Tag Archives: cats

Trees, Chickens, Cats, and Dogs

Last week I showed you that Michael had cleaned up the chicken coop in preparation for goats and chickens. What I didn’t show you was what was growing in the fenced pen.

Young tree ~ Lifeofjoy.meYep, some kind of tree. There are a couple others that aren’t nearly as grown as this one but they seem to be different kinds. Hmmm, I wonder what they are. Also the grass has really grown in there. It was completely decimated; I mean dirt! Well there is enough for them to snack on now. :D

We had Australorps last time and really liked them. Tiffany found there are some nearby (realizing that when you live in country most things are 20-30 minutes away) for sale. We’d like to have a couple of them. Then she found some very inexpensive Cinnamon Queen hens nearby but in a totally different direction. However the Cinnamon Queens are a third the cost of the Australorps, so we’ll get two to three of them. Then Tiffany has wanted an Easter Egger, which lays different colored eggs, since she first started researching chickens years ago and has found some not far from the Australorps. The Easter Egger is more than even the Australorps but within reason, so I think we may get one, which will be fun.


This is Stache. He is just regal.

Handsome Cat ~ Lifeofjoy.meHe’s not the friendliest of our cats but he is getting better than he was.

This is Patches.

Tailless Cat ~ Lifeofjoy.meShe has no tail. It used to bother me but she is such a sweet, lovable cat that I don’t mind anymore.

She had kittens about three weeks ago but she did not have them near the house, so we hadn’t seen them. She finally brought one to the porch this week.

Patches Kit ~ Lifeofjoy.meShe let Tiffany pet it. Of course, she took it away again; we think it might have gotten wet inside with all the rain we got the other day.


The black lab that adopted us last fall (first we named her Skylar and then changed it to Sofi, which she responded to much better) started barking throughout the night and thus keeping Tiffany from getting good sleep for the better part of a month. This was just too much for any of us and we decided to put her on Craigslist to see if someone would take her.

Energetic Black Lab ~ Lifeofjoy.meShe  really helped Sasha, our over ten year old Blue Tick Heeler, get rejuvenated. The old girl really livened up a lot. Nothing like a pup that wants to play to get the old maid up and moving a bit more. :)

Blue Tick Heeler and Black Lab Pup ~ Lifeofjoy.me(I tried to crop these pics once I’d uploaded them but for whatever reason they didn’t want to stay cropped. Ugh!!!)

Within a few hours someone contacted Michael; he said he had adopted three dogs from rescue and at some point someone had opened the backyard gate and they all ran away. He said Sofi would be welcome in the house too. We know she will love that. She really is a lovable dog but just needs more attention than we can give her and we could not have her in our house.

Michael said she did NOT want to get out of the truck when he got there so he pulled her out.

I asked him to snap a picture and he did. It seems that she will be good with him. One thing is for certain, she will not run away, even if the gate is opened. LOL She is super loyal and knows when she has it good. When she got off her chain here, she’d only go play with Sasha, chase cats (and get clawed sometimes), and come to the front porch. Ultimately she’s going to be much happier there than she was here.

It’s really sad when people abandon animals. Living in the country it happens all the time. People think the country is a good place to abandon unwanted animals that at least they’ll have a chance at a good life, better than the pound. But what they don’t realize is that we get the animals we WANT. We don’t need to have animals adopt us just because we live in the country. My neighbor has taken in lots (and by lots I mean dozens) of dogs because they have kind hearts but even they don’t really want them.

Well, I’ve rambled enough for one day. I hope you have a good weekend, I will. We are celebrating my birthday very soon!!! Yay!!! I get new art supplies and stuff! :)

Okay . . . that’s enough of that . . . :D

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

 

Fencing, Animals, and Weekend Plans

I don’t know about you but when someone asks me what I’ve been up to, I really don’t know. =)) Seriously, my life is nice and quiet and filled with routine things. Thankfully, I took some pictures this past week :o (I know it’s a shock to me as well, that I actually remembered to take some photos) to remind me what happened around me. ;)


Last Saturday, Michael and Sean put up some field fencing along the west side of the property, mostly to keep the neighbors’ dogs out.

