Cats! Cats! In the Cuckle Burr Patch.

Hunter..Then and Now

2009-10-10T13:45:00.004-04:00

This was Hunter a few months ago:

Grandmaw comes and helps at feeding time:

This is Hunter now. He likes to help do the dishes! I should have had house puppies years ago. Now if I could just teach him to vacuum....

I'm a Clairvoyant!!

2009-10-02T02:09:00.002-04:00

I knew what was going to happen before it happened.

This cat, Pooh Bear

plus this cat, Rusty Equals one ball of cat fur flying fury! I saw the look in Pooh's eyes, the kind of look he gets when he wants to do some serious cat butt kicking. He and Rusty were eyeball to eyeball with the mad cat screams going. Before I could stop it, they merged into one gigantic ball of orange cat fur flying rage. When the fur settled, literally on my bedroom floor, there was enough extra fur for another cat. I called the match even, though Pooh outweighs Rusty by about 5 pounds. I'm thinking I might want to apply for a grant on "Why Cats That Have Been Neutered..Want to Fight". I'm sure I could get millions, maybe trillions of dollars in research monies for this. I mean this is serious stuff. If people can get millions for researching the sex life of beavers in Southern California, I should be able to get money to find out why cats like to fight. Even when there is nothing to fight about. What do ya'll think??

High School and a Puppy

2009-05-24T18:56:00.002-04:00

My oldest grand-daughter graduated Saturday. I am very proud of her.
Now she has to go out and face the world!

On a less happy note, only one puppy survived. But, it has been pure joy watching him grow and develop. Of course he is spoiled rotten, but that's life with me. His eyes are now open, though you wouldn't know it from these pictures! He has these little, bitty teeth, and gives the greatest puppy kisses! His name is Hunter because he can always find the working end of a bottle!

Just Puppies!!!

2009-05-04T23:05:00.002-04:00

How could anyone not love them??

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting.....

2009-04-24T16:19:00.003-04:00

Still no puppies!

But Daisy now thinks she is a Cat! Since her belly is the size
of a basketball, (no joke) there is no way she can get the rest
of herself out of that small door!

There's always room for more....

2009-04-22T13:53:00.003-04:00

New member of the family. Guess you can tell that she's carring a package!

Love has no bounds!

Sometimes second is better

2009-04-13T17:34:00.004-04:00

I hope this little leaf, will turn into....

A copy of this grand looking plant! (Kangaroo Foot)

It's suppose to be very hard to begin another plant. This is my second try, so
I hope I don't kill it!

Grand-daughters

2009-04-02T00:37:00.008-04:00

Four of our grand-daughters came for a visit this past weekend. After hiking the magical forrest that we live in, I put them to work growing flowers for my garden...

Gathering the tools ...

Planning the landscape...

Planting the seeds...

Watering in...

Flowers of their labor...

Magically...

Delicious!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU..

2009-03-08T23:43:00.004-04:00

SAWYER!

Your 13 now and its so hard to believe. You have grown up to be a fine young man and I am very proud of you!

I have a daemon,

2009-03-07T00:20:00.002-05:00

And his name is Oscar.Remember in the movie "The Compass", everyone ran around with a critter on their shoulder? The critter was suppose to be your inner soul. I think. The movie was a little confusing to me. But anyway, Oscar goes (follows) me EVERYWHERE. To the bathroom, check, to the kitchen, check, to the bedroom, check, to feed the chickies, check. When I'm on the computer, he has at least his head on it.
I like having his companionship, if anything was to happen to me I know that he could go barking to L and he would come and find me! I guess that makes Oscar a good daemon! Until he swats the dogs...then its on!

Daffy the Duck

2009-02-25T22:24:00.003-05:00

Remember that little duck that I acquired last October?

Well, he is all grown up now and thinks he is a pheasant. Notice how his neck and head is all white. He is quite large now and is walking very well since he no longer lives in a plastic box.

I cannot find any information on what kind of duck Daffy is, so if anyone out there can tell me, I would be most grateful.

The Much Anticipated Puppy Update!

2009-02-21T00:15:00.004-05:00

Remember this face? Isn't he just the cutest little thing ever?

I've been asked a million times about the babies and especially the "puppy".

Well, below is a shot I made that I could not rotate in this post, but it will give you an idea of how much the cuddly little fellow has grown. He is now close to four months old and weighed 38 pounds last week at the vet's. And yes, size does matter! LOL

Poor Dingo, the blue healer, has become a chew toy for Ranger. He woke me up the other morning by sticking his nose in my ear. That is one feeling that every woman should experience! He is probably only half grown and he can pin me down wherever I am sitting! Can't wait to see if I get tossed around like a cushion when he is full grown.

Still can't resist that face! AND is that a halo over his head? I think so because in the second picture, you can also see a halo. I do think God had a hand in which baby we picked, because the first time I saw Rangers face, I knew he was meant to be mine.

2009-01-15T20:29:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to my wonderful grandson Elijah! Love you and hope you got our card, with a little something in it!

One More Family Christmas

2009-01-01T21:13:00.010-05:00

The last Christmas gathering was with my brother and his family. They are in north Tennessee. God's country. What more can I say. I grew up on this farm and now my brother owns it. He has cattle on it now. Everytime I go to visit, I am flooded with the memories of growing up there. Bitter sweet.

My SIL coordinates the colors on the tree and the wrapping paper and bows. Too much time on her hands. LOL

Decorated shed.

My Brother and SIL. Just great people.

Niece and her man. Both were raised right.

Niece, cousin and my man. More great people.

This is my welcome to the new year. Can you see the size of the puppy's feet? He is 9 weeks old and has feet bigger than my 3 year old blue healer! He is going to be a hoss!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. Blessings to all of you. I am going to try to hold the house together!

A Birthday day

2008-12-30T19:59:00.002-05:00

Nikki,
Your Dad and I want to wish you a Happy Birthday and hope you had a very, very good day!

Our Thanksgiving

2008-12-30T01:18:00.009-05:00

Our Christmas Family

2008-12-29T17:33:00.027-05:00

So Far Behind..So Much To Write

2008-12-23T11:59:00.004-05:00

I have been very negligent in writing and I do apologize. As you will see below, I have a pretty good reason. Well, really its not a very good reason but its my blog and I'm sticking to it!
We know you are not suppose to get a new pet before the holidays but we had no control over when the mama gave birth. AND, before I receive all sorts of negative comments from you PETA types, let me assure you that I firmly believe that you should pick a pet that is homeless. We have done that our whole lives. All of our 11 cats were either strays or came from the shelter. The reason this puppy is different is that he is a guard dog. He was bred for that reason alone. No, he is not a vicious guard dog. He bonds with everyone we introduce him to. He bonds with the cats and with our one existing dog. The reason we chose his breed is he can take on a coyote. If you have been reading my blog, you know the trouble we have had with them. They have even come in to the yard and bit my dog! That really made me mad..I dont think this dog could handle a pack of coyotes alone, but they usually sneak around looking for the one chickie that has strayed too far into the woods. Hopefully this dog will help.
And now let me introduce... Ranger. He is an Anatolian Shepherd and will grow to anywhere between 150-170 pounds. So I squeeze him whenever he lets me!

He seems to always look grumpie!

How can anyone resist a face like this!

Going to bed. Goodnight all.

All of my critters and I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Its Christmas Time...Oh Ho, Ho, Ho

2008-11-30T22:16:00.002-05:00

I just finished a whirlwind shopping trip with my MIL. I haven't been in our small sorta local mall in probably 5 years. I usually do all of my Christmas shopping online, but she convinced me to go with her today. We had a blast, especially at the Aeropostle? store. They got my vote for the best at customer help. I mean I am pitiful at shopping, so I walk in and find a store clerk and handcuff them to me until I am done. The young lady that helped me shop for my granddaughters was absolutely wonderful. So if you want a great shopping experience, go to Aeropostle.

