Some Good In This World

As I wrote in my last post, Millie went missing and Theo seems lonely so we posted at the Michigan Barn/Working Cat Program that we are looking for two barn cats to adopt. Multiple people responded and for a short time, we thought we might end up with FOUR new cats.

We had originally decided to adopt from a cat rescue place south of Ann Arbor. That’s quite far from us, but the woman said she socializes the cats and she’d be willing to deliver them to us. However, we felt uncomfortable with the amount of information the application form she sent us asked for. (I suspect our response is due to our abuse history in which information was manipulated, twisted, and used against us.) So we said “No thanks” and messaged a local person trying to find homes for the feral cats her recently deceased Mom had cared for. Then the first person, the rescue woman, messaged us that the information on the application was actually intended for people adopting indoor pets. We only needed our name, address, phone number, and email. She told us that she had never adopted out barn cats before but she had two cats who really didn’t want to be pampered inside cats.

We didn’t want to tell either of these women that, “Oops! Sorry, we contacted you but we are canceling” so we were resigning ourselves to adopting four cats. But we ended up canceling the local woman because arranging a time and place to pick up the cats was not working out. So we are now back to two cats. Whew! What a relief! Our new cats are named Sammy and Prissy. I’m not yet sure when they will be delivered. The rescue woman is an ER nurse and has to arrange her schedule to make the trip.

At this time of year, I always take the old poopy bales of straw out of the coop and replace them with new bales of straw. Our coop is actually a 12 x 10 shed. Inside the shed is a “fancy coop” that we bought when we got our first chickens and two sturdy wooden dog houses that the previous owners of our house left behind. I put some of the bales on top of the fancy coop, dog houses, and ledges and the remainder of the bales I stack up. The straw bales provide insulation in the winter and the chickens like to roost on them at night. I draged the old poopy straw into EJ’s garden. He uses it as fertilizer, to cover the garden in the winter, and to hold moisture around his plants the next year.

Whenever we get new outside cats, we keep them secured for 2-3 weeks to teach them that this is now “home.” I plan to secure Sammy and Prissy in the fancy coop in The Coop. Not only will they learn that the coop is Home, but it gives the cats and the chickens time to get to know and accept each other. I raked out old straw and replaced it with some new straw. I had previously taken out the old screen at the bottom of the coop so I could reach the eggs the chickens were laying in the far back corner. I made a new screen “door” that I could open and close by cutting a cattle panel down to the right side and covering it with chicken wire. I made “hinges” by hammering in big staples. I often make doors and gates this way. The fancy coop is relatively large, but I needed a shallow litter box to fit under the second “story.” I wandered around in the garage and ended up finding the plastic tank of a vaporizer/humidifier whose motor had stopped working. I cut the top off and–voila!–I had a shallow litter box. Now all I have to do is wait for Sammy and Prissy to arrive.

The blue barrel EJ made me for the poultry feed was only half full so Wednesday we drove to the farm store and bought 5 more bags of feed. When we got home, we took the bags out to the coop. I poured the feed into the blue barrel. It holds a lot of feed! It took all 5 bags to fill the blue barrel to the top. We had also bought another bag of cracked corn for the chickens, which I stored in a metal container. Corn raises the body temperature of chickens as they digest it and helps them keep warm in the winter.

It’s difficult to capture the coziness of the coop in a photo. It’s far cozier than it appears. I especially enjoy the coop in the early mornings and evenings when the chickens are in their roosting places on the straw, drowsily chirping. It’s very peaceful.

EJ and I often repurpose items. The other day I finished reaching a book and got another from our home library. I noticed that the cover was ripped and it wouldn’t take much for the pages to fall out. So I constructed a sturdy cover by taking the cardboard back from a pad of paper, cutting it down to the right size, and using packing tape to fasten it behind the ripped cover. Now the book holds together and the pages won’t fall out.

In the Spring, we bought several little trees at a tree sale that our local Conservation District has each year. One of the workers suggested that to give the trees a good chance, we plant them in pots for the summer and transplant them in the ground in the late Summer or early Autumn. That sounded like a good idea so that is what we did. Our Sassafras trees didn’t make it, but the five Hazelnut trees, the two Mulberry trees, and the three elderberry bushes thrived. EJ planted them in the ground yesterday. Theo and I helped.

EJ’s chore boots finally fell apart so we went to the thrift store yesterday to see if we could find him some new ones. We love shopping at thrift shops because 1. We can find good items at low prices and 2. It feels like treasure hunting. We never know what we will find. EJ found several comfortable pairs of boots and shoes for $5 each. I looked for a new chore coat because mine is getting worn and ragged but I didn’t find any. However, I did find some washcloths, dishcloths, dish towels, and a beautiful comforter set for the guest room. I also found a pretty new sweatshirt, a nightgown, and seven more Louis L’Amour books. All this for around $50. In a retail store, these items would have cost several hundred dollars.

Off and on over the last year, our son has been working on a variety of Great Lakes boats. In the ocean, these vessels are called “ships” but on the Great Lakes they are called “boats.” I think it’s interesting learning about this line of work. The work is dirty and dangerous, but it pays well and he gets to travel around the beautiful Great Lakes. He can decide which ships he works on as well as when and how long he works on them. I enjoy following his boat’s progress on a marine tracking app. Yesterday our son messaged his dad that one of his boat’s engines had suffered catastrophic failure, which caused pieces of the huge pistons to fly around in the engine room. I thought his boat would be out of commission for a while, but I checked the tracker app and it’s already headed to its new destination.

I’ve spent this morning drinking coffee, writing, and checking up on the latest news. I keep close watch on what is happening in the world, but I don’t write about it here because this blog is one of the places where I relax and focus on good things. I think physical, spiritual, and emotional health is important to take care of. I once read that there is a Jewish belief that it’s a sin to focus only on the bad events in the world and not also on the good. I’m not Jewish, but I think that’s a true thought. It reminds me of what Samwise told Frodo in The Lord of the Rings:

Frodo : I can’t do this, Sam.

Sam : I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo : What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

The rest of today I will be doing a bunch of small tasks–such as making more shower cleaner, baking soda, and butter…