Fencing ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt was quite chilly out, as is evidenced by the hoods on my guys. Michael is on the left and Sean is in the two-tone hoodie. I took this photo from the warmth of the back door; no need for all of us to be cold. (hee hee)

They were out there working all afternoon. They’d gone out earlier and ended up in a conversation with our nice neighbor, who then worked on the front portion of the property line and later, across the front of his property. They got it done and came in and we had a good dinner (Enchilada Bake – unfortunately I forgot to take pictures again, so I cannot share the recipe until I make it next time).

It has helped a lot but Michael still had to run off a dog or two a day or two this week. Our neighbors have LOTS of dogs, of all sizes and breeds. They seem to be the dog house, whereas we are the cat place.

Speaking of cats, we have only had one or two cats around here for the last couple of weeks. It’s been quite odd because we had been having at least five but before the previous cold snap, we had about ten. This is not at all unusual, one of our cats will have kittens but because they are outdoor, worker cats, we usually end up with only one, or at most, two kitten from a litter of four. I don’t know if they get eaten, lost, adopted somewhere, or if there is some crazy cat lady that takes them in. Seriously.

So we were down to just Darcy, Raven, and Jitters. One day, the kitten, Jitters disappeared.  I thought sure we’d see it the next day but a day went by and then another and another. Then Raven disappeared too. All we had left was Darcy.

Cats ~ Lifeofjoy.me
Darcy’s the one on the left.

The weather has even been nice, so I can no longer blame it on that. It’s been so nice, that I’ve resorted to opening the windows during the afternoons. One afternoon this week I heard the dogs next door barking up a storm! There was much more barking than their usual ruckus; it seemed that all hands were on deck for barking.

Shortly thereafter I heard, what sounded like, lapping. You know, the sound a big dog makes as it drinks water? Well, that should not be because it sounded like it was right under my window.

Finally I got up and looked out, thinking I was going to have to shoo away one of the big dogs and instead I saw this.

Sasha Loose ~ Lifeofjoy.meI expected to see one of the larger dogs of our neighbor but instead I see our Sasha . . . loose . . . on my porch. I called Tiffany because I she feeds her every weekday and I have very little interaction with her AND she’s big and strong . . . well, medium-sized, but strong. Evidently, she had gotten off her chain and went running around the area. All that barking I’d heard must’ve been in reaction to her presence. I guess she’d had enough and was ready to be taken back to her house.

Sasha ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt looked like she had second thoughts and if she doesn’t want to go, it’s difficult to make her. But in the end, she was ready after a little coaxing from Tiffany.

Sasha ~ Lifeofjoy.me Sasha ~ Lifeofjoy.meTiffany got her back where she belongs and she was happy to lay in the sun and nap for a while. :)

Then the next day, several of the cats returned.

Raven ~ Lifeofjoy.meRaven is on the steps. Her coat has never been so groomed. AND she was cuddly! :o This is the cat that has run from us since birth. Tiffany and Sean had just gotten her to begin to come to them before she disappeared. Now she’s back and wanting to be petted. Yes, I think there is a crazy cat lady that manages to keep them for a while and then mistakenly lets them out of the house and home they come. We saw Jitters and Kit-Kat the next day too. So, we’re back up to five.


I haven’t seen Liam in two weeks and am really missing him. I know, I’m spoiled compared to some people. :) But I will see him Sunday because we will get together at my parents’ home to celebrate Lauren’s birthday and watch the Super Bowl.

Michael says he doesn’t even want to watch it, since it’s the Patriots and the Falcons. Then yesterday he saw that there is going to be some Trump-bashing and that made him more resolute in his feelings. But Mom makes pizza for everyone, a tradition we started before the Christmas pizza tradition, and I don’t want to miss that! :) Momma makes really good homemade pizza. So, we’ll go and visit, watch some football and the commercials (I hope they’re better than last year!) and come home when Michael tires of it all. ;)

I hope you have a good weekend. Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº