A few signs of spring

Despite a brief, but nasty snow storm that complicated our travel plans on Saturday, this has not been a bad weekend. Today the sun is shining brightly, and despite the cold, some signs that spring is coming are making themselves known.

Earlier this week while walking Toby, three bluebirds flew out of our only surviving bluebird box. What an incentive to get the other ones repaired and put back up! I love bluebirds. The flash of blue you see when they fly by is unlike any other, and their song is so, so sweet.

Even more amazing is what we saw this morning while crossing the bridge over the Wabash river near our home. It was a pair of bald eagles! The large size of the birds and the male's white head made identifying the eagles unmistakable. We know there are nests in the area, and only a couple of weeks ago a friend of mine saw an eagle flying over the river about 8 miles from here. How exciting to know that some of these majestic birds have made this part of Indiana their home!

I also spied some daffodils starting to come up in front of the house. So far there are only a few green leaves, but it won't be long before there will be crocus blooming and the daffodils will follow closely behind.

These signs of spring help a lot to keep me going through the dreary winter I dread every year. My seeds arrived on Friday from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and I finished off my wish list at Menard's today. I picked up a pack of Trinity Sweet Corn which grows to only 5' tall and will hopefully grow in the garden boxes. I also picked up a pack of Sweet Basil and some extra seed starting supplies. In a couple of weeks I'll get busy sowing seeds to start under the plant lights, and then it will really feel like the end of winter. I prefer these signs of spring to a groundhog's shadow any day!

What a beautiful weekend it has been. I sure hate to see it end. We have enjoyed temperatures in the 40-s and 50's and ample sunshine--pretty nice for Indiana in February. Of course the nice weather made me think about gardening and how it really is time to finish up my seed ordering. Soon it will be time to get some of the plants started under lights. I decided to place my next order from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This will be my first order from this company that specializes in rare and heirloom seeds. Their catalog is fascinating to read. They have a large variety of seeds of every category. Each offering includes a good description of the plant's traits, growing habits, and taste, and a brief history of its origins. Reading the descriptions makes you want to grow nearly everything they offer. I primarily was shopping for heirloom tomatoes, and I finally settled on three varieties. First is Dutchman which is a very old pink skinned tomato that is said to produce fruit up to 3 lbs or more and to be very sweet. Next I chose Rose which is also an old variety that produces large fruit. The catalog claims that many prefer its flavor over Brandywine, which is arguably one of the most favored of all tomato varieties. Finally, I ordered Plum Lemon. This seed originally came from Moscow and the plant produces 3" fruits that look amazingly like lemons but are quite sweet. There were dozens more I would have liked to ordered to try out, but I'm trying very hard not to get as carried away as I have in the past, preferring to strive for quality over quantity. Next on the list were melons. I chose Minnesota Midget and Thai Golden Round. Both are small varieties I have never tried. Finally, I selected Detroit Dark Red beets, Lungo Bianco Zucchini, and Pink Beauty radishes. If you are interested in old varieties or simply unique varieties of seed, you really need to check out Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds of Mansfield, Missouri. I ordered on-line. Their web address is www.rareseeds.com and their web site is quite easy to navigate. Another selling point of this company is that shipping is only $3.00, no matter how many seeds you order.

On to another subject, I am happy to report that our kitten's check-up at the vet went very well. He tested negative for feline leukemia (hurrah!) and by all accounts is a healthy little fellow about 3-4 months old. He grows friendlier every day and is starting to feel like a member of our family. I really didn't plan on getting another cat, but it always happens that cats adopt people, not the other way around. I think kitty is here to stay. Even our dog, Toby, and the other two cats seem to have accepted him as a member of the family. Hopefully soon we will have settled upon a suitable name for him!

Tracks in the Snow

While walking Toby yesterday, I noticed a lot of interesting animal and bird tracks in the snow. Some were so intricate they were almost like works of art. Today I rushed home after work so I could get some photos while the light was still good. Here is a sample of some of the photos. It fascinates me to see the path of the birds, rabbits, and other critters exploring our yard. I hope you will enjoy taking a look at them, too.

In case you've been wondering how the kitten has been doing, here's proof a picture is worth a thousand words. He still doesn't have a name, but you can tell he is feeling right at home.

Snatch and Grab

Early this Saturday morning with the temperature at exactly 0 degrees, we decided it was time to take drastic action to rescue the kitty. Nick attempted to coax the kitten to the door, but once again it would come close then run away. Later this morning, at the exact same moment, it occurred to both Nick and me that perhaps we could open the living room window while kitty was on the ledge and looking in and pull him in to the house. The funny thing is, I was in the kitchen suggesting this while Nick was in the living room actually implementing the plan (we often have the same thought at the same time--scary). Nick unlatched and opened the window and grabbed the kitten before it realized what was happening. I heard Nick calling "come here, come here" and I came running as fast as I could which wasn't very fast since I was wearing footies which don't have a lot of traction on a slippery kitchen floor. He had kitty, who was protesting rather loudly, in hand and our other two cats circling around trying to see what they could do to help. You know, chaos. I happily took kitty from Nick and held him close and within a minute kitty was purring and acting quite pleased with himself for allowing us to catch him. (Yes, we have confirmed the cat is a boy.) At first the cat would cry every few seconds and our cat Gracie Jane would answer. So I sat down on the steps to allow them a look at each other and Gracie licked the kitten on the head. It was so sweet and the gesture seemed to make our little stray feel safe and welcome.