On the other side of the coin, the worse store we visited was Limited Too. First of all, the sale items were not marked down very much and second of all, who pays $60 for jeans for a size 6 twig 6 year old? NO SALE ON THESE JEANS!! No help from the salespeople, My MIL and I were on our own. I could not find anything that didn't require a loan, so I was just going to get the pack of Mentos and pink headband. Standing in line behind a woman who kept going on and on and on about the store in Chattanooga having this and doing that and on and on....I almost walked. This is why I shop online, to avoid people like this that really needs to have their butts kicked for making people stand in line with their feet killing them.
But my MIL came to the rescue by finding the $60 jean look alike on the sale table and it was on. I spent a fortune in that store and all I got was more stupid Limited Too Bucks, at least at Aerospotle I got 3, count'em 3 free Teddy Bears with the cutest red and white striped hat on. So, if you want my advise, go to Aerospotle if you are shopping impaired like me. You might even learn how to spell it!

And The Winner Is....

2008-11-13T21:00:00.005-05:00

Not Me.

I was asked by my good friend Sandra at work, You know she is a great person just by her name! Anyway, she asked me to carve a pumpkin for her work area. She wanted our company name on it and that was all. So, me being the Great Pumpkin carver that I am, said I would. Below is the result of my wonderful imagination! It was a beautiful pumpkin and was The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

According to Sandra, everyone thought it was beautiful and prompted a pumpkin carving contest. Several people entered. I had to enter a picture of my Great Pumpkin because it started caving in on itself, and a certain someone decided to recycle it by throwing it in the moat that surrounds the factory!

Pictures do not do justice to the Great Pumpkin. I think that is why I came in Third! Third! I am not bitter, really. It was just a little contest, we all won candy and ribbons. No..I am not bitter at all. Really...

All Hallows Eve

2008-11-01T23:34:00.003-04:00

This little fellow is the newest member of the Cuckle Burr
family. He is about 3 months old. He is injoying his first swim
in the families antique claw foot tub. I dont think he cares that
its an antique, he only cares that it is wet!

These two superheros were the first ever trick or treaters to brave
the horrors of the Cuckle Burr Patch road. But they made it through
with smiles to share!

What the....

2008-10-28T20:23:00.005-04:00

What is up with this.....

...and this??

It is nearly November and I have Clematis blooming and two, count em, two broody hens! The only reason this mama....

abanadoned her nest is because of two very randy roosters. Just wouldn't leave her alone, always got to be getting some. I think I see a pattern here! AND...I think I will end on that note.

It's Tomorrow...Hawaiian Time!

2008-10-23T20:21:00.004-04:00

I'm passing on showing you more of what and who are keeping me
soooo busy, to show off some of my little buddies. These guys
keep me sane and when I have a bad day, I can always count
on them to make me feel better.

Now, for the biiig shoooe...drum roll please.....

This is Dingo. She is a blue heeler and likes to keep all the
other buddies in check. She is a herding dog and she likes to
herd the grandkids, cats, chickies and guineas. She also likes to charge the cat buddies and just give them a roll across the grass. She can also be very loving to them and likes to receive kitty kisses and give out loving licks of her own. And, unfortunately,
she loves to roll on dead and stinky things, ode Dingo perfume!

BB and Tiger. After being herded by Dingo, they take a much needed
nap.

This is Oscar. This is one biggggg cat. His head is the size of a softball! He is all muscle and takes nothing off of anybody. Only cat that Dingo hasn't been able to subdue. Can you say Hisssss my
booty?!!

Felix grabbing a quick snack before Oscar whips his butt.

Oh look! Tiger woke up and wants to go for a ride.

Emmie, my little dainty cat. She is the guardian of the washer and dryer. Dingo considers her a nice little ball of fur to lick on.
Kinda like a furry popcicle!

One of my bob tail babies. This is Pooh Bear. He has no tail and the best looking mane in the Burr Patch! He is lady candy...ah yeah.

Well, that is part of the critters that I love and adore, and they reciprocate the feelings in multiple ways. At night, I can always count on at least three of my kitties to sleep somewhere on my body. Who needs a comforter! Cat fur rules and is considered a condiment in our house. Tomorrow, remember Hawaiian time, I will introduce you to some more of my psychiatrists. I do have issues, just ask my family!

