Peace Breaks Out, Sort of

I blogged a couple of weeks ago about our new cat, Marvin, who has decided that of all the houses he's lived in on the island ours is the one he wants to live in, at least for the moment. As you can imagine, our other two cats, Chas and Fang, weren't all that happy with his decision. But for the most part hostilities were limited to glares and the occassional hiss. The only exception was when Fang, for some unknown reason, leaped into my lap when Marvin was lying there and all @#$$% broke out. I do hate cats fights whern they occur on my lap!! For a week after that those two, seen above, would skirt each other with as wide a margin as our small cabin allows. Fang absolutely has refused to take any responsibility for his rather dumb act and was sure that Marvin had attacked him (and vice versa). All my insistence that it was an accident fell on deaf ears.

So imagine my surprise when I came into the living room and saw both Marvin and Fang sleeping on the same small sofa. Not touching and as far away from each other as possible, but not hissing or even glaring. There's hope.

Gypsy Cat

Friday night Marvin, the peripatetic Waldron gypsy cat showed up on our porch meowing pathetically as if he hadn't eaten for WEEKS. Does he look like it? Marvin has been on the island for 4 or 5 years. His first owners moved off and gave him to someone else. But he prefers wandering around the island from house to house between bouts of living off the land. He has been sitting on all our laps watching movies with us, sleeping on Siri's bed with her, and taking over the sofa whenever he can. Our other cats, Chas and Fang are not amused but no fights have broken out. We're curious to see how long he plans on staying. He's a huge cat, bigger than any of our cats, so we'll have to stock up on more kibbles if he makes an extended stay. Meanwhile he is completely welcome. We're enjoying his visit.

A Warm and Cozy Place

The tomato plants have been moved out of the greenhouse and out to the hoophouse to either be planted there for the greenhouse crop or hardened off for later outdoor planting. Chas discovered a warm empty bench that was a great place for a cat's afternoon nap.

Cats in the Coldframe

It was a windy winter and this coldframe cover didn't make it. Since there aren't any plants in it at the moment it filled up with cats.

James Helping

Okay, I'm back to my blog. I've been working at learning how to locate my pictures on this new computer. They are all there but finding them and then uploading them is a learning experience.

So I managed to find this picture of James" helping" me wind a warp for a series of potholders. I've finished three batches of rag rugs and have a basket of scraps of leftover cotton flannel fabric. These make lovely potholders that sell well. Yes, in spite of the help, I got the warp wound and on the loom.

Another Cat Picture

Couldn't resist a cat picture. Chas on the left and James III on the right just looked so cozy on their favorite box.

Oh, and Joel got the garlic planted today. So the gardening season is underway. Seed inventory is almost done and soon the new seed orders will go out.

More Rainbow Rugs

Part of the year coming full circle involves making another set of rainbow rugs. I love the colors and these sell really well. The only problem with making them is being patient while I wait to find all nine colors in old sheets from the thrift store. I had all except the red purple until a couple of weeks ago. When I found that last color I knew it was time to get another rainbow warp on the loom. Chas came to help.

James II

I mentioned our first James cat a few posts ago and have run pictures of James III a couple of times, but I haven't told the story of James II who was probably our favorite cat of all the 20+ cats that have lived on this farm with us.

James II, who was just known as James or Jimbo was born in the barn in late summer of 1990. At that time we had 5 house cats and too many barn cats. Siri fell in love with one more cute barn kitten and brought him up to the house. Mom put her foot down at any more house cats and promptly took him back to the barn. Too late. Having had a good look at the house, warm stove, soft bed, etc., James was no longer interested in being a barn cat. Now, a lot of our barn cats don't want anything to do with us. They come up to be fed but don't want to be petted or paid too much attention to. But this little kitten was different. I'd take him to the barn, he'd race me back to the house. Over and over again. He was like a little maple leaf dashing along the path to beat me back to the house. So I gave in. Who's in charge here anyway?

James led a double life. He started going out into the woods to the south of the house onto an old farm now owned by the Nature Conservancy and growing back to brush and trees. And full of rabbits. He would stay out for a week and come back frequently dragging a rabbit as big as himself. He'd be so glad to be in civilization again, he'd lie by the fire, crawl under the covers at night and purr. He'd eat a few kibbles, but always gave me a look as if to say, "Same old stuff, huh?" We were always so glad to see him. "James is back!", someone would call.

