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Atop my Hill 5/31/2014 5:28:18 AM
Last day of May 2014 Sun came up as always filling the sky with coral and pink and peach
Soil is damp, weedy grasses are easy to pull
The Stella d'Oro lily is beginning to bloom down in the weedy grasses of the flower bed and down into the weeds I plunge - pulling and snapping out those water grabbing grassy hellions who hog the rain and rot the Iris corms and push out Stella when they can
Hold on! What is that, a tiny turtle gazes at me with interest. She has not seen many humans it seems, she exhibits no fear, just wonders what I am doing
Moving the little turtle to a spot at the base of the big clump of Iris where she will not be trammeled in my desire to remove the grass; I return to my warfare
Hold on! Something just brushed against my back, loud purring indicates a feline, which?
Angelique the AsianLeopard cat who recently came to lunch and now appears daily?
Perhaps Bubba a dead ringer for the recently deceased Herman - both lads are recent residents to the yard and pasture
Maybe it is White Fang, the elderly gal who was born in the store house so many years ago to feral mom, there were two little moms and 12 kittens, 1 mom had a run in with coyotes, I watched in sadness as she said goodbye to her sis and dragged herself out into the pasture away from the kittens and safety
the sound of the coyotes in the pasture that night didn't last long
mom 2 gave it her best to feed all those babies, I got bottles and cat milk replacer and offered a hand, she seemed to understand, at least she didn't bite, only retreated to watch warily
hunting a night or so later mom 2 slid down the metal barn roof and broke her neck in the fall
I took over the feeding of all 12 kittens
over the years, 20+, some of the dozen have left the storeroom for adventure, others have died of old age, and now there are 4, White Fang, deaf Blue and the 2 Torties
their feral moms were wee tabby girls, their dad was a huge, friendly fluffy white lad who strolled up the lane, announced his satisfaction with the place and lived with us for a decade before his old age demise
White Fang and Blue have removed themselves from the storehouse for varying periods many times over the years, however their winter break was the last, they just never went back
WF spent the winter in a little hooch by the den door with Herman the madcap, Fang thrives on pets and chats and attention
who knew where touch me not Blue sacked out?
Coyotes yowling just outside the window deep in the night indicated coyotes were in the yard and looking for prey: they would never have been so brazen when Peggy the dog coyote breed was alive and living in the barn, but Peggy died of old age and there are no dogs left in the dog yard
Out into the snow Husband and I roared, Blue, dances with coyotes, was in the midst of the big doggies, smiling and dancing, she IS deaf and apparently had no notion that coyotes really are not friends, somehow I managed to snatch the goofy feline while Husband drove away the desperate coyotes
Blue now lives in the house, so I knew the purring was not Blue
But who?
Ah, one of the Torties has been coming out of the storehouse,
It is she come to talk as I weed
Despite the cool temps of our weather Spring has finally come to the Oklahoma/Kansas border, and when you have cats you always have a buddy as you garden
