Crikey!

Posted on May 13, 2019 by TJ

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

EJ and I spent the day…well, the morning, at least…at TSC buying vegetable seeds. Buying seeds or plants is always fun. We found everything we were looking for except parsnips seeds. I love parsnips! We stopped at the Garden Center at Meijers hoping they would have some but, nope, they didn’t. EJ said he would buy some off the Internet. Although we didn’t find parsnips, we did find a sale on blueberry bushes so we bought several and planted them along the back garden fence.

EJ would eventually like to get the outside cats out of his garage. Miss Madeline Meadows, our sweet serial killer cat, brings her kills into the garage and they start to stink if I don’t get them out in time. And in the winter Annie uses the garage as her litter box because she doesn’t like to go out into the snow.

The previous owners of our house left two wooden doghouses when they moved away. We put one in the coop for the chickens to roost on and in and the other was in the garden area that we expanded last year. It would make a very nice house for the cats. We were going to move it up near the garage to keep it out of the nasty weather with straw bales around it and tarp on top to get it dry and insulated. But I worried about coyotes, cougars, and bobcats. They could always get through the pet door into the garage–like the raccoon does–if they wanted but the dog/cat house seems more accessible outside. So I decided to move it next to the garage inside the garden fence where it would be more protected.

We are still getting frost–last Friday we even had a few flakes of snow mixed in with the rain!–so we can’t plant our garden yet. However, we will be able to plant soon so I figured that I might as well move the dog house today. It had been in the area we had expanded last year. We are going to try planting corn there this year. The doghouse was very difficult to move because it is very solidly built and very heavy. I had to take off the removable roof and then sashay the doghouse, moving first one side and then the other. I couldn’t move it in a direct line to the other side of the garden because there is not enough room between the raised beds, so I had to drag it diagonally away from where I wanted it, through the large gate and back along the fence and in through the little garden gate. It just fit! I was very tired afterward so I took a break in the house before going back out to move the roof.

When I went back outside, Madeline and Annie were already in the doghouse even though it didn’t have a roof! With a lot of effort–I believe the roof is even heavier than the house–I heaved the roof onto the wheelbarrow and wheeled it through the big gate and up to the small gate. It was sideways on the wheelbarrow and wouldn’t fit through the gate so I dragged it off the wheelbarrow and over to the doghouse and then heaved it onto the doghouse. Ugh! It was HEAVY! But I finally got it up and positioned correctly. The cats seem to like it: I saw them out in, around, and on it several times today.

EJ did some maintenance on the lawnmower today. I mowed the lawn after he left. It was the first time I’ve mowed this year.

In spite of the cool weather, Spring is arriving. Every day the trees are greener. We’ve also been enjoying the wild birds building their nests. I’ve watched bluebirds building nests in two different birdhouses. I’m not sure if I’m seeing two different couples or one couple that can’t make up their minds about which house to move into. I would love it they moved into the birdhouse(s) because they are such a beautiful splash of color! I do worry about Madeline getting to them though. We’ve also spotted a rose-breasted grosbeak the other day.

The turkeys have been frequently parading through our property. Even when we don’t see them, we often hear their loud gobble-gobble-gobble echo through the forest. This morning three toms and a hen walked close to the house. The toms put on quite a display as they tried to attract the hen.

When we walked to the mailbox a couple of weeks ago we found a pile of poo in the middle of the driveway. It looked a bit unusual. After our neighbor told us about the bobcats and cougars in our neighborhood, I got to wondering if it was left by one of them so I googled “bobcat scat.” I found an article with photos that looked very much like the poo we found AND the article said that it is common for bobcats to deposit their scat in the center of trails or dusty roads. We found the scat in the middle of our driveway. So, I’d say we definitely have a bobcat in the area.

Scat

Scat in the middle of the driveway

I feel as if I should start exclaiming, “Crikey!” like Steve Irwin did. JJ and I used to watch his wildlife program years ago. We were shocked and sad when we learned he had died.

Friday EJ and I delivered a hooded unicorn blanket to one of my customers. I’ve also finished making an adorable wizard and an awesome Chinese Dragon. I really enjoy making amigurumi. It feels as if I am bringing the creatures to life. I told EJ this morning that I think God had a lot of fun creating. He asked, “Why do you say that?” I replied, “Because I have a lot of fun creating…and we were made in the image of God.” Here is the wizard and the Chinese Dragon:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

You can see these and my other items at my e-store, Terics Treasures.

I’m now working on a unicorn. I will use glittery yarn to make it look magical.