The Tougher They Are, the Harder They Fall

My semi-feral girl Ivy finally condeded the struggle to remain untouchable this morning.

It was Ivy who caught my eye when I first saw this litter of feral kittens. Tiny and white, probably no more than 6-7 weeks old, she took one look at me, puffed up like a big cotton ball with a bottle-brush stuck in one end, and skittered sideways across the stoop away from me back into the litter's safe hole under one of the concrete steps. "It's time to trap this litter and tame them. And I want that little white one for myself."

(Seven years ago I acquired a fluffy white kitten; four months later she died of FIP. I've always been sad that she didn't get a chance to have a long and healthy life. But in the last couple of years I've come to believe that every animal that comes into my life has something to teach me, and I think now that Vera's lesson was to teach me about FIP at a time when most cat owners had never heard of it, so I'd have the facts and the personal knowledge to help others whose cats developed FIP. When I saw little Ivy, I knew that I had to give her the opportunity for a life I hadn't been able to give Vera.)

I left my live trap with the owner of the house, who wired it open and began feeding in there. After watching them through the window for a few days, she was able to sit on the steps a couple feet away from the trap while they ate. She became such a familiar part of their feeding routine that one evening when all four kittens were in the trap eating, she was able to lean down and untwist the wire holding the door open and get them all at the same time. (She was able to trap Mama cat a couple of days later, and we TNR'd her.)

There were four very unhappy kittens in the trap when I got them home. One at a time I got them out of the trap, clipped their nails, gave them a dose of wormer, treated them for fleas, then put them into the large wire dog crate that was to be their home while I was taming them. I chose the black kitten that seemed to be the calmest first. (That's Doobie, and he's still the calmest.) Then the other black kitten (Amalie) who bit me and then quit struggling and let me treat her. Then the little spitfire tabby girl (Roo) who fought wildly the entire time I was holding her. The little white kitten was last. She bit me twice and then quit struggling, frozen with fear.

After about a week of forced handling Amalie was the first one to give in, though Doobie was neck and neck with her the whole time. After Amalie had gotten away from me one afternoon while I was holding her on my lap and petting her and letting her explore my lap and the arm of the sofa, I figured she was taming down well enough that I'd be able to catch her easily and just let her go and explore. I fell asleep on the sofa, and when I woke up she was snuggled up next to me, purring. Doobie gave in a day later. Roo continued to hiss and spit and fight me, but Ivy just froze in fear every time I touched her. I've been working on them ever since.

At about 17 months of age now, Amalie and Doobie are so loving and friendly you'd never guess they were feral kittens. Roo is still untouchable and wary, though she's very, very slowly relaxing more all the time as she becomes more confident that I'm not going to try to touch her. She's comfortable enough to take food from my fingers, and will even come looking for treats when she knows I'm doling them out. Ivy has also been very wary and doesn't want me to touch her, but sometimes she's OK with touching me if she thinks I don't know about it. I've awakened more than one morning to find her curled next to my ankle/shin, though she takes off the instant she realizes I'm awake. A couple of months ago, she didn't move when I woke up. Some of the other cats were on the bed sleeping, but when I woke up they did too and started asking to be petted. I sat up very slowly, trying to get myself into a position where I could reach her while not moving the lower half of my body so I didn't spook her. Once she was within reach, I just casually began petting the cats closest to her and, when she didn't move, I started sneaking little strokes on her hindquarters between strokes on the other cats. I was eventually able to lengthen my stroke when I touched her - from her shoulders to her rump, instead of just on her rump. She stayed on the bed for a good 5 minutes, allowing me to stroke her in rotation with the other cats. Then I sneezed, and she was gone.

She's been watching me very studiously ever since. About a month ago, she started coming to curl up with other cats in one of the cradles on the cat tree behind my computer chair. If I sit in my recliner, she often comes to sit on the end of the coffee table, about three feet away from me, and just watch me. Sometimes she sits on the floor a couple feet away from my feet, and watches me. When I use my half-bath, she'll often stick her little head around the doorway so she can see what I'm up to. She's been watching me scoop litterboxes, lately; I guess I'm not as threatening when I'm bent over digging in her "dirt". I always greet her, but never reach out toward her. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting to feel that she would be open to being touched.

This morning when I woke, Ivy was snuggled up to my shin just below my knee, facing the bottom of the bed. Within reach. The dry food dish had been emptied during the night; when that happens, I have a lot of company on the bed in the morning. They want to know the instant I wake up, so they can alert me to the dire hunger situation. Doobie, Amalie, Misu, Gertie, and Mookie were all sleeping on the bed with me. They were awake a split-second after I was, and immediately began clamoring for attention. I was hoping to be able to include Ivy as I'd done before. Well, not only could I include her, she wanted me to. After I'd stroked the length of her back a couple of times she began to knead and purr. Emboldened, I stretched forward and began gently skritching behind her ears. She began rolling her head on my hand, so I began stroking the sides of her head and even up her face, over the top of her head, and down her back to her tail. She rolled onto her back, so I skritched her tummy. Then a dog barked, and she was gone.

