Cat-aclysm

n. Any great upheaval that causes sudden and violent changes.

Not the kind of story you'd usually expect me to tell here, eh?



It appears, following the loss of his trusted friend Boo, that the king of the condo has fallen. He was allowed to spend that one super cold night sharing his old cubby with Eli and at the time I was very happy, thinking all was going to be well and that Comby, Brushy, Eli and Claire Bear would all be friends and live happily ever after.



I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but for the last couple of weeks Comby has no longer been sleeping in his insulated and heated cave, but has been sleeping out on one of the wicker chairs. It too is heated (and surrounded by the lovely plastic) and he's seemed happy enough out there until the last few days.

Now he's moved to the other chair, with no heater, and even when the heated chair is empty, he doesn't seem to be "allowed" over there. I feel bad for him and it can't be just a coincidence that this started after Boo's passing. The odd thing though is all the cats liked Boo at the end and he seemed to enjoy their company as well. I can't imagine that he played the role of protector or "back up" for Comby, but maybe in some sort of emotional way he was.

I know that eventually they'll all get things worked out, but in the meantime, I feel almost guilty watching Wiwi sleeping in her cave. She's a crotchety old cat though and there is no chance she's sharing anything with anyone.

That Darn Cat

So I mentioned picking out pictures for the 2017 calendar the other day.  I had quite a few good pictures to choose from, but sadly was missing the yearly favorite....Comby.  Comby, the hardest working animal on our farm, who somehow always gets posted every year in the calendar sound asleep.

Argh!

I did have a nice picture of Eli though.  He doesn't get much press around here, so that might be nice.

And of course there's darling Betsy.  There were a couple Betsy shots I liked.  One with her and Bullwinkle in the driveway when he was a baby and another with her sitting out with the concrete sheep one evening.

We decided Betsy would be the most wanted cat (in more ways than one!) so Miss September she is!
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Until I downloaded pictures yesterday and remembered that I took a picture of Comby sleeping in the greenhouse the other day.

Ah, there he is.  Sound asleep.  Order restored to the universe.

Yeah, right.

Just minutes (I am not kidding) after I booted Betsy from the calendar, my Inbox started blowing up with retweets and likes and more retweets and likes and more retweets...for a picture of Betsy.

If the Cat Shepherd retweets you, you are going to get some attention.  

Which was apparently what Betsy was looking for.

Sigh...

Both cats both look pretty disapproving, don't they.  How on earth did she pull that off?!?  Are cats like elephants and can communicate hundreds of miles?  Do I need to check to see if she has her own Twitter account?  Is she on Facebook, too?!?  This might explain why I have so much trouble with passwords :-o.

I guess, as a democracy (not dictatorship as Betsy thinks ;-), we should vote on it.  Betsy or Comby? The poll should show up in the upper right corner.  Feel free to share this with your friends if you'd like to try to stack the votes towards your favorite candidate ;-).  

Vote early and vote often!

Wanna Go For A Walk?

As I'm sure everyone well knows, I love winter and especially love snow.  Just before time to start evening chores yesterday, Kate, Tilly, Hank, Comby and I decided to take a walk and go back to check for tracks at the ponds.

We looked at tiny mouse and bird tracks, little rabbit tracks and then found an interesting set of tracks crossing the not so frozen Frog Pond.  I'm not sure who made them. They were single file like a cat, maybe, but I don't think the ice would have supported a cat.

When I climbed over the dam for the big pond and saw the heron tracks, I decided to go back for the camera.  My original intent was to document interesting tracks, but as so often happens, the story ended up being the walk itself.  Enjoy!  I know I did :-).

Tiny tracks along the creek.

I'm sure Hank knows who made these tracks.

What first caught my eye was the set of skid marks (upper right).  Our heron has been here all winter. Did you know that herons will catch small rodents out in the middle of fields?  I'm guessing mice are not their first choice since they are mostly seen in creeks and ponds around here, but now when I see one out in the fields, I watch a little closer.

More single foot tracks crossing a busy intersection.  Any thoughts?

"I don't really care about heron tracks.  I'm going to go check the muskrat dens."

I was taking pictures of Hank on the far side of the pond when he crossed over the ice to the peninsula :-o.  I guess hope he knows what he's doing.  Luckily the water is not deep there, but still... Be careful!

Weaslie's in most of these pictures.  You just can't see her under the weeds.  Kate is checking tracks by the tree on the left.  Tilly is in front of the tree on the right.

