Go Ahead, Fence Me In!

Hey everybody –

I’m glad to have the chance to update you on my status here at The House of Nine Lives. I’m a King, I tell ya! Boy, I landed in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow when I met these two!

Way back in May, I was a skinny, sickly fellow, scrounging for food and dodging danger while fending for myself. My, my, how times have changed!

I now have about two and half acres to romp and run in, not to mention about twenty-three more acres I can explore when I’m supervised. I’ve been given a clean bill of health. I have a bottomless food bowl and an endless supply of fresh, clean water! And, as if that wasn’t enough, He and She allow me to come into the house whenever possible. I also have a new extended family. My best friends outdoors are twelve young longhorns, who actually run up and down the fenceline with me occasionally, and ten furry little nuggets in the house who I have learned to tolerate very well. Well, maybe “tolerate” isn’t exactly the best word. I actually kind of like them. Not that I want to ruin my dog reputation, but how can you not like someone like Nova, who comes up and rubs his head against you?

I’m also on very friendly terms with Jazz and Kosmo. Not so much with Lilah, who hasn’t been very friendly, but that’s okay because I still feel welcome here.

I’m not exactly sure who “Riley” was, but I’m certainly living his life, now. Look at all the hard work He and She have put into making sure I have a safe place to spend my time. Here are some pictures of the fence we have all been working so hard on.

For most of the yard, we put up galvanized welded wire, using the existing posts for the barbed wire fencing that separated the yard from the pasture.

But, for part of the fence, they wanted something a little more decorative, so they continued with the welded wire, but used it in conjunction with wood to make panels like this:

After finishing the construction of the fence, they stained it a dark walnut color and added the decorative copper post caps.

We really like how the fence doesn’t intrude on the view!

While we three were out working hard on the fence in this:

Let me point out, that’s in the shade, too. This is what Fu was busy with:

I don’t think he’s too anxious to go back outside now.

So, that gives you an idea of what kind of environment I’m living in now. All I can say, is go ahead, fence me in!

Gily
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Lily Pad

Ve vant you to meet anozer “memb’air” of our fami-lee. No, I am not talkink about zee beeg clumzee Geely, Fu will feel you een on heem. I mean zee leetle fellow who has been campink out viz us. He’s being called Leely Pad. He has made heemself at home in zee potted leely right outzide our door.

He has been staying viz us now for about one month. Once, he even had a guest to stay whiz heem, but She deed not get any peectures of zhat. Ve like it alzo vhen he ees burrowed down in zee dirt and he zhinks he cannot be seen.

We zhink he ees a funny leetle fellow, and enjoy watchink heem zrough zee glass door. Ve call heem “Leely Pad” because zee leely ees hees pad.

Maybe he is acshually zee handsome preence een hidink. Eef so,  hees seecrette ees safe viz us!

Casanova
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Producing Produce

Anyone who knows He and She would know they aren’t experienced gardeners. It’s not that they don’t really appreciate fresh fruits and vegetables, it’s just that there is a really great fruit/vegetable stand with a lot of local produce within a mile of their house.

Well, this year, for some reason, She decided She wanted to try her hand at growing some tomatoes. So, they purchased one lonely tomato plant in a pot and added it to the flower bed.

They were very pleased when they started seeing little yellow blooms and tiny little green tomatoes appear.

As the tomatoes grew, so did their excitement at the prospect of having their own home-grown tomatoes. This I find to be rather odd, since neither of them profess to be big tomato-lovers. But, hey, “ours is not to question why”…I only nap and write the occasional blog post, here. Anyway, the first tomato that was really showing progress was doomed when a rain storm came through and the plant was knocked over. Unfortunately, that whole stem was broken off. The subsequent tomatoes were much later in developing, and several of those did not survive, as they were stricken with blossom end rot. However, the plant has kept on trying until it finally yielded this!

It might not be a prize-winning-beauty, but they were very proud of it.

Following a couple of bacon, tomato and cheese sandwiches, there was nothing left of it.

They expect to get several more tomatoes off the plant, and then they think they will leave the producing produce to someone else.

She will continue to dabble with this kind of thing, though.

Kosmo
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Thank You Very Mulch

We think it is finally starting to look a little like Spring around here! Last year, She laid out her first flowerbed here at the House of 9 Lives. With such a large yard, She has been a little intimidated by it all and pretty much no landscaping has been done, but she got brave and put down some plants last year at the back of the house. I like the location, because I can sit at the door and watch the butterflies and birds enjoying the little garden.

Last year, she put down rubber bark, because she liked the idea of not having to replace it each year. It also really spoke to the part of her that likes to support recycling, since they use old tires to make the stuff. Here’s a picture of a what it looked like when it was fresh.

We don’t have any pictures of how it looked just a few weeks ago, but She wasn’t really happy with how it held up over the Winter months. When the dirt and pinestraw and leaves accumulated on it, and it got beat down from the rain, it didn’t hold up like she would have wanted it to. So, because we have a pretty unlimited supply of pinestraw (thank you very mulch), She decided to just use that as mulch in the fowerbeds this year.

Here’s a picture of one of our beautiful Irises, which are blooming now, with the pinestraw in the background.

She is so happy that the Irises are blooming. Last year, she transplanted them about this time of year and didn’t have one bloom. She has more that She needs to move, and since this is the time of year that she itches to play in the dirt, She’s having to resist the urge. She also has some Daffodils that She wants to bring up closer to the house, and will probably do that just as soon as the blooms die off those.

Hopefully, some of the plants she put down last year will also spring back up and surprise us! She is already seeing the Dianthus peeking through the straw, but she can’t remember which ones were annuals and which were perennials, so it will be surprise whenever anything pops up!

In the meantime, these are making her very happy!

Jazz
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Volunteerism

Volunteerism is always good. Needs are met, all the parties involved get satisfaction, and growth can occur.

Here at The House of 9 Lives, we’ve had a couple of very special volunteers to “crop up”. Namely, these guys:

Out of nowhere, two watermelon vines have sprouted and grown in our yard. He and She have never had any type of garden, so these serendipitous little gifts from nature have them really excited at the prospect of a bountiful harvest.

As they haven’t done any landscaping, they tend to throw out fruits and vegetables and bread for the possums and raccoons and other animals to nosh on. Apparently some of the watermelon seeds took root. When She realized what they were, She immediately began regular watering. Now they are loaded with blooms.

They can hardly wait for the blooms to turn into tiny little watermelons, and they have really high hopes for a bumper crop so they will be forced to share them with friends and family. In which case, this instance of volunteerism will really be good. Their need for watermelon will be met, and by sharing the outcome, all parties will be satisfied. And, if these little “watermelon plants that could” continue to do well, there will certainly be growth!

Jazz
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The Caretaker

Those of you who know He and She love their Harley Davidson motorcycle might be inclined to think of something like this when I say He got a new chopper:

However, the chopper he got is of a different variety. It’s a Dixie Chopper:

And we don’t think He could be any more excited if it were a chopper of the first type! Because the “Caretaker” (as it is known around here) has a 74″ cut and is known as “The World’s Fastest Lawn Mower”, He is now able to make quick work of cutting the yard and the pastures when necessary. This makes her very happy, as it should leave more leisure time for riding the actual motorcycle.

She’s just pleasantly surprised that with his love of lawn equipment, John Deere and motorcycles, he didn’t come home with one of these!

Thank heavens for small blessings! Or, should I say very large blessings?

Lilah
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