Chillin' With Kitties

Have I mentioned that the sub-zero deep-freeze has returned to Iowa? Yesterday, my metabolism slowed to a crawl as I sat motionless most of the afternoon, adding up columns of numbers. At chore time, I was shivering despite my heavy Carhartt coat as I prepared calf bottles in the milkhouse. Brr! Movement was needed to produce heat units, so I turned on the radio and forced myself to do some calisthenics to the rhythm of several songs. Certainly, I'm aware that some of you readers do not care for rock or pop music, and that's fine, but you'll have to admit, the beat is easier to move to than to--say--classical piano or violin music. One of the songs from the radio was When I'm With You by a group called "Sheriff".......it unfortunately had a slow beat, and was poorly suited for milkhouse calisthenics, but some of the lyrics were appropriate to the evening's frigid air........."Bab-y-y-y-y, I get CHILLS when I'm with you-ou-ou."

*

The words were so darn CATchy that I decided to sing a few bars to an audience of kitties out in the calf building. And, it was most certainly true that I did get CHILLS while in the presence of these felines last evening. By airing this video and accompanying audio to the world, perhaps I can help frighten winter into making a hasty retreat.......it might turn on its tail and flee in horror from the sound of my singing. Desperate times require desperate measures. SCRAM, Winter! BE GONE! Git outta Dodge, right now! We've had it with you!

Scenes of Today

Lots of family togetherness continues here today........icy road conditions are prompting my daughter and her husband and dog Izzy to stay over an extra day, which is fine with me. They monitored road conditions all morning on the

Iowa DOT website, and have now decided to stay put.

*

Mugs, mugs......I love holiday mugs. Did you know the Longaberger Basket Company also sells mugs? Or, at least they once did. The three shorter mugs say "Longaberger Pottery Co." on the bottom; they were given to us by an acquaintance who is a Longaberger dealer. Her kids hitched rides with us to piano lessons once a week for several years, and she kindly gave the mugs to us in appreciation. How fortunate for me......I love these mugs as they are nice and heavy. Coffee and cocoa even tastes better in them, I'm convinced!

Heehee........I faked everyone out this noon.......the chicken enchilada casserole shown next came off the Schwan's truck; I added extra cheese on top to give it that homemade look! Its very yummy with salsa and sour cream......and, SO easy! I've decided EASY is the way to cook when you have guests around the house for several days in a row. Thank goodness I stocked up on LOTS of easy food before the holiday grazing season began.

Oops......this next photo loaded sideways. Its just my silverware drawer, but I'm showing it because I'm so happy that it is situated in a spot that everyone files by right after filling their plates at the nearby kitchen island. That way, I don't have to set out the silverware when food is served buffet-style, which is the mode we've been using the last few days. When we remodeled a few years ago, a totally redesigned kitchen was included. I---totally inexperienced in such matters---had to plan the layout. Yikes! I was excited and scared at the same time. My step-dad drew out the empty room and I made little cardboard cupboard templates which I would arrange and rearrange like puzzle pieces, trying to come up with a workable kitchen design. We bought Omega Custom cabinets---made right in Waterloo, Iowa---and I had a cabinet catalog to work with, but, good gracious......there were so many choices, it almost drove me crazy. Though, certainly I was grateful to be getting a new kitchen, the endless array of decisions to make was very stressful. I don't recall the name of our cabinet style, but they are Oak, in the Nutmeg finish. Choosing the wood finish put me into a panic......I thought, "What if we don't like them once they get here?!" But, not to worry.....once the cabinets were put in place, we all were very pleased.

*
OK........enough of that kitchen cabinet digressing........here's some of the goings-on around this house today.......Rummy Royal:
Wii Guitar Hero.......


Friendly (perhaps) tension between Mookie and Izzy:

Even tension gets old after awhile, though. One must put it aside and rest eventually, as Izzy demonstrates in this final photo:

*

Stay warm and safe and well wherever you are today!

*

Kitty-in-the-Box

Oh, will you look at this........yesterday I opened up the box where my Christmas cards are stored and look what else was in there! Can you believe it?! For a whole year, there's been a kitty-in-the-card-box!

Hey, Maw........you got any Cat-Tail brand cards?