Two minutes later, she was back. First sitting below my feet, then lying down and putting a front paw over one of my ankles. After a minute, she moved up to my thigh and flopped down next to me. Her body was relaxed, but there was still a speculative look in her eyes - "is she going to grab me?" She wants to trust me and, finally, the need for love is conquering fear. This morning was pivotal, I think the scales were tilted from fear to trust with enough momentum to prevent them from tilting back.

Perhaps Ivy's lesson for me is a review course on the virtue of Patience.

What Happened to Autumn?

It was lovely here over the weekend. Sunny, in the upper 60's/low 70's, perfect fall weather. Yesterday it was cooler and cloudier, today it's cooler yet and overcast. There's a storm a comin', supposed to arrive by midnight tonight. It's going to be cold and rainy tomorrow, and it's supposed to snow on Thursday. Might even be some accumulation Thursday night. It's supposed to stop raining/snowing by late Friday afternoon, but Friday night is supposed to be miserable - damp and very cold. The overnight temp on Friday is supposed to drop to freezing or below. Brrrrrrrrr! It's supposed to warm up and be more seasonable after that, but I'm afraid this approaching weather spells the end of my garden for this year.

So today I'm working outside. I finally finished draining my little pool. (Couldn't do it when the weather was nice, nooooo. Had to play in the sunshine!) It's draped upside down over some lawn chairs to drip off as much moisture as possible; before dark, I'll move it into the pole barn and let it hang in there for a couple of days. Then I'll use towels to remove any remaining moisture, fold it up, and put it back in the box until May. I'm taking a short break now, then I'm going to go out and pick all the green tomatoes. I've got a couple of good-sized cardboard boxes and a stack of newspapers, so except for the tomatoes I'll use in the next couple of weeks as they ripen on the counter, I'll wrap all the rest in newspaper and stash them in the boxes. With careful storage, I should be able to enjoy "fresh" tomatoes until December. I also need to review my green tomato canning recipes to see which ones I'd like to try. Might try to pick the rest of the chokecherries, too, though I might have a chance between rain showers tomorrow to do that if I can't get it done today.

I'm afraid my pumpkins might bite the dust with the upcoming weather. I'm going to try to protect the vines/pumpkins with plastic, and then with blankets on top of the plastic for the cold temps on Friday night and see if I can pull them through. If they make it through, there might be just enough time for them to get big enough to carve. (Note to self: start the pumpkins earlier next year!)

I took in a "free dog" yesterday. Young Blue Heeler. They said he was 11 months old but I doubt it; he's still got his puppy molars though his adult canines are fully in, so I think he's closer to 8 months. Very nice little guy, sweet and even-tempered, smart and affectionate, cat-safe and appears to be dog-congenial. I can't keep him, and I can't keep him here for long, so I've got some feelers out to several rescue groups to see if they'd be willing to take him. I sure hope someone can make room for him.

Half way through my Monday night obedience class for this fall. This is a really nice bunch of dogs, not a one in the class I dislike, and I like the handlers, too. Got a sharp little rusty-black Pom fellow - sharper than his owner, but sweet enough to wait for her to catch up. *smile* Sweet, happy, enthusiastic young chocolate Lab with the attention span of a gnat. Middle-aged black Lab mix rescue girl, never been off the dairy farm she used to live on, sweet and good-natured, her owner is a sweet, gentle, inept older man. A sassy young Samoyed who's mischievous but smart and sweet; I'm trying to teach her elementary-school teacher owner how to be a little more firm. A shy little pet store-purchased Jack Russell who's gradually gaining more confidence in himself and his handlers. (Mom, Dad, and daughter all come and whoever's not handling the dog is taking notes. They're putting in the daily training time, too, and it shows.) Incredibly smart, eager, willing-to-please, but very barky little guy who's the size of a Jack Russell but looks like a Red Heeler/Basenji mix. OMG, the sass from that one! But so smart and responsive, and a total blast to teach! (His owners are very nice, but not nearly as sharp as their dog.) And a young couple with a very sweet, smart, energetic young girl that I think might be an English Shepherd or mix. Very good class.

I've been checking my impatiens plants daily for seed pods, and collecting them when they're ripe enough. I should have plenty of seeds for next year's pots and hanging baskets. Picking impatiens seed pods makes me think of my dad; he used to get such a kick out of carefully picking them and handing them to unsuspecting victims, who'd inevitably put just enough pressure on them to cause them to pop and curl in their hands, startling them. It's a very odd sensation, feels like you just caught a bug in your fingers. As I carefully pick seed pods - holding a paper cup underneath to catch seeds as I pick, just in case I put too much pressure on them - I'm remembering my dad and his little prank, and grinning from ear to ear.

