Kittens

We started the summer with six cute kittens.

We gave away two in June to a friend, leaving these four.

Four is too many cats, so we  put an ad up online and found homes for two more.

I wanted to keep this one, but at this point I was a little desperate to find homes for them, so if someone wanted one of the kittens, they could have their pick.

Now we just have two – the lucky kitties that we will probably keep.

This is Bobcat, he was born with a deformed, short tail.

We also kept a pure black kitten that we call midnight the second, after her mother.

 

Kittens!

Midnight had six kittens!  We are enjoying them.  Since we sold our chickens, (wanted a chicken free gardening experience this summer) we moved the kitties into the vacated hen house.

Moments after the birth of #4

About 1.5 weeks old.

They are now about 6 weeks, I’ll post more picts when I take them,  If you or anyone you know wants a really cute kitty, let us know.

 

Jacob’s New Friend

Tiger the kitten is sometimes allowed to come into the house.  I try to keep track of him when he is in to make sure he goes back out in a timely fashion (the litterbox is in the garage).  On a few occasions I have become involved in a project and forgotten about the kitty.

Until I go check on the baby and find this.

Bad kitty.  Time to go back outside.

 

The EXTERMINATORS

As you know, we have had a  mouse problem.  I’d like to introduce The Exterminators.  Donated by our family in Idaho (thanks guys!), and named by my sons,

Midnight:

and Tiger:

Happy hunting kitties!

 

Saying Goodbye

A few weeks ago we had to say goodbye to sweet Yukon, our first”kid”.  Yukon joined our family while we still lived in Anchorage, way back in 2002.  He was the best dog we could have wished for.  Great with the kids, he didn’t bark too much, didn’t chase the chickens, and was always so patient when I didn’t have time to walk him.  He was a great jogging and hiking partner, I’ll always remember the night we spent together in a tube tent, in the rain, up in the Uintahs,  I’ve never heard thunder so loud in my life. Yukon was a happy dog, and a great part of our family.

Yukon decided to take himself for a walk late one night and was hit by a truck.  We took him to the urgent pet care were it was determined that he had two herniated disks in his back.  – Other than that and a puncture wound in his armpit, he was fine.

Unfortunately the ruptured disks  left him unable to move his hind legs.  For five days we carried Yukon in and out of the house or garage into the yard(no easy task – he weighed 89 lbs),  came when he whined and tried to figure out what he needed.   Food?  Water?  More sun?  Too much sun – more shade?  We waited, hoping that with time he would be able to walk again.

Finally we made an appointment with the vet, knowing that if after examining him the Dr. thought it unlikely he would recover, we would have to let Yukon go.

We talked to the kids about what Yukon liked to do, run around, go for walks, pee on bushes…  chase his ball, and tried to explain that he wasn’t happy when he couldn’t do any of those things.

This is the kids with our sweet friend before heading to the vet.  The Dr. told Clark that it wasn’t likely that Yukon would improve at all.  So we said goodbye.

That was such a difficult decision to make.  It was so hard to take care of him the way he was, but at the same time it’s not like he was dying.  Just paralyzed.  He was so unhappy though, unable to move around, having to go to the bathroom on his blanket, unable to scoot away from his mess.   I am glad that the experience is behind me, the decision made and that Yukon is not suffering anymore.

But I still miss my friend.

 

Goodbye, Sir Galahad

Our dear, sweet Hadley is gone.

He disappeared a week ago, and was just found the night before last, skin and bones, but alive.

We took him to the vet, the blood test was good.  His liver and kidneys were working fine.  Doc. said to feed him and try to get some meat on those skinny bones, that maybe he wasn’t sick, but just malnurished.

Things were looking good yesterday, he ate and drank, but last night he seemed to be struggling.

This morning when I checked on him he was gone.

Passed away during the night.

We’ll miss you, old friend.

 

Introducing Fuffy

We held our bi-annual garage cleaning recently, and one of the things we rediscovered was a hamster cage my sister had given us a few months ago.  I brought it in to see what it looked like and was soon surrounded by two very curious boys.  “When are we going to get a hamster?”  Ben asked excitedly.  Oh.  I should have realized that if I set up a hamster cage in the house, the boys would want a hamster.  “Let’s go talk to Daddy, and see what he says”.  And off they went.  Clark go on Craig’s List, and later that afternoon we picked up a little dwarf hamster (free to a good home).  The boys were captivated!  On the way home, Ben who was holding it on his lap in a little hamster ball , says  “I think we should call her Fur”.  After some discussion he decided on the name Fluffy.

Let me tell you, Fluffy is one tough little hamster.  The next morning as I was trying to sleep in Ben came upstairs and proudly announced, “Mom!  I gave our new pet a bath!”  Twenty minutes later I hear him loudly instructing his brother, “Dan!  Don’t kick the hamster ball!”  I intervened and made a new rule pertaining to Fluffy.  Ask Mom or Dad BEFORE taking Fluffy out of her cage.  She is much happier now.

 

Aliens in our Backyard

OK. So there aren’t really aliens in our backyard, but that sounded so much better than Animals in our Backyard. And sometimes the animals act like they are from outer space, so I’m sticking to the Alien title.

Introducing….

Yukon. Our Retriever/Lab mix. He’s a great dog, loves to go for walks, play with the kids, guard us from Mountain Lions…

Agate, our half wild cat that Yukon found on one of our walks up the canyon a few years ago.

Sir Galihad, or Hadley for short. He is the king cat. A great mouser/bird killer Doesn’t like Agate, and chases her off the property whenever he gets the chance.
The flock. We have 11 hens and 2 roosters.
This is King Henry. His name says it all- He rules the roost. Except when he’s not watching closely and Wilber sneaks privileges with the Hens. King Henry gets FURIOUS when that happens and chases poor Wilber away.
Wilber is a lone rooster, shunned by the Flock. He’s at the bottom of the pecking order. I’d feel sorry for him, but at least he’s alive. He was abandoned up the canyon, and our neighbor’s dad’s dog found him and took a bite out of him before the Dad saved him and dumped him over the fence into our yard. So he’s really lucky to have such a nice safe place to live, even if he is the outcast. And he is pretty good at sneaking privileges, so don’t feel too sorry for him.