Seriously, I didn't even think to try and coax Mookie into the empty space in the box.......she just jumped right in and started posing. What a ham!
*
But, now, of course.......as speedily as she jumped in, she's ready to similarly make her exit!
*
At the lunch table yesterday, I was deeply engrossed in reading a magazine article and did not notice that Husband had not finished drinking his milk when he left the table. I absently pushed my plate out of the way without looking up and knocked over said glass of milk. Immediately, I wanted to shout to Husband---who was by then snoring in peaceful, oblivious slumber on the floor---"LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!".......but, being the really nice, kind, considerate wife that I am, refrained from blurting out said declaration.......I bit my tongue; and thus, said tempting words went unsaid.
*
Curious little Mookie came bounding right over to check out the situation. Mmm.......something yummy right here on the floor......how very handy, and so thoughtful of Maw to serve me my lunch this way! Maw was once again reminded of how ecstatically happy she is to NOT have carpeting in the kitchen and dining/pig-out area.
*
My neighbor across the road asked for my email address the other day when I was over at their house searching for Betsy. Now he sends me forwards almost every day. He milks cows, too, and has lots of cats around the farmyard, as do we. One of his emails included this pathetic little kitty scene, supposedly a sign of the tough economic times we're in:
A cat that's willing to work.......sure.......when pigs fly!!

*
Have a great day......be sure to finish your milk.......and your Christmas cards!
*

Rare Sight

Thank you all for your good wishes concerning Betsy's return! Its a relief to have her home again.......I can tell Husband is VERY happy about the turn of events. His good helper is back.

*

We're under a winter storm watch.......it appears the worst of it will be north of us, in northern Iowa and up into Minnesota, but we already had a coating of ice last evening. My son is hoping there will be no school today......we'll see.

*

*

I'm expecting the feline scientific community to beat a path to my blog door to view this amazing phenomenon.......a two-headed cat:

This is a pair of unfriendly, long-haired fellows who hang out in the calf building. They look like identical twins.......I call them "The Uglies", mostly because of their unattractive personalities.

*

Many years ago, in the summer of 1975, my parents took us on a long vacation Out West. My father knew of a two-headed calf on display in Elko, Nevada, and we did stop to view it........I was thinking it was in the lobby of an old hotel, but it may have been a bar. This webpage mentions the odd calf......it really did have two heads on one neck, as I recall.

*

Stay warm and well!

*

Sunny Positions

Shucks.........you caught me.........goofing around with photos when I should be kneading roll dough and baking other goodies for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

*

Yesterday, my daughter and I were stopped at a red light on East Fifth Street in downtown Waterloo. The flags in front of City Hall were taking a flapping and glowing position there in the noonday sun, framed against the windows of the Black Hawk County Courthouse in the background.

*

And, this morning, Furby positioned himself comfortably on the leaves, surrounded by the clashing shadows of a November morning.

How do you prefer the scene to be served? In black & white.......or color?

*

Please whisper a prayer for a boy named Jacob, my son's friend and cousin.......the one who collapsed at wrestling practice on Saturday and was rushed to Iowa City for emergency surgery for bleeding in his brain. I've been reading his Caring Bridge updates regularly. Jake is still in ICU because his blood pressure is very high and they're trying to figure out what is causing that. His mom wrote that the bleeding situation was caused by a blood clot, so they need to get to the bottom of what caused it. Jake is a fighter.......you should have seen him play football this fall. He's short, but tough, and always the first one to the scene of the action, often tackling guys much bigger than himself. In his Caring Bridge guestbook are many well wishes from this year's opposing coaches......they all respected Jake's tenacious style of play.

*

Shadowy Tails Tale

Were I your Creative Writing teacher, your assignment for today would be to write a "Tale of Shadowy Tails" or a "Shadowy Tale of Tails"........your choice! Your story would be graded by Cal or Dinky or Sasquatch or Tex or Mookie or Tigger or Tux.......once they finish devouring their cat food!

*

Mm-m! Cal assures you this fresh-from-the-cow milk is nose-lickin' good!
*
Whaddaya lookin' at, punk?! So I have milk dripping from my chin......wanna make somethin' of it, do ya?!

*
After the feeding.........dogs pout and cats primp & preen!
And, guys drool and gals rule......sorry, guys......but, you know its true! Heeheehee.