Then after a few days he'd start walking back and forth between the house and the woods. And he'd howl. This would go on for hours and then suddenly he was gone again. It was as if the wild wood called to him but he was torn between it and the comforts of the house. But the woods always won out in the end. I followed him once as far as I could go until the brush got too dense for a human to pass. He'd run just ahead of me calling and calling and if I tried to turn back he'd thrown himself in front of my feet and then follow behind me crying pitifully. He wanted me to come with him.

And then one day about 5 years ago he never came back. And we miss him dreadfully. He was so special.

Obituary for Sarah

Siri and Sarah, 1990

Our 19 3/4 years old cat, Sarah died today. Born in the spring of 1989, her mother was Deborah, shown below, and her father was unknown, at least to us. Deborah probably knew. Sarah was a cat of at least 9 if not more lives which she proved within 24 hours of her birth. She had been born behind the bed on an old down sleeping bag in our little attic bedroom. When I went to check on the kittens a few hours after their birth I could only find one of them, Sarah's brother, James (our first James cat). I frantically felt around for the other kitten and felt a lump inside the sleeping bag. I figured she had somehow gotten inside the bag so I carefully opened it up. No kitten. I felt around, I could feel a kitten sized lump but couldn't find her. I finally realized she had somehow gotten into one of the baffles of the sleeping bag, in with the down. I figured she was probably dead, having suffocated in feathers. I couldn't find a rip or a tear that would have allowed a less than 24 hours old kitten inside so I just torn the sleeping bag apart looking for her. There she was, just fine, no worse for wear for her experience. Have you ever had a down sleeping bag rip in your house? May you never. It took me 6 months to get all the down out of the corners!

When Sarah and James were about 2 years old, their Aunt Marmalade had kittens up in our attic. Marmalade was a fierce mother and one day a couple of days after the kittens had been born there was a huge cat fight in the attic and Sarah and James came tearing out of the house and out into the bushes. That was the last we ever saw of James, but 2 months later Sarah waltzed back looking as if she'd just been around the block. By that time the kittens were old enough not to inspire such fierce maternal instinct and all was well.

A cat can't live over 19 years without using up a few more of her 9 lives and Sarah lived hers out to the end. She was always such a nice cat. Not a lap cat, she could never settle comfortably on a lap, but never misbehaving, never up on the counter, didn't shred things. etc. We shall miss her.

Cats Keeping Warm

Okay, I know the internet is floaded with cute cat pictures but I couldn't resist adding one more. Here are our cats keeping warm in front of the stove. Every once in a while we shove them over, gently, so we can sit down and put our toes up on the stove and warm them up. The grey one is Fang, the calico Sarah, the little orange one in front James III, and the orange and white guy in back is Chas.

Holly and Christmas Trees

Today we started hanging up Christmas decorations around the house and hung sprigs of holly over every door and window. Ever since we first read Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising where they put holly over the doors and windows before the solstice to keep out the dark, we have done it too.
And today we went out and cut our Christmas tree. There is a small grove of white, or grand firs in the woods just the right size for our tiny house. I love this one with a ball of snow on the top.
Out in the woods were bird tracks, sheep tracks and the tracks of one of our barn cats, probably Tuft, out exploring the snowy woods.

Onions and Cats

Another winter market is coming up this Saturday. So we spent this evening boxing up squash and onions. I bagged up some of the special cipollini onions in one pound bags. I like to give these as Christmas presents and I hope I can convince a few customers that that is a good idea.
While we were doing that Chas decided to jump into an empty wastebasket. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Sewing Hems

I'm basically finished with the weaving part of getting ready for the Thanksgiving crafts fair. I've added a link to the organization, Island Artisans, who puts on the show. They offer a scholarship to a high school students each year and Siri won one her year of graduation. But I still have all the hems on 60 potholders, 7 new rugs and 28 placemats to sew. Sewing at my house involves sitting on my bed and treadling my sewing machine as I don't at present have any better place to put it in this small house. It is actually an old black cast iron Singer straight needle machine that belonged to my mother who I believe bought it during WWII. I inherited it and as it has an external belt I can hook it up to a treadle base. Any non electronic sewing machine with an external belt drive can be hooked up to a treadle. This is another of my non electric choices. It does everything I need it to do and I get good exercise while using it. Now, I have to admit that I am a bit envious of a friend's new Pfaff machine that will embroider designs from her computer. She is a watercolor artist and wants to take details from her paintings and embroider them. I plan on hanging over her should and vicariously enjoying her machine.