After only a few hours inside it is hard to believe this is the same kitten that hid from us under the shrubs for days. He is one of the most cuddly and affectionate kittens I have ever met. The girls both came over today and did their part to help spoil the new baby.

Until we can get him checked out by a vet we are keeping him away from Gracie Jane and Ralph, but we will still give him a lot of one-on-one time. Enjoy these pictures of the new baby. If we can find him a good home that would be great, but keeping him is sounding more and more like a good idea, too. I guess we have to get serious about giving him a name because it doesn't seem right to keep calling him shrub kitty! We are so glad the snatch and grab technique worked and the kitten is safe and warm at last.

Slow Progress

There hasn't been much progress in the weather or with pet rescuing around here. It's still cold and the little stray kitten is still living under the shrubs. We thought we might coax him (or her) in last night. Kitty seems to want to trust us, and comes close, but runs off at the last minute.

We've noticed the kitten has the cutest little black mask on its face. We never really intended to keep the cat, assuming we can ever catch it. We just want to keep it from freezing and find it a good home. But I don't think it's a good sign when potential pet names start popping in to your head...Bandit, perhaps? Have we already begun to psychologically see this kitten as our own? Could it be that this kitten is actually using the old hard-to-get ploy to make us want him all the more? I have to admit, I think it's working.

Our little guest spends a lot of time peering in the living room window from outside--sizing us up I guess. You would think by now it would realize this is a pretty nice place for a cat. Sometimes our cat Gracie Jane peers back out from the inside, and the little stray rubs up against the glass, wanting to make friends. We've even used Gracie to try and coax the kitten inside. We'll hold her at the front door and little kitty does come very close. But soon Gracie gets a chill and squirms away into the warmth of the house, and we are back to the drawing board.

The view from our porch today is shown below. See why we wish the kitten would come in?! It isn't a very good time to be a kitten who lives in the shrubs.

The Kitten in the Shrubs

I'm at work right now, sitting at my desk eating lunch, but my mind is at home. Living under the bushes in front of our porch is a little black and white kitten who seemingly appeared from nowhere earlier this week. Every evening, he cries and cries, and jumps up to look through our living room window to see what the inside kitties are doing. He seems to find some comfort knowing there are other cats around. We have been leaving food and water for him, but so far he is too distrusting and fearful to let us get very close. I suspect he has every right not to trust humans, but it seems some part of him knows the people who live in our house aren't all bad.

I have fashioned him (her?) a make-shift house from an empty cat litter bucket lined with an old blanket. At least this gives him a waterproof shelter under the shrubs. What I really want to do is scoop him up and bring him inside. Hopefully a few more evenings of cat food and sweet talk will win him over.

I remember several years ago at our first home when a beautiful Siamese cat set up housekeeping under our shed. She would venture out at night and cry outside our window, but like this kitten, run off whenever we invited her inside. Our oldest daughter, who was about 9 or 10 at the time, spent a great deal of her free time talking gently to the cat as it hid under the shed. One day she triumphantly came to the back door with her new friend in her arms. That was Jheri, and she was a lovely member of our family for several months. Unfortunately, we soon learned that Jheri had feline leukemia, and wondered if this was why her original family abandoned her. We loved Jheri anyway, and are happy she chose to live her final months with us.

With winter showing his most wicked side to us these days, I can't help but worry about all the homeless pets left to fend for themselves, and those pets left outside and largely ignored by their owners. I may not be able to save them all, but I'm sure going to try and help the little kitten living under our shrubs.

Climbing out of the Deep Freeze

At long last, we are experiencing "normal" winter weather with temperature in the teens instead of in the negative teens and twenties as it was last week. Of course other areas of the country in the north had it even worse than we did, which I can barely imagine. Everything is so complicated when the temperature drops so low and the wind picks up. Cars don't start, schools are delayed and activities cancelled, and outside pets and livestock need extra care. I am happy to say we survived the deep freeze pretty well except for some not entirely unexpected car problems.

To help me focus more on the upcoming spring and less on the present cold weather, another one of my favorite garden catalogs arrived, Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com). Johnny's caters to the market gardener, but welcomes home gardeners as well. One of the best things about the Johnny's catalog is the detailed growing information they provide for everything they sell. Information on plant culture, diseases, insect pests, ripeness and storage are included, eliminating a lot of the guess work when trying something new in the garden. Johnny's also has a good selection of the latest hybrid varieties as well as open pollinated and organic seeds. If you are looking for it, they probably have it. I also enjoy their selection of garden tools and supplies. Theirs is truly a catalog that you can sit and read cover to cover.

My seed order from Pinetree Seeds also arrived in the mail this past week. All of the seeds in this order will be direct seeded, but receiving them did get me to thinking about starting some seeds inside in a few more weeks. I was a little disappointed to see that my order Indy Gold beans was substituted with a different variety, Gold Crop, but I am anxious to try them all the same.

Thank goodness for these little reminders of spring that keep me going as we climb out of this deep freeze and think ahead to greener and warmer days.