Tuesday, March 19, 2024
catsdaily photofoster catsMariposa

Daily Photo: Playtime!

tabby and white cat
Mariposa rolling

Mariposa loves to roll around on her back, especially when she finds a good spot that she likes. She loves this little spot in my display because it just purrfectly fits her, and she can see me and the rest of the room, and the outdoors too! Don’t mind all the fur that’s been ground into the table covering—that’s the result of a lot of work on Mariposa’s part. I’ll see her out of the corner of my eye sometimes, and other times I’ll find her when I walk into the room. When she’s rolling it’s a good time to get out one of her favorite flying toys and wave it back and forth above her so she can really roll and reach and try to catch it. She is so happy when we do this! It’s such a simple thing, but it’s a joy to make her happy.

~~~

From Instagram

“You don’t need any stinking print to feature here, because you have a real work of art–me!” I keep a print featured at the end of my print basket, but apparently having real art there is a much better idea. I agree!

Mariposa is a work of art.

From the garden and beyond

When you look down and see a musical note embossed in a cast-iron street grate along with the names Bobby Vinton, Perry Como, and the Four Coins, you know that you must be in Canonsburg PA. Some of my favorite songs too. Nothing like homegrown talent!

And…Hazy days from the Canadian wildfires today. I haven’t seen it this hazy since the mills were running 24/7 in the 70s.

 

From around this date in past years

Mimi and Mewsette and the Deck and the Flowers and the Heat, 2020

Mimi and Mewsette enjoy our newly cleaned half of the deck on a hot morning.

Even Saturday night I was trying to catch up with my daily features from last week beginning with Tuesday, and couldn’t keep my eyes open. I wasn’t going to get there, and now it’s Sunday.

And then Sunday night my internet connection got all weird because everyone was home in the heat using their internet connection, here it is Monday at 4:30 and I’m finally getting back to this post!

So I’ve decided to just begin a new week. In the past week, Mimi and Mewsette have enjoyed the deck that I half cleaned off, and I have flowers from nearly dead plants, I’ve been feeding a neighbor’s cats and feral colony, and it’s been very hot, and I still have so many projects around the house from the past few years of benign neglect, and I finished up my polymer clay projects, mostly. I’m looking to a “safe” open house some time in the next month, and there are certain household projects I’d like to have finished for that along with many products that I’m pretty excited about. So I’m probably still going to be a little unreliable for a while. Here’s what we did this week.

Mimi approves these new dishes.

Last weekend was wonderful weather, just about purrfect. I caught up with posts, and because a number of back ordered products finally arrived I was able to begin working on new products. I have just been bursting with these! You’ll see them soon. In the meantime, nothing is truly done until Mimi approves. Quite the haul of polymer clay things this week. I’ll be adding to my website and posting each in the next few days. In the meantime, I’m happy to sit down. Mimi notes that she and three of her children are represented here, wonders when Giuseppe will show up on a dish. Soon enough. I add a light matte finish to all my polymer clay dishes to protect the paint and the white clay from dirt and scrapes, but in this heat and humidity they take far longer to dry so I am letting them go a full five days to be sure the finish is cured. Just about today, they are finally ready to go, I hope.

Bella doesn’t have to say a word.

“Are you planning to move the portable AC in here so I can enjoy it?” The heat hit us on Monday and has been relentless. I tend to not complain about the weather because it’s a waste of time, and it changes pretty regularly so why bother? But heat indices up to 100 in our little house are difficult to deal with. I stay up later until my bedroom is cooled off, and get up a little later in the morning. I do have a portable air conditioner that was donated years ago for my fosters in the bathroom and that will take care of one room and then some, which is my office downstairs and the kitchen because there is a window that fits the duct plate. The portable exhaust hose and braces don’t fit in the casement windows upstairs, or I’d actually move it upstairs each night and then bring it back down for the day. So moving fans around and making sure the rooms don’t get overheated, that the cats have cool spots, hopping into the shower periodically to cool myself down, and just moving more slowly and being kind of drowsy with the heat all slow things down. I had to put a hold on larger projects outdoors for now because even early morning is too hot, but I take care of little things.

