This 'n' that

What better place for a burn barrel than smack dab in the middle of the front yard?

Hey, 'tis the Redneck Way!

When my daughter saw this next photo, she said Dave looked like a demon, conjured up out of the fire.  

Dunno if I'd have put it quite that way.. but you can see her point.   

Monday, 23 July 2007

I was grilling some burgers and look who came over to introduce herself;

Yes, of course I named her 'Burger'.  We'd spotted her 3 or 4 times earlier..

..always carrying the mouse, always in a hurry. She's a mouse-catchin' fool! Anyway, we made friends with her..

..though it's open for debate how much of this was due to her hunger and how much to our feline social skills. 

In any case, when I was having my coffee on Tuesday morning I was greeted by this sight...

Look close. On the hood of the tractor..

That's an extreme zoom shot - this li'l fellow was quite skittish, and vamoosed milliseconds after I snapped that photo. I thought to meself "What a coincidence, two feline visitors two days running." But it turned out to be no coincidence at all. A few minutes later ol' Burger emerged from the pasture, carring a mouse as usual. Only this time, instead of heading down the road, she makes a beeline for our barn. Yup, this was Burger's kitten.. so of course I named him 'Fries'.  Pam figures that mama cat figured we was good folks, and moved her kitten to the barn sometime during the night.

She's got a litter of three - one other is also black and white, and the third a medium tan/yellow.

They're skittish to an extreme, though, and I wasn't able to get any photos. Now the kittens are quite young, obviously - you'll note this one's still trying to nurse. But they definitely know what to do with solid food, for Burger trotted over to them and dropped the dead mouse, and the little yellow kitten promptly snatched it up and disappeared into the barn. They'll be helpful and productive partners, I'm sure. Always room for a few good mousers at Shamrock Hollow!

Add in Snowball..

..and we've got quite the menagerie goin' on!

Snowball is doin' great; he just got his second worming, and the vet says he's healthy. Vet also told us she estimates he'll be 50 to 60 pounds when he gets his full growth. Slim the Water Guy says he knows the parents, and that he's an Akita mix. Based on that I'd say 60 pounds might be on the conservative side. I hesitate to say that's he's well and truly housebroken - though he hasn't messed the floor a single time, that has more to do with constant vigilance on our part, I think. He was quite the personality, and is a bit of a clown. I reckon he's gonna be a pretty good dawg...