*
These animal friends could care less what day of the week or year today is........but, Happy Saturday before Thanksgiving, anyway!
*

Up A Tree

Mookie found himself chased up a tree yesterday morning......for the first time in his life! Take my word for it.....his wary downward stare is directed at the upturned faces of two canine foes.

Not to worry.......it didn't take long for Mookie to figure out how to scramble his way DOWN the tree trunk again.......especially when his favorite treat showed up......a pan of warm milk!

*

Here's hoping no one chases YOU up a tree today!

*

Leaves Blue & Swept

The other day the wind blew and blew and this blue leaf blew, too, and got caught on this tree branch. (This photo is for those who are tired of seeing autumn colors.......don't try to hide; I know you're out there!)

*

Today is so typical of November, I can hardly stand it. Drabness permeates the atmosphere......a gray sky is parked overhead and mud globs fill the driveways around the farmyard. Husband is overwhelmed with equipment breakdowns; if it isn't the silo unloader that screeches to a halt, its a cow drinking cup knocked awry by a clumsy cow's head.

Between each two cows in the barn is one of these bowls shown below, for the cows to drink water from. With her muzzle, a cow presses the lever down inside the bowl which allows water to flow in so she can slurp it up. If you think cows are considerate beings who treat equipment with gentleness and care, well, you have another guess coming! Cows have big, heavy heads and necks which they throw every which way, at their discretion. That means trouble for whatever or whoever is in the path of the cow's swinging head. Take my advice.......watch out, or better yet, stay away!

While Husband grumpily worked on fixing drinking cups after milking this morning, I finished scraping the barn alleyways and wandered into the dreary outdoors to figure out what to do next. The morning was very still and I realized it would be the perfect time to sweep the garage. Lots of leaves had blown in there, and, of course, more will blow in in the weeks ahead, along with debris from the cornfields. It never pays to do too much raking or yard clean-up around this farm, for new batches of crap keep blowing in. Who cares, really? We live way out in the middle of nowhere, and no one of any consequence sees our yard, anyway.......just the milk truck driver, an occasional bull semen salesman, the dairy supply guy, the neighbor (whose yard looks similar to ours), and us, of course. There's no need to keep up appearances for the sake of the neighborhood around here! Everyone understands, and no one gives a hoot if your yard is messy at times!

Ok, so the sweeping went well......like I said, there was no wind for me to fight against. Cats.....now that's another story. They presumptuously assumed I was raking the leaves into a comfortable pile for them to lounge on. Harrumph......no way, kitty.......SCRAM!

Finally, the job is done. As I said earlier.....its inevitable that more leaves will come swirling in, but for today, the garage floor is clear. By the way, I love my Rubbermaid cart; its very handy for tasks like this. We have two of these carts; Husband uses one in the barn to move silage around. The first cart was acquired for me to use around the yard, but it didn't take long before Husband had confiscated it for barn use. That was no fair at all! Before long, he agreed we could buy another one.

*
Are things drab and broken down where you are??
*

We the Cats

Hey.......We the Cats of this farm have been trying our darnedest to stay updated on breaking world and national news. Its a challenge because we "lap cats" do not possess laptops. Jeannelle won't discuss the election with us anymore, so we're forced to sneak onto the internet when she's out in the barn. Seeing as we're not house cats, the challenge becomes doubly difficult!

We did manage to learn that Mr. Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia, received a rare Issuri tiger cub for his 56th birthday last week. We're happy to hear he likes cats. We're not happy to hear there might be a revival of the Cold War. Jeannelle has a good friend who visited Russia a couple years ago, and she said the people are kind and generous over there.......although they don't smile very much. (She also said the Moscow subway is absolutely stunning to see,......along with all the treasures in the Hermitage Palace in St. Petersburg.)

*

This next photo shows a Cold War stand-off being acted out. Who is who......we don't know. You decide.
*

Here's my best imitation of a SCARY world leader.........your choice.......

*

Furby is deep in thought trying to figure out the best attitude to adopt towards the presidential campaign in these final weeks before the election:

*

Ack!........Bleh!........this'll do for an attitude, I guess! (Hey......watch the pinky claw, there, fella.....)

*
Have a meow-y Monday the 13th!

*

*