Gone So Long

2008-10-15T21:38:00.007-04:00

For all of you that have been holding your breath waiting for my return, I am back! I have been so busy with life here in the Cuckle Burr Patch, that by the time I'm done with all I have to do, I am just done for and sit around like a zombie.

Now I am going to show you part one of what has been going on around here. This is in addition to all the critters I already had to take care of!

First I decided that I needed some more babies. So I got the incubator out and loaded it with lots of eggs.

After three weeks of checking temperature and humidity and rolling eggs like the mama hens.....The pipping began.

Struggling to break free.

The hatching happens fast, and after they dry, you can play and pet them. They can go two days without food and water, which is what happens when you order chicks thru the mail. After they are dry I like to get them started immediately with water spiked with electrolytes and a pinch of sugar. It's kind of like Gatorade for peeps and gives them a boost.

This is the result of playing mama chicken!

A few weeks later, they have developed their feathers and colors!

Also during this same time period, I got 15 pheasant chicks. I dont have pics of them when they were no bigger than a jacks ball, but if you look real close in the pic below, you will see some of them. They are very illusive. We have them in our high tunnel and before we could move them, we had to make the tunnel secure.

They seem to be quite content and have made little hidey holes all thru the grass and weeds.

Well that's it for part one. The next installment will be tomorrow, so stay tuned for part deux!

Burnt to a Crisp!

2008-09-27T21:24:00.003-04:00

Have you ever blown up a microwave? I know my oldest blew hers up with a baby bottle, but I never thought it would happen to me. I think my microwave will survive but I don't trust it anymore. I put 2 pounds of frozen hamburger meat in my microwave to thaw to make a yummy meatloaf. Set it on 5 minutes and at 40% power. I have done this many times before with excellent results. Its just enough to thaw it all out and have just the tiniest bit left frozen in the center.

I was doing laundry/cleaning/fixing a new home for peeps that are coming next week, when a couple we know came to buy eggs. I went outside to talk to them with the 'wave still having 2 minutes to go. I had no reason to distrust it since it had always preformed beautifully. I think I was outside about 10 minutes. When I came back in there was smoke boiling out around the microwave door. It was at FULL power and had over 4 minutes showing on the timer! How in the world did that happen??

Needless to say, the alarm system screamed out to everyone that there was a fire in the Cuckle Burr Patch! Alarms were going off, the phone was ringing, the cats were running, and the dog was squeeking and barking! Can you say CHAOUS!!!

I had to confess to the alarm system lady that their was no fire, only a burning pile of bovine flesh mixed with melted white plastic bag. I wish that I had taken a picture to show all of you. I am certain that you would have thought it quite impressive. There were 2 little piles of something laying on the turntable and stinking to high heaven. I picked up the phone and ordered pizza. One way to get out of cooking. :-)

New Babies!

2008-09-22T22:16:00.004-04:00

Here are the newest members of the Cuckle Burr Patch family. Aren't they just the purrtiest little dawlings you have ever seen? They are just beautiful, though I might be a little on the slanted side. What, you might ask and I know you will, is that blue stuff on four of the little ole heads? Well since you asked, that is Blue Paint, non toxic in case any PETA heads are out there, and that is how the company where these little beauties came from, mark the little boys so you know which ones are the roos. Get it? Blue for roos, pink for chicks. Ok I stretched it a bit, but the blue paint is real and if they will hold still for you, you will see that there are 4 blue roos and 4 non blue roos.

In this group of 4 blue roos there are 3 different varieties of roos. The non blue non roos are all the same and will belong to one of the blue roos of the same family. The other blue roos already have non roos waiting for them. Think "prearranged marriage"! AND guess what? When they all grow up to be roos and non roos, they will look nothing like they do now! They will morph into the most beautiful roos and chickies, and I promise to show you the morphing the entire way. And No, they won't live their entire lives in my laundry basket. They might stay in it a week, unless they learn they can jump out of it any time they feel like it. Besides, I will need to do laundry again this weekend!

2008-09-21T19:47:00.005-04:00

Really been a lacky in posting, but I just haven't had the energy. But I did want to share a new buddy that has come to live at our house. Just a couple of pics and I will post later with a story about these little beings.

