annie came to live with us in April 2013.  BB found her on the local SPCA site and we loved the picture of her sweet face.  We found out that she had been adopted once and returned after three months and she was only about 10 months old.  When we met her, she would not make eye contact with us and was scared.  We couldn't leave her!  Since April, Annie has gained lots of weight and lots of confidence!  She loves chewie bones, playing with her big bother Sammy, and being outside. 

This is Miss Kitty Mittens of Pea Ridge.  She is about 7 months old and was born in Miss Karen's barn.  Kitty Mittens enjoys playing pounce and playing with her mousie. 

Our newest edition is Winston, an elderly gentleman cat we found lost/abandoned in our alley a week ago.  Winston is happy to be inside with food and a soft bed.  Tiger isn't much bothered by Winston, but Gold Kitty is having some trouble adjusting.  Having trouble uploading pictures now, so more pictures later!

Remembering Harry Kitty

 We are very saddened to report that Harry Kitty, a longtime resident of Pea Ridge, has passed away after a lengthy and courageous struggle with diabetes.  Harry Kitty was diagnosed with diabetes 5 years ago.  At that time, Dr. Marybeth thought Harry might survive another two years at the outside.  Harry Kitty defied the odds and lived five years with this serious illness, thanks in part to the excellent care he received from Dr. Marybeth as well as from Nana and Daddy Bill. 

Harry came to live in Pea Ridge in 1998 after being abandoned by unknown persons and rescued by LizzyBean.  His special story was related on this blog several years ago.  Harry blossomed in Pea Ridge; there could have been no better place for him to land.  Harry loved his great big yard in the country.

With all the attention he received from his new family, Harry became a very gregarious and outgoing kitty.  He spent much of his time on the kitchen table in the middle of any action.  Nana did not necessarily like Harry on the table during meals, but Harry didn't much care.  Harry loved to talk to everyone. 

 

 Harry especially enjoyed visits from BB and spent many hours with her playing Baby Born (Harry liked to lick Baby Born's head), My Little Pony, and Barbie.  He just liked hanging out with her at any age, no matter what she was doing.

Harry enjoyed his yard, snacking, taking naps, and hanging out with his family.  
 

We will miss you, beautiful and funny Harry Kitty.
 

Summer Garden & Horse Show News

All the plants that we started from seed are really blooming now -- the sunflowers "summertime mix" and "ruby eclipse" have begun to bloom --

  I'm very proud of my basil that you see Sammy surveying: 

 

 The crepe myrtles are in full bloom:

 

Sammy still runs through here but it looks okay:

The trumpet vine is beautiful this year, but we haven't seen any hummingbirds at all.  The bees really like it.

 BB and Beau went to a small horse show this morning -- it was really hot & no covered arena!  They competed in the western classes and had some good placings.  But really it was just for fun and practice & they had plenty of both!

  

Sedona

 I always enjoy looking at the travel posts of blog friends-- it is vicarious travel for me & so interesting to see places people visit.  So I thought I would post some of my recent past travels.   Last February BB and I visited our friends in AZ.  Our friends drove us north to Sedona to see the rock formations.  It is always sunny in AZ -- except the day we went to Sedona! It was rainy and cold when we got there so we decided to take the shorter of the jeep tours down into one of the valleys.  Luckily, it cleared as we were out so we had some good views.  Sedona is known for its beautiful red rock formations and the crystals embedded in the rock.  Many old western movies were made in Sedona and in Monument Valley because the landscape is so dramatic and the colors are so vibrant. I didn't get as may pictures as I would have liked because the weather cooperated only at the end!

 

 

Below are the naturally occurring crystals in the rock -- Sedona used to be a big New Age hangout, but that seems to have waned somewhat.  

 

 Our guide pointed out the agave plants -- these are the plants that provide us with margaritas!  So they are obviously very important.   They only bloom once in their lives, and after they bloom they die.

 

 

Here we are -- you can see it's cold as we are all bundled up!  Our friends are on the left and we are on the right. 

 

Several years ago BB and I traveled to Monument Valley with Nana and Daddy Bill -  I'll have to post some of those pictures some time.  

Spring Gardening with Sammy, Part II

Sammy and I got busy with planting seedlings during the last couple weeks, but we had to "Sammy-proof" them so he wouldn't stomp all over them before they had a chance to establish.  Sammy has to keep the fence perimeter free of squirrel intruders and sometimes doesn't look where he is going.

He's only gotten tangled up once! 
One of the Summertime Mix plants has already bloomed:

 I bought some flowers to plant yesterday and I thought I had it all solved to keep Sam out  -- a little stepping stone path that would cut through to the pool decking under the tree.

 

 

 

If you look left of the stones you will see the actual path that Sam likes to take; I know this now.  He stomped through my gerber daisies and I ended up having to move two of them this morning!

Sunday at the Barn Plus Farm Fresh Eggs!

Friends, we have more than our fair share of horse trouble over the past year.  But finally, we have found perfect situations for both our horses, Beau and Whiskey River.  Beau is at a wonderful new barn and we have the best trainer in the world -- Miss Jeannie --  working with he and BB.  BB is having a great time on Beau and is starting to show again -- they are both doing great.  Whiskey is at another barn and has several little girls who ride him hunter/jumper and just love him!  Both horses are very happy and healthy.

Here is Beau in the cross-ties with BB ready to groom:

 Working the curry comb!

This is Beau's stall:

Looking through the west wing of the barn:

The barn has some new babies :

Miss Jeannie also keeps chickens so I bought a dozen eggs from her and had my first taste of farm fresh eggs this weekend.   

Becky at Becky's Barnyard told me that the yolks would be much brighter and she was right -- they were a bright orange color when cooked!

Yum!