Maxi waiting for his serenade and spa treatment.

Since last Monday, a week ago, I’ve been feeding Denise’s colony at the top of the hill and spending time with the handsome Maxi, above, while she and her husband are away for a funeral. They will be back Monday evening (tonight). I didn’t mention it last week because that means no one is at their house, and it’s just not a wise thing to do for safety. But I have been photographing those awesome ferals through the week and I’ll share their photos this coming week or next week. In February they lost Mango so this time there is only Maxi in the house and I’ve been concerned he’s all alone, so he’s gotten a brushing while I serenade him with one old folk song or another, then give him a treat. I’ve also been fussy about his eating area, so he knows I care.

Above is some of what’s blooming today, red and white petunias, pink calibrachoa, red and pink verbena, all purchased for a dollar each from the clearance rack at a big box home supply store I know doesn’t water well. I’m reworking things in the new landscape out there, and typically I start my plants from seeds or trade plants with others. I’m not ready in some areas of the yard for the perennials and structures I want, but I do want flowers and color, so that means annuals. A couple of weeks ago I purchased flowers for my yard. Flowers are not cheap, but I wasn’t really ready for any until early July so I found a discount at my favorite greenhouse and market for a good number of things. Then I went to Lowe’s because they have those wonderful clearance carts of plants that didn’t get watered but will revive and thrive if you treat them right. Some of these were just a few stems sticking up from the soil, but I can recognize where there is potential. I’ve been watering and moving from sun to shade, pinching and trimming and watching them revive. This week, many of them began to bloom and it’s so gratifying. I chose many reds and pinks for butterflies and hummingbirds, and all pollinators. There are more to come, and you’ll see them here!

Mimi said, “I’ll have breakfast on the deck this morning.” I love her expression in the first photo, but my camera focused on the swing instead of Mimi. By the time I clicked the shutter a second time she had looked down (second photo). On Friday I finally cleaned up half of my deck so we could use it on the weekend, and because I really wanted to get the shades up on the front of it to keep the kitchen cooler! Mimi and Mewsette explore the newly cleaned half of our deck outside the kitchen door.

Mimi and Mewsette explore the wide open spaces.

What the other side still looks like, and Mimi finding her water bowl on the newly cleaned side.

The girls finding the optimum napping spot, under the swing.

I had always stored some things out there but it’s where I tossed a lot of things as my hip grew worse and I needed space in the house, and then I couldn’t dig around out there to keep it neat. Then the raccoons got to it last year. It was completely out of control but it’s like my extra room—I cook out there, eat out there, relax out there, and I work out there, it’s like my outdoor studio, even in winter. I have missed it! The blinds keep sun out of our tiny kitchen in weather like this, and I can grow herbs and things in pots on the railings, and even grill and otherwise cook my vegetables out there. Now it needs flowers!

I had always wanted to close it in with wire fencing for the cats, but 40 years ago the former owners weren’t too careful with materials and construction and it’s not in good enough shape for that kind of an investment, but maybe someday, with a new roof! For now, I block the two exits and keep an eye on them, or get their leashes. And I did enjoy swinging on my swing in the dark Friday night.

Then today I drove a neighbor and his rescued cat, a friendly from Denise’s colony, to have her spay, I’ll be leaving soon to take him to pick her up, and I hope to get back in time to post my photos today. I have a full slate of articles this week, and also a good bit of work, so I hope to get it all done and still bring you your daily information and entertainment!


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2 thoughts on “Daily Photo: Playtime!

  • mariposa; I dare say we are cousins on our grandmother’s sister’s uncle’s dad’s side of the family ~~~~ hugs from dai$y =^..*= ♥♥

    Reply

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