I have to say I am a little perturbed. We just had a very long break from blogging and now I am told we have to take another. Can't these people get everything done at once?? Apparently our new windows are in and and a bunch of things need to be done before they come to put them in plus do some crawlspace renos.

Then I find out we, yes we cats, are going to live in the city while all the work gets done. WHAT??? I never OK'd that plan!

This should be interesting.

The PM is also very stressed out with the fox situation. First we thought they were just stopping by but now we know they actually have a den in the berm. We thought there was a Mom and two kits, now we know there is a BIG Dad too and four kits not two! The Dad has been catching some big birds and the PM is worried about rotting carcasses. She wants them to move along into the deep woods ASAP!! She loves watching them but she doesn't want them living beside us permanently. She's worried about the wee ones while they are out and she doesn't let them stray too far from her side. That has slowed down all the planting and weeding that should be happening now. The PM thinks they will have to go with a small veggie patch this year.

I am losing valuable napping time keeping my eye on all the fox activity.

The kits are getting braver, wanting to play on the grass in the middle of the yard!

Big, cautious Daddy hangs back in the bushes watching carefully.

Mom hangs out by herself in the field, washing and napping while Dad is on guard.



The wee ones and the MM also have a horrid cold. We cats are just going to have some naps and enjoy the sun, inside!



I hope this all passes soon and we'll be back in a couple of weeks!!

On Monday, the PM went outside to hang some washing when she met the fox crossing the yard. The fox looked at the PM and trotted into the berm. The PM thought she heard some different sounds and went to take a closer look.

There in the berm were two fox kits, running among the overgrown bushes, jumping and rolling. She then saw the mother fox run out to the field. The PM watched from inside and saw the fox come back with a mouse. It seems like she is using the berm in our front yard as a little daycare, leaving the kits safely there while she hunts for their meals. She was there again in the evening and the following morning.

When the mama fox takes a break, she likes to stand by the bank facing our front windows in the morning sun.

This is the shot from our window.



The PM zoomed in to get a closer look, sorry for the fuzziness.










I sit on the ledge and watch the wild ones frolic. She looks at me and I look at her and purr.

Yes, my nose is looking pretty good. The nasty scab came off in one big piece and the hair seems to be growing back in parts. The PM assumes I will have a scar though.

I think Banshee loves me.



Yep. She's using my foot as a head rest. She must think I have been decootified.



She seems to want to love me in private though. Too much attention, PM!



We had a real buggy weekend! The house is infested with black ants and the wilds are now a feeding frenzy for blackflies and mosquitoes! I am kind of glad I was indoors!!

The PM is very proud of us, me especially, that we have had two vases of flowers on the table for weeks virtually untouched by feline paws.



A few sniffs here and there.





Here is a bloom for our garden. We don't have much out but the PM was glad to see these tulips bloom. They are a new variety that she had planted as bulbs last Fall.

This weekend was a busy one as seems to be the norm now that Spring is officially in full swing.

The PM was like a woman possessed. She has decided to do a kill mulch in the middle of part of the berm as the shrubs are being choked by grass and thistles run wild. She was ready for step one, laying down of cardboard when she noticed how overgrown the Sumac were getting. They had even grown through two dwarf pine and they were dying. Before we could blink an eye, the PM was ripping out trees and cutting branches. I love our Sumac and was upset to see so many go. The PM reassured me that the original trees are fine but all the off shoots had to go.

Our Sumac are the Staghorn variety so our lawn looked like an unearthed Megoloceros burial ground. They were prehistoric deer with HUGE antlers.




The PM was on a roll and took the loppers to a lot of trees. Apparently two inch thorns at wee one eye height was bothering her. Very tricky pruning an overgrown hawthorn grove.

I would have gladly helped in the work or at least snoopervised from a safe distance, but our red friend was by everyday and we are still under house arrest.