This little gal has been living at the end of our porch for over a week.

I think she has spun a most beautiful web.

Pics of My Life

2008-09-13T00:26:00.008-04:00

Some of my grown girls, with some of the buckwheats.
My youngest granddaughter cant say guinea so she
calls them bikinis. Now we do to.

One of my babies. You can tell how mistreated they are!
He was so bored with the tv show he was watching he
decided a nap was called for.

Guineas....Buckwheats! They are on bug patrol. The
tick population has diminished considerably. They will
also take on snakes, which is bad for my good snakes.
But the copperheads stay away!

A few of the peeps. These are the ones that started it all.
I began with 25 Araucaunas and now I have over 70 of
several varieties. The bug is so bad that I now have 15
pheasant chicks. Will post pic of them soon. And over the
next two weeks will have more peeps arriving. I think I have
lost it, but actually they keep me sane.

There is nothing like watching chickies grow, scratch and talk to each other and to you! When you have peeps and they get upset, you can talk like a mama chicken and they will calm down. Threw that in there in case you want to go talk to some. They listen better than men too!

Secret Service at Wal-Mart??

2008-09-07T20:33:00.003-04:00

I had to make a run to W--M--- today. Sigh.. It is usually such a pain to shop there and today was no exception. So many people for a Sunday when the Falcons and NASCAR were both on tv.

Most of the time the strangest thing you will see at the big store is someone wearing pajamas and wearing fuzzy bunny slippers. But today was different. I found out the Secret Service works for W-M!

I was in the sock dept. when I first noticed the little dude hiding behind one of the columns there. He didn't have on the usual dk. blue polo shirt with Wal-Mart Thanks for Shopping With Us on it. It was a white polo shirt with Wal-Mart Thanks for Shoplifting With Us on it. He was even equipped with a little headset and mic and he was obviously spying on someone. I looked, but couldn't tell who was doing something that required such watching.

I picked out my socks while watching the drama unfold. I mean this is a small town in Georgia and rarely anything exciting happens. I needed to pick up a few eats so I headed for the main aisle toward the baby dept. Low and behold 007 was heading the same way! Again, I could not see anyone doing anything more than looking at onesies, but then again I am not a trained spy. This guy obviously knew what he was doing. I swear I could barely tell any difference between him and the columns he kept jumping behind.

Things started picking up as I came to the cereal aisle. There were two spies now! Both equipped with the latest in communication fashion. The woman was hiding behind a display of beef jerkey and the dude was running down the drink aisle. What the heck had these people done to deserve such viewing pleasure?

Then I spotted the objects of their desire...three women, they had a cart that was three-fourths full and they were still throwing things in it. Maybe it was the way they were standing 5 feet from the cart and throwing the long loaves of garlic bread into it that had the attention of the future guards of the president, or maybe it was the way they were spreading out to each pick up some of their needs. I still didn't see the problem. I shop that way myself when I have the grandkids with me. Does that mean that these Barney Fifes had been watching me as well?

By the time I rounded the produce section, the riot squad had grown to four and they were all very interested in rearranging the frozen entree section and making sure all of the potatoes were correctly oriented as they covertly talked into their high tech mics. The bad, bad women continued to throw stuff into their cart.

I was in the checkout line when I last saw the three women, with a full cart of goodies by this time. One of the wannabe cops was then re-organizing a rack of women's shirts. By the time these three industrious shoppers leave, this will be the most organizied W-M in the country.

Just for the record, I never saw these women stuff anything down their pants and they weren't carrying any big totes or handbags. Frankly, I don't know where they would have hidden anything, They had on skin tight shorts and tops. Trust me, if they had shoved a can of beanie-weanies in their attire, it would have been seen.

My shopping trip was over and I will always remember this exciting trip to our local friendly W-M. I bet your Sunday wasn't this memorable!

Buckwheat--Buckwheat!!

2008-09-06T13:34:00.002-04:00

Guineas are a type of wild fowl brought to us from Africa. There are various colors with pearl being the most common. Pearl is dark gray with white spots and some white edge feathers on the wings. They have what is called a helmet on the top of their head wattles that hand down from their cheeks. Google it if you want to see one. Some people think they are one of the ugliest birds on the planet. I think they are as beautiful as any of my special chickies.

Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki! This is the warning call of guineas, the “watch dogs” of the fowl population. Another word the females make is “buckwheat-buckwheat-buckwheat”. Buckwheat means we are on patrole and all is well. The males can only make the ki-ki-ki sound while the females can say both buckwheat and ki-ki-ki.

Aren't you glad I am teaching you the language of guineas. If you have never had guineas and hear the racket that they make, you might just think that they are just a bunch of noisy buggers. But there is a method to their madness.

For instance, a few weeks back, when I was home on medical leave, I was walking outside talking and cooing with the chickens. When all of a sudden the guineas broke out with the ki-ki-ki-ki warning. Now up unto this point, it had really not meant anything because they will also break out with the warning when my DH comes out with a different hat on! But on this particular day, the warning was very intense and did not let up.

Curious about what they were concerned with, I went looking. My girls were in the field about 4 feet from the edge of the woods, staring into the brush, and shouting their warning with all their might. As I watched, the bush they were watching began to shake. What evil alien or would it be Jason, was about to jump out and claim another victim. This is the thought that ran through my head in those few seconds before the real monster jumped out. Coyotes!!! Oh no they were back! My girls didn’t flinch or run. They are sooo very brave, but I thought they were going to become the main course for a coyote brunch. It was mid day for heavens sake. Coyotes are suppose to only hunt at night. I started yelling and the coyotes retreated back into the dark of the woods but the girls continued the warning call for several minutes more.

They were gone for now. But would return a short time later with much more devastating results. That is another story to be told on another day.

Needless to say, whenever we hear the ki-ki-ki-ki-ki warning from our security team, we grab the gun and go looking. Their noise is not taken for granted anymore.

So...You Want To Be a Farmer

2008-09-02T21:58:00.000-04:00

I live on a small farm in northwest Georgia. We have 10 +- cats, a dog, several chickens of all ages and some of the cutest pheasant chicks. More of God’s fine, fine work. We both work full time for someone else. Hopefully, that will change for me in a very short time.

We try to grow veggies in a natural kind of way, but what we really are good at growing is weeds. Does anyone know of a market for weeds? I think we grow some of the finest in the country. They grow all year long and are very prolific. Ya just can’t kill the varieties we grow.
We have what they call here in Georgia “cow vines”. You can’t kill these suckers. If you get too close they snake a viney limb out in your direction and BAM, they have you wrapped up and begging for your life. I have injected Roundup directly into their flexible green bodies and they have laughed at me! Yes, that’s right, they laughed at me. I ran for my life. The cat wasn’t so lucky.

So if any of you out in blogland would like to have some of these babies for security purposes around your house, just let me know and I will be happy to share the wealth.

When You Just Need Some Exercise

2008-09-01T22:35:00.000-04:00

Ya'll know the way a cat will fight and kick and bite and scratch to keep all their special dirt from washing down the drain. Keep that visual. This is the way my queen B cat acts when getting meds. Now I know from experience that downing pills and having cold liquid put in your ears is not a very pleasant thing to have happen, but after numerous bouts of differing sickness, you would think that a cat, they are very intelligent ya know, would know that when you are coming with that little bottle of liquid, that they would realize it was something that would take away the pain and irritation from an ear ache.

Not so with my Tinker! Oh no. She insists that I must be the mama from hades, that the wounds from our last encounter must have healed and that I need to be reminded that her claws are never, ever dull. That I pour the cold fluid in her ear just for the fun of adding new scars to my arms and hands and that a little blood loss would do me some good.

Cats actually have 8 legs. I know in college they teach that they only have four, but obviously the author of those books never gave a pill to a cat. You see, they keep the other four tucked inside and when needed during a wrestling match, they POP out for the attack. Think Alien movies. After much wrangling the medicine is finally in the ears and unfortunately all over me as well. Then the pouting and planning for revenge against mama begins. And unfortunately for me and T, it will all have to be played out the next day.

Oh how I love CATS! One of God’s finer creations.