In which I get lots of quality help with my leaf raking efforts

I began raking leaves in the backyard today. I had lots of help. Mostly of the, "I'll watch over this pile while you make another one," kind:

Leaf sentinels. I has dem:

The rest of the help had a little more energy. Maybe too much - you decide, I managed to film some of the hi-jinks. Here's a little clip:

At least someone had more dignity than to participate in all of that silly, knee-bent running around business:

The little gray cat in the video clip is the little kitten that my daughter brought home. She is about 5 months old now. In December she'll be old enough to be spayed. She already has an appointment.

Ants, aphids, hornets and kittens

There are some interesting things happening on my calendula. I have aphids and ants:


It's only on one of my plants. Here they are close up:

I'm sure their relationship must be beneficial - to each other, not to my calendula.

In an earlier post I included a picture of a hornet's nest that had been blown down in a storm. Here's the original picture:

And here's what the nest looks like now. A racoon or something found it the other night and ripped it apart, I guess to get an the larvae still inside:

Here's one section of cells from inside the nest. These look like they were mostly empty already. The cells that looked like they might still have contained something had been munched and all that remained were a few pieces with some black remnant of past occupants clinging to the bottom:

Kitten update ~ Freki kitten has begun tentative explorations of the outside:

Kitten Update - We Have A Name

We've found a name for our kitten.


It's a very appropriate name.

It takes into consideration her temperament and disposition.

It fits quite well.

The name is Freki. In Norse mythology, Freki is one of the monstrous wolves that will take part in the destruction of the world on the day of Ragnarok, which is the Norse equivalent to Armageddon.

Aww. Isn't little Freki sweet? She's practicing.

Kitten Update

The little kitten is making itself at home:


She is officially a girl. And we are officially keeping her. Her unofficial name is Monkey because she runs around and climbs on everything. We're thinking of a better name, but nothing seems to stick.

Woodsy the Kitten

The little kitten from yesterday's post, the one that some people were going to leave to fend for itself in the mountains of Pennsylvania, is once again the feature of today's post.

Yesterday it was not a purry, secure, playful type of kitten. It was a scared, run and hide, get away from me type of kitten. But it has become more secure and sure of its surroundings and today you can see for yourself in this video what kind of a kitten it is.

I'm still referring to the kitten as 'it' because I have no idea what gender it is. Sometimes when they're very little it's not always obvious. And it has no name because we can't keep it. We have to find a nice home for the tiny little thing. Anyone out there in the Cleveland-Akron area who would like to give this almost-Pennsylvania-mountain-woodland kitty a nice, loving home?

Are you sure?

Wild Woodland Kitten

My daughter went camping and came home with this:

It doesn't stay still for long.

My daughter met some people in the mountain woodlands of Pennsylvania while she was camping. They had this kitten with them. They said, "Do you want it? 'Cause we're just gonna leave it here."

Can you imagine? The little thing is barely 8 weeks old, if that. My daughter cannot comprehend such people.

Kittens are like that!

When one of my nieces was tiny she had a little book called Kittens Are Like That. She had it memorized and when it was read to her she would always chime in when it came to the, "kittens are like that," parts. Only she would say it, "Kittens are like that!"

Well, if you like kittens then you might like this site. It's the itty bitty kitty committee blogspot, a blog featuring kittens that come to stay for a while in a kitten foster home. If you need some Awww! time, this will do it.