And Comby is everywhere.  I was trying to explain to someone why it's so funny that Comby is always sleeping in the calendars when he's actually the hardest working only working cat on the farm. I don't think they believed me.  We know better :-).

Taking the high road home.

I love this picture of Hank watching Kate.

Looking back at the barn.  One of my favorite spots.

Hank loves to go for walks, but if we stay out too long, he heads back in without us.  I guess he's been away from his sheep as long as he wants.  Normally he'd be sitting up near the barn with them, but part of his flock (me, Comby, Kate and Tilly) is still out back, so he's sitting down by the creek, splitting the difference.

Headed up to punch the clock.

Headed back to the heated cat condo.  I give Comby credit though.  The only other set of cat tracks anywhere on the farm are the ones that might be crossing the pond.  Claire Bear and Eli haven't ventured out in days.  They don't know care what they are missing ;-).

The Progression (Or Not) Of The Day

This all started very innocently yesterday morning. I walked by the kitchen door and saw the little darlings napping together out on the chairs and I thought "How sweet.  I'll take their picture."

Aren't they cute?  And so soft looking through my expensive screen door camera filter ;-). 

  Claire Bear's joined them.  This is about an hour after the first shot.

Another hour has passed.  Comby's gotten hot and moved to sleeping on the porch floor. 

Eli's hoping by airing it out he won't have to move.

Early afternoon.  Comby's moved up to a table.

Eli hasn't moved at all.

Mid afternoon.  Comby's back in the chair. 

Now Eli's gotten too warm and had to move out for a bit to cool off.

But looks like there's a sign of life from Claire Bear.  Maybe.

Oops, never mind.

This is getting late in the afternoon.  I've gone to the town and back and they are still. sleeping.  The charm is starting to wear off, I'm telling you.

Right before I went out to start evening chores.  It is starting to get dark.  I refuse to take any more pictures.

Cats...

For The Farm Records...

Remember the super sweet pictures of Comby and Eli sleeping together?  Eli using Comby's foot as a pillow?  Something happened between them last week.  We don't know what.  We just know that Comby moved out and into the other condo.  For several days!  Two cats who have been best friends for years!  

They seem to have worked whatever out even though they both still look a little grumpy sitting "together" on the fence yesterday.  We don't know if the gash on Comby's ear came from a domestic or international incident, but it's healing up now as well.  Maybe all that cold just took it's toll.  Definitely an odd chapter.

Speaking Of The Christmas Card - Updated

On the last day of Christmas...

I love, love, love to get comments on my blog posts.  Especially comments with questions.  And even comments questioning missing characters on the Christmas cards.  

From Cheryl... "I have to ask, where is Eli?"   Eli is sleeping winter away in his heated cat condo.  He would not be caught dead out playing in the snow ;-).

From Lorraine..."Did I miss PPPP?"  Um, (gulp) no...I missed PPPP :-o.  How could I leave out PPPP???? For crying out loud, she's one of my very favorite sheep and is even one of the "oldies" coming out to eat twice a day, the inspiration for the design!

I was sick about this.  Eli...I purposely left him out when I was getting too many characters on there. PPPP?  She had to be on there.  This may sound crazy, but the card was ruined to me without her on there.  

So now she is!  I tucked her in next to Keebs :-).

I haven't decided what to do with the first group of cards Tim has already printed for sale.  I hate the thought of sending my [albeit not quite complete] family to the recycle bin.  Probably no one but me (and Lorraine ;-) would even notice they were slightly different.  Do I leave them in circulation?  Make it a game to see where they end up?  

And while we are talking about it, Tim printed extra calendars to make sure there were plenty of Comby and Betsy calendars to go around.  We only have a few Lamb Camp calendars left, but there is a good stack of Farm Calendars left over (!).  Would anyone be upset if I put them on sale to try to find them homes?  

Meanwhile, out in the cold snow...Comby says "No pain, no gain, Eli!"

I will give Eli some credit.  I'm getting ready to head out to the barn to check on everyone and throw out some more hay before I go to bed.  Eli will make the trek out with me.  Or at least I think he will. It's going down to 4 tonight.  Wonder if he'll bail?  I doubt it.  He goes with me every night.

Updated:  he bailed ;-D.  It is pretty dang cold.  Sheep are all fine and Hank was sleeping in his condo inside the barn.  'Night all!

Second update:  he bailed last night, too.  I guess he's just a fair weather friend ;-).  He did crawl out of the condo to welcome me home though.  Probably does feel a bit bad about leaving me high and dry.  At least I have a good Border Collie who would NEVER let me walk out to the barn by myself.

