11 minutes ago, Mike A said:

No problem, the experience was rewarding in itself

 

I'll make an exception as you are a nice chap.

Here's a small reward.

 

😸X1

25 minutes ago, martin-w said:

I'll make an exception as you are a nice chap.

Here's a small reward.

 

😸X1

 

It turns out my older Kindle has a flash. Wife has my good Sony digital camera "put away" somewhere and she's out of town.

I had to get a pic of this little guy's face. They're adorable!

I might get some portrait quality pics later if the kids remember we've got Kats to take pictures of.

Hook

PS added later: The kids are dealing with new sheep. Four so far, the twins and two singles out of a total of ten. One they're working with right now, the mamma's brown and the baby is white with black spots, looking for all the world like a Dalmatian. 

H.

Edited March 18, 20251 yr by LHookins

Wife got home yesterday. She's not even upset that the kittens are living on her bed. 🙂 Momma cat is giving her such loving looks.

This is from wife's phone camera. What an adorable little face!!

I mentioned sheep earlier. Last I heard we had 6 of the 10 lambs born. Here's the "Dalmatian." 

And another born a day or two before this pic was taken.

 

I realized this is the first time we've ever had a litter of kittens out in the open where we can see and interact with them. One reason why I feel so close to them. Mommy kitty doesn't mind at all.

Hook

11 hours ago, LHookins said:

I realized this is the first time we've ever had a litter of kittens out in the open where we can see and interact with them. One reason why I feel so close to them. Mommy kitty doesn't mind at all.

 

Is it a farm you have, Mr. Hook? With all those lovely animals. 

5 hours ago, martin-w said:

Is it a farm you have, Mr. Hook? With all those lovely animals. 

We live on 5 acres about a mile off the nearest paved road and about 10 miles from the nearest civilization. When we first moved here over 20 years ago our nearest neighbor was about a mile away. Since then a couple of houses have been built nearby. 

Maybe 2 acres is fenced. We've currently got sheep, goats, chickens, 2 turkeys and previously had ducks and have had pigs. And of course the requisite dogs and cats. Wife and I have a dog and three cats (plus 6 fresh baked kittens, right out of the oven). My son and his wife live on a house next to ours with four dogs and three cats and there's another dog we share between us, the hyperactive Little Brown Dog. The kids have helped son's wife's family with cows and vowed never to have any. Horses are unlikely as well although neighbors have them. A couple years ago we had to put up additional fencing to keep the various dogs away from the neighbor's horses. Before that the dogs just roamed free wherever they wished and it wasn't a problem.

We usually have a veggie garden and I love the cherry tomatoes they grow for me just off the front porch. A few years ago son's wife dumped a few pounds of mixed wildflower seeds in a 20x50 plot near the house. Several places with dense flowers including giant sunflowers along one fence. There's an immense rose bush that isn't tended and almost qualifies as a tree. There are a few groves of wild fruit trees.

The area looked more like a park when I was young enough to keep it maintained.  I even mowed the entire 5 acres with a good riding mower. It's all a bit wilder now.

I guess you'd call this a homestead rather than a farm. It's quiet and we seldom hear any traffic noise. There's a rodeo nearby on the weekends in season that we can hear. We occasionally hear the neighbors target shooting, and sometimes they hear us, too. We set off fireworks in the front yard and do our shooting in the back. Occasionally we hear an Ag plane spraying nearby fields.

I used to leave the door open for the cats and we'd get local wildlife coming to visit, including raccoons, possums, armadillos and once a skunk. I was able to encourage him to leave with a water squirt bottle without incident. The cats occasionally bring in baby bunnies and once a female bluejay that the kids kept in a huge cage for a while. She seemed happy.

The kids have their "back yard" set up as a gorgeous park.

It's not a bad life. 🙂

Hook

PS. Wife moved the kitten box to a cleaned out closet and momma cat seems to like it. This means fewer pictures until the kittens' eyes open and they come out as getting pics would be a major production. 

H.

 

Mr. Hook. I'm on my way. Prepare a spare room and lots of kittens for me to play with, for about two weeks. 😁

Got my good camera back. Kittens started opening their eyes about 4 or 5 days ago and are starting to explore around a bit. They haven't come out of the closet yet. About two weeks old. Some like to be held, others complain loudly. 🙂 

Layla, the Little Brown Dog is interested in them. She used to carry momma cat around in her mouth when she was a kitten about 5 weeks old, so I'm not worried about her. Jojo the Blue Tick Racoon Hound isn't all that interested. I haven't introduced the cats to them yet, but Leo likes Katie the momma cat so shouldn't be a problem. The big dogs don't have any problems with cats.

 

Looks to be about twice their original size. 🙂 

Hook

This kinda hits home. This is what the little guys look like. This isn't my kitten and dog, but this is exactly how it's been for a couple of weeks.

We didn't have to do any bottle feeding with these guys, but we've done it in the past. 

The narration at 0:49 is accurate: "Suddenly, life feels beautiful to the point of being surreal."

It's been an interesting ride and I'm glad I've been able to bring you along.

Hook

Woah! Got up this morning and Wife said to watch my step. The kittens have exploded out of the closet. As of 8:30 they haven't left the bedroom yet but they're running around and playing like crazy. Three and a half weeks old. Cute as anything!

Pictures to follow later when I get back from the VA.

Hook

Looking forward to the kitten pics Mr, cat daddy! 😼

Looks like they are officially "out". 

Mommy maybe look a little overwhelmed? You can see where Wife put blankets and such to keep the kittens from going under the bed.

My calico Old Lady cat hates this. Everyone else is at least amused. That black and white guy on the lower right looks to have some stripes as well. His face is completely black with a white chin.

Oh, and um... watch your step. 😄 

Hook

Cats on parade!

 

6 hours ago, LHookins said:

 That black and white guy on the lower right looks to have some stripes as well. His face is completely black with a white chin.

 

Those stripes will vanish as he gets older. One of my cats was the same.

Those guts have grown very fast.

12 hours ago, martin-w said:

Those guts have grown very fast.

 

I did indeed mean guys, not guts.   😁   To accuse a feline of having a beer belly is very rude indeed. Felines only drink water and the magical nectar written about in the ancient texts, not bear.