Banshee and I did get out for a few moments this weekend. We have been taking private escaping lessons from our friend and super escapista Siena and they are really paying off. We attempted the tag team move with partial success. You wait by the screen door until someone goes to open it then decides not to and walks away. The wee lass was heading inside for something, she had the door open about an inch, the PM told her to wait a couple of minutes so she shut the door. The important part was that she didn't push it shut so it had not clicked. So Banshee and I both put our front paws on the door and pushed!!! It opened a bit and Banshee ran out. Of course I couldn't open it by myself so I just had to watch in envy as Banshee nibbled on some fresh grass.

The PM was walking through the yard with a peony in her arms that she was transplanting when she saw Banshee. Banshee was so preoccupied with the new grass that the PM was able to walk over and pick her up. She then saw my pathetic face in the doorway and decided to take me out as she put Banshee in. I was only allowed out for 10 minutes with the PM walking beside me. That was better than nothing.



I spent the rest of the weekend reclining.

When the PM was a teenager, she couldn't get over the amount of things people put away for only "special occasions". Cabinets filled with dishware, linens and flatware that people took out once a year if that. So when she started collecting pottery and stoneware, she knew they would be used daily. She collected one place setting of stoneware each year in her twenties and that our everyday dishes. The everyday cutlery is silverware from the 1930's.

Normally we cats do not get to enjoy the finery as we are not served our stinky goodness on pottery dessert dishes nor is our water kept in a crystal bowl. They say though, patience is a virtue!

The MM's brother had taken a trip to Thailand a few years ago and brought the PM back a lovely tablecloth. The wee ones were too little then so the PM put it away. She has started using tablecloths again recently as the wee ones are now 4 and 6. She decided to use the one she had put away. She cleaned off the table, started laying the new one on when she left the room for about two minutes. When she came back this is what she saw.





I have to tell you, it beckoned me all the way across the room. It said "Banshee, come clean your drawers right here in the sunbeam".



It has a gorgeous fringe that looks kind of like my fur!



Thank you PM for spreading out some luxuries here in the woods.

This happened a few weeks ago and the PM is still annoyed with me.

It was the first real nice day out and those other two were allowed out with the PM as long as they hung out by the garden. They looked so happy to be out and I just got to look through the window and holler. I have to admit that the PM did try to put that horrid harness on me so I could go too but I was not having any of that business!

Everyone came back inside a few hours later and the PM opened the one window that actually can open on the main floor for me to look out and smell the nice warm breeze. She then went upstairs to put some clothes away. I smelled the breeze for a few minutes then started testing the edges of the screen for weakness. I did this very casual like, not to raise the suspicions of the wee ones who were playing on the floor beside me, knee deep in a Lego pile.

The screen proved to be nice and old, ready to pull apart under my talons!

I started digging with a vengeance, hellbent on getting out! The wee ones started yelling for the PM as I had made a small hole and was trying to stuff myself into it! The PM came flying down the stairs, just as I squeezed my rump through. I hit the ground running fast!!

The PM came after me but I kept running. I was a tad frantic, racing through the berm and the fields, crying. The PM thought it looked like I was looking for my kittens. I spotted a barn on the edge of the property and bolted for it. The PM was trying to catch up yelling at me to not go in the barn. How was I to know that it wasn't ours? The PM had to cross over the electric fence, thankful that the cows are only in that field in the Fall. She tried calling for me nicely but I sniffed around the door then slipped right in!

I snooped around for a few minutes but finding nothing of interest, I snuck out a crack in the walls. I thought I smelled something and headed towards two hills. The PM started screaming as that is where the foxes hang out. I was surrounded by some lovely exotic aromas and stopped to get a bigger whiff. The PM grabbed me when I had my nose in a pile of dirt. Darn it! I did my pinwheel legs all the way to the house but the PM held me tight.

The next day I was very frustrated! I am afraid I took it out on a very innocent victim. If you have a weak stomach look away.







I feel a little guilty now and mad at myself as the nanner had to go in the garbage as reconstructive surgery was not possible.