We are going from 4 last night back to near 60 in a couple days.  Again.  This is getting old, frankly.

I Can Has Greenhouse?

Well, not that you can find it on the their (glammed up, commercial filled) site anymore, but Eli looks just like the original cheezburger cat.



"I love sleeping in this big cat bed dad built in the greenhouse for me."



"It's so warm and comfy I can't stop yawning."

Are you yawning now?



"Wat you mean I haz to moov out?"



"Stupid Comby's in my chair. He should know that even though I haven't been sleeping here lately that it's still. my. chair."



Comby: "Wow, this is just like having my own purrsonal (albeit a bit grumpy) Snuggie."

2016 Calendars - Updated To Include A Giveaway :-D

Hey, at least it's still 2015 for a few more weeks! I could be even further behind than I am...scarily ;-). Without further ado, the 2016 Equinox Farm and Lamb Camp calendars!

I love looking back at the year and picking some of my favorite pictures for each calendar. I'm very happy with both.  The farm calendars are 8 1/2"x11" and the Lamb Camp calendars are 6"x9".

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Equinox Farm Calendars

I had a choice between two pictures of Comby this year - one awake and one asleep.  For the past several years I've used a sleeping picture of Comby.  Comby, the hardest working cat on the farm. Would this year be the year he'd be awake?  Nope.  I couldn't do it ;-).  What started as a coincidence has become a tradition.

I love pictures that make me laugh out loud like Hank laughing at Saint Tim and Liddy riding around in the truck :-D.

Keebs probably isn't laughing...

But 20 sure is!

Those silly boys. You cannot look at a picture of Baaxter wearing a mustache and cowboy hat and Woody in his Indian headdress (that looks more like a turkey) and not laugh.

And a loving laugh :-).

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Lamb Camp Calendars

Cheeky lambies.

Sweet lambies.

Sleepy lambies.

Kissing lambies.

And snorgly lambies.

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We'll do it basically like we did last year.  Equinox Farm calendars are $12.50 each and the Lamb Camp calendars are $10.00. Shipping this year (to the US) will be a flat fee of $6.10 using a Priority Flat Rate Envelope.  For the most part this won't be a significant change in price from last year.

If you are buying just a small Lamb Camp calendar and you live in Lexington, I will do my best to dig out find my smaller plain envelopes and charge you the actual shipping costs, probably around $4.50. Everyone else will be pretty close to the actual costs using the USPS envelope and it will make things so much easier in the midst of chaos around here this year :-o.  

If you'd like to order one (or more), just send me an email with what you'd like and your shipping address. I'll send everything out with an invoice and a return envelope and you can drop a check in the mail upon receipt.

The padded Priority Flat Rate envelopes will hold three farm calendars - for approximate scale.

Shipping overseas last year was not as expensive as I feared.  I'm happy to get a quote for you. Likewise for Canada.  

There are also Lamb Camp note cards, Christmas cards, drop spindle kits...in the farm shop if you are interested.  I'm hoping to get the Lamb Camp yarn added to the shop tomorrow.

So how is the chaos coming along?  Not too bad.  We are very happy with our contractor.  He's doing a great job and working hard to get us back to normal as quickly as possible.  Old farm houses... Fingers crossed that we'll have a full size hot shower by this weekend!

Bathroom tile is going up tomorrow.  Cabinets and counter tops, appliances, flooring have all been ordered and scheduled for delivery and install.  It's time to pick paint colors.  We are still a few weeks out from finished, but I can almost see a hint of light at the end of the tunnel.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get my own work caught up and hopefully even touch some yarn this week!  I've been so fried that I haven't felt smart enough to even tackle plain stockinette stitch.  Sigh...

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Yesterday afternoon when I was taking calendar pictures and thinking about my post I planned on doing a calendar giveaway.  By 10:30 when I was actually sitting down at the computer I completely forgot. So, here goes.  

I think a lot of us have had a pretty crazy year.  I'm glad so many of the pictures I picked for the calendar seem to have a 'make you laugh' quality.  It was just a coincidence, but if at the end of the year you are still laughing, you're doing alright :-).  

Tell us something in comments (or via email if you are having trouble commenting - what is going on with that?!?) that happened this year that made you laugh.  I'll have Random.org draw a winner on Thursday at noon.  I'll wait until after that to ship out any calendar orders this week so if you ordered one and then won one...  You do not need to order a calendar to enter!