And as the piles of of finished products grew Fang came to supervise. (Fang came by his name when as a 6 week old barn kitten that I was trying to catch, he bit me really hard. He turned out to be a big soft wuss of a cat but the name has stuck).

There's Frost on the Pumpkins

There was a light frost last night and predictions of more for tonight so we harvested a load of pumpkins that were ripe enough.
Then we put floating row covers over the rest of the pumpkins and squash patch hoping to give enough protection to let the rest of the crop mature a bit more before we take it in.
Meanwhile, in the house the cats curled up in their chairs in front of the stove, a sure sign of cooler weather. Above are Chas and Sarah. Sarah is the feline matriarch of the farm having turned 19 last spring.

Silly Cat

I couldn't resist taking a picture of James getting a drink out of a bucket of water. Not that there wasn't a perfectly full and clean water dish in the house. He didn't fall in.

Bird Nest Cat

Zebu is one of our older barn cats who a couple of winters ago decided that in her old age the fire in the stove looked mighty cozy and maybe those human beings weren't as scary as she'd thought before. So she has been spending much of her time sitting by the stove purring. She'll let you pet her or pick her up but doesn't really like it much. She is one of those long haired cats that leave little bits of fluff behind wherever they've been. I'm always picking up bits of Zebu fur and tossing it in the wastebasket. Well, today I saw a little chickadee picking up bits of her fur and carrying it off obviously for nest building. So now when I see a bit of white fur on the rug I'm carrying it outside and putting it where it can be found by the birds. And after checking back most of it is gone.

Bookmarks and Radishes

I spent yesterday weaving bookmarks on my 8 harness loom. I have wanted to try out some great snowflake patterns I have in a weaving book and bookmarks are such a great way to try patterns. Because they are small and weave up quickly I can try all sorts of variations on the patterns. Bookmarks and mug rugs give me a nice bunch of small ticket items for my various sales venues.

Then I planted more stocks and my first cosmos and lavatera in the greenhouse. And in the afternoon Joel and I planted the first radishes. Chas, below, came out to help by walking down the rows as we planted. The days are so satisfying. This weekend is the last winter Farmers Market in Friday Harbor at the Fairgrounds. On the 19th we will start the weekly regular market back at the courthouse parking lot.

Rat Patrol

Tuft, above, is one of an extended family of barn cats that keep us from being overrun by the local rat and rabbit population. Waldron, as a lot of small islands, has its own selection of fauna. We have no mice or voles, no raccoons, skunks, and as far as we know, only one fox, and no deer. But we do have a healthy population of rats, both the common grey rat or ship rat, Rattus rattus, and Rattus norvegicus, the brown wood rat. The story here is that the former came here on old demasted sailing ships that were used as barges to haul off the sandstone from the quarry on Pt. Disney 100 years ago. The sandstone was used to pave streets in Seattle and Tacoma and to build the Columbia River jetty. You can still see marks on the cliffs from the old quarry.

When Joel first moved to the farm in the late 70's no one had lived here for decades. Except for the rats. So a friend gave him a cat. Mama Cat, as she came to be called, was not a tame cat and she lived in the barn and began our line of calico cats. Only females are calico colored so the males are either black and white or orange and white. Except for Tasha, who is a Siamese. We're not sure where she came from. She showed up in a litter of otherwise calico and orange and white cats.

After a few years it became obvious that the cats were thriving a bit too well, so I started a campaign of spay and release which took years. I'd always fail to capture one female cat and she'd show up the next year with 4 calico kittens. But two years ago we caught Gretel, the last fertile female, and now they will just live out their years and hopefully keep the rats and rabbits at bay for us for a while longer.

When Siri was little she was the official cat (and sheep) namer. So all the cat names are her creation.