Baby Bridget

This little creature has captured my heart! Bridget is doing quite well and is growing like a weed! All of the house kitties are either tolerating her or playing with her. Princess continues to dislike this little disturbance but no longer hisses when they touch noses. Tiger loves to tackle and rough house with her causing tiny squeals of protest, but she can't get enough Tiger tackles and constantly goes back for more play. Must not hurt too badly! LaQuinta watches her scamper around as does Big Rocky. Sometimes they will join in and bat a ball or chase a toy. Princess will do none of that! The spoiled princess fears that she will no longer reign but Mama convinces each furry feline that she loves each and everyone of her babies. It is wonderful to love on this tiny little thing and watch her enjoy new brothers and sisters knowing full well that if she hadn't cried out that evening, her surroundings would be drastically different, that is if her life would have lasted this long...Bridget is a blessing!

Princess probably wishes Bridget would go away...

Tiger usually is very gentle and does not extend his claws when playing with her.

Big Rock and Bridget love their soft food snacks.

Bridget loves 'Tiger tackles'!

Bridget goes in her huge pen at night (until she is older and stronger) and sleeps very soundly!

Salsa Sunday

I know today is not Sunday, but that is what I did all day this past Sunday...made homemade salsa.

My good friend Janet and her daughter whom I both think a lot of, advised me to grow some German Queen tomatoes this year for salsa. Last year was a mess, the tomatoes were too seedy being the wrong type. Although the salsa came out quite tasty, it was a lot of work. This Spring, I was also advised by our local extension agent to grow some Roma's for salsa. The good husband planted the tomatoes and told me the German Queen's were planted late so they were not ready. Roma's here I come. I picked a bucket full along with some Bell peppers and had lots of onions in the pantry. I was ready to go...

Three hours later I completed the tiresome chore of cleaning, peeling, coring, seeding and hand chopping the required 10 cups. Our's were much smaller than what you see at the store. Word to the wise, do not leave your fresh tomatoes in the boiling water over 12 seconds in order to peel. They will be mushy, difficult to chop and a sloppy mess. Why are there directions out there telling folks to leave them in for a minute? Size did not matter, I tried regular tomatoes and all of them were mushy. Thankfully, after ruining several, I googled and found about.com southern food... which offers sound advice. They advise only 10 seconds, but the skin didn't come off easily around the cored area so I left mine in a couple more seconds.

Now on to the peppers. Much easier, but had to go out and get more. Six large Bell's yielded only 3 cups and the recipe called for 7.5 cups. The onions were last, my eyes watered a bit, not much and I completed all of the prep work.

I boiled the jars, and lids (supposed to only simmer the lids, not bring to full boil) added the extra's and began to spoon in my salsa....guess what? I only got 4 quarts! So much for recipes. They are pretty jars and the good husband liked the salsa, so I suppose all is well on the farm. :)

A Most Dangerous Dare

Life has been super busy with the road project still in the process of completion. It is a pain not being able to go in and out of your driveway at will. Sometimes the waiting is upwards of 15 minutes so getting to appointments on time can be difficult. Will show pics later. The garden is flourishing, though the beans are done, the corn is ready and there are lots and lots of tomatoes and peppers.

Last week while feeding corn, silly 'Thin Face' dared to dare Little Bear's prowess. Little Bear will sit at the very edge of her 'invisible fence' (underground) to watch the deer eat. She does this every evening. This is her version of television or Broadway; this is ultimate dog entertainment! If you read the sidebar about Little Bear then you can surmise that she was fed deer meat as a pup from Mama Dog. She and Coty would like to eat the little fawns. The bucks remain a visual thrill and must give off a different scent as all of the dogs bark at them. For some reason the does do not offer the same level of excitement therefore eliciting a calm and contented Little Bear with no barks escaping from her large jaws. She just sits quietly and watches them.

Little Bear, don't you dare bite me! Thin Face, you are crazy! I will give you a bit of a head start, but you better be fast!
I am way faster than you Little Bear!
Look at Thin Face daring Little Bear! What fun!

See, told you! I am faster than you Little Bear!

With this in mind I think Thin Face decided that Little Bear was not a threat anymore. The barn driveway is safe although a bit close and there is the entire left side of the driveway to access the corn piles. There is no need to go in the yard beside the barn unless you wanted to give chase, offer a dare, are too lazy or maybe just a lame brain. I really do believe Thin Face wanted to dare Little Bear, and Little Bear gave her a tiny head start, what do you think?

The Good, The Bad, The Cute!

You know that old western....The Good, The Bad, The Ugly? Dad and I watched that several times together...well, this post is a bit different...

The Bad...We got washed out...last Friday morning at 8 am our area received 2-3 inches in a half hour and our road close to the entrance became treacherous. On one side the ground goes straight down and in one area it was eaten away underneath and cracking on top which meant another chunk would drop off. Driving was a bit nerve wracking. The water almost reached the same level of the highway resulting in the huge pipe getting clogged with a large log and other debris. The power company had done some clearing a couple of months ago and they just leave the cut up trees instead of shredding the wood resulting in some of the logs and brush going down stream. Wonderful, huh? And there is no way to prove it....

The Good...So, as the very upset husband and I were walking down the highway considering another place to cut out a road, I heard a desperate noise...it was a little meow but there was no cat to match that sound! So, I crossed back over to our side and called 'kitty kitty' and out popped a tiny head surrounded by long weeds next to the road. I picked her up, cradled her in my arms and joined the worried husband who hadn't even noticed what I had done.

So, now you know what we have been fighting( the pic above is a view looking straight down)....since it happened on a weekend we could not reach our excavator man and had to wait until Monday but did get a couple of quotes from other sources. One was very high which caused us great concern as we hadn't any other bids in yet. We considered putting in a small bridge but that cost was astronomical as well. During excavation they discovered the old pipe had rusted out and caved in so we are replacing it as well as adding two smaller ones.

The Cute...I named my new baby, Bridget, thinking at the time we were putting in a bridge. She is a darling and just purrs and purrs. Her farts are unbearable just like Sammy's but maybe that is a digestive reaction to her quality kibble that she might not have received previously. None of the other resident cats want her and hiss with an occasional growl when she gets too close but each day brings better behavior.... Bad kitties. I thought I taught them some manners. Tiger slaps her tiny face gently which is funny...he knows not to put any force behind it like he does his siblings. Guess he wants her to know he is a good face slapper and that she should get used to it. She slapped him back yesterday! So cute!
The road is complete mud now and we have to leave a car across the highway at a neighbors house (thank you good neighbor!). The Kubota takes us through quite easily though Tuesday was a disaster. The pipe delivery man got stuck and as I was backing up, the Kubota 'wallered' sideways (though remained upright thank heavens) into some fill dirt. Both were towed to better ground. Gym and doctor appointments have been cancelled but I was able to accomplish some successful work yesterday. Hopefully the excavators will be able to work today since it is not raining. Although it is a major and costly inconvenience, the good thing is we are safe, had this not happened Bridget might have gotten run over, and we are blessed with good health so all is well on the farm!