OK, I guess break time's over. Tomatoes, here I come!

A Garden Report

I can't believe it's been almost 3 months since I blogged. It's the beginning of October already!

The kingbirds are long gone, I never saw them after that fluttery farewell. The hummingbirds left on their migration south a couple of weeks ago. I still have the feeders out, in case there are any stragglers who need a meal on their way, but I think I'll probably take them down this weekend and put them away until next April. The year-round local birds are still coming to the feeders, but much less frequently than even a month ago. I think it's probably because there's such a wealth of wild food available at this time of year.

My impatiens are still blooming, but they're starting to look a little anemic. I think they'll last until the first freeze, though. I thought my geraniums were done blooming for the year, especially since we've been in a cool, rainy weather pattern for a month and they haven't gotten much sun. But when I went out yesterday, both plants have several new blooms. When they're gone that'll be it for the year, and I'll bring them into the garage for the winter. The begonias, too. In the spring, I'll transplant them to larger pots.

My garden produced mixed results. The cucumbers were a huge success. The plants bore continuously, and provided plenty of both pickling and eating cucumbers. There are a dozen small pickling cukes still on the vines and they continue to grow, though very slowly. I'm hoping they'll be big enough next week to pick and make one jar of gherkins. I'll probably make them sweet gherkins, and give them to my mom. The peppers were also a success, I had enough jalapenos and habaneros to do everything I wanted to do with them. I also had a decent lettuce harvest. From two zucchini plants, I got 4 zukes total. I should have gotten more, there were plenty of flowers but they never produced fruit. I think they need to be in a sunnier location, I'm going to find a new, sunnier spot for them next year. My carrots were a mixed success; I planted them too close together and didn't thin aggressively enough when they were small, I'll know better next year. My string beans produced quite a bit, considering that the plants never got above 12 inches tall. The spot where I planted them and the lima beans wasn't sunny enough for vigorous growth, they'll be going elsewhere next summer.

My tomatoes were also a mixed success. I got lots of Purple Cherokees from one plant, and they were wonderful. Meaty and sweet, beefsteak-type, and a nice blue-red color. I've saved seeds, and have enough for myself and extras to share. (Want some? e-mail me!) I also got a good harvest from what I think was the Burpee "Fourth of July" plant. Baseball-sized and round, they were great for slicing and salsa, and had the added bonus of having a long "counter life" - they could sit on the kitchen counter for over a week and not lose texture or taste. The Romas were prolific and produced a nice steady crop of uniformly-sized fruits. But I got them planted too late, as I did with many of the other varieties; I have plants that are heavy with green tomatoes, most of which won't ripen before the first heavy frost kills the plants. I got some small Golden Jubilees, they were a beautiful yellow and very tasty. The plants in pots produced a lot of fruit but both the plants and the fruits stayed small. It's because the pots were too small - when I found myself with more tomato plants than could fit into the garden proper, I planted some of them into discarded laundry detergent bottles, the largest of which was 2 gallons. It was hard to keep them adequately watered, when it was hottest outside I had to water them at least twice a day. The spot where I placed the pots was a good location, though, so next year I'm going to try growing some plants upside down in 5-gallon buckets in the same spot. It shouldn't be too expensive or difficult to build a hanging rail to hold them up, all I need is some 2 X 4's and a length of galvanized pipe, and large S-hooks for hanging the buckets from their handles.

The garden was too shady for some of the things I planted there. Next year I'm going to plant that plot with things that did well there (cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, peppers, and some tomatoes), but I'm going to make another garden plot, or maybe a couple of raised beds instead, at the back end of the driveway. That area gets sun from about 9 am until evening, and I'll plant more tomatoes, zucchini, watermelon, and beans there. I'm going to try again to raise some herbs in the raised bed at the side of the house. The dill did well there, at least. But nothing else came up. I'm not sure why. (I know that bed was built over a stump, maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe they tried to dissolve the stump with something that poisons the soil there?)I'll also plant herbs in the vegetable garden; I know the soil there is good so if herbs don't grow there next year I'll know it was something I did wrong.

I think the key to having a more successful garden next year is to get started earlier, and to have more vigorous seedlings to transplant. I'm working on the logistics of setting up an area in my family room where I can keep the seedlings protected from the cats, and where I can hang a couple of grow lights. The only place I can put seedlings where they'll get natural light is on my dining room table, and that's a north-facing window and it just doesn't get enough sunlight to grow vigorous seedlings. I'm thinking a sheet of plywood over a pair of saw horses, with dog crate panels set up around the perimeter of the plywood so the cats can't jump up there. I should be able to suspend at least one long grow light from the crate panels, maybe two. That should give me a much better start next year. I'm also keeping my eyes open for old wood windows or doors; if I can find the right combination, I'll build a cold frame out in the patio.