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Cats, Cows and Cool Stuff in the Home Deed
Often when I’m reading other people’s blogs I’ll say, “I can do that!”, or “I’ve done that!”, or “That reminds me of such-n-such!” Such is the case of Cathy’s post on Tadpoles and Teacups.
Cathy told a story about her cat, Tres. Cathy’s Tres is the third cat in her outdoor series (read it here). This got me thinking out our current and only cat, Tiger, and our series of cats here at Sweet Woodruff Acres, along with all the animals for that matter.
We bought our home on five acres in January of 1992. After the closing and the completion of paperwork it was time to move in. However the seller, Dorothy, wasn’t ready to move out yet! We had sold our home and had to move somewhere! So our solution was to move all our belongings in a couple rooms of the house and store the rest of in the barn. Meanwhile, the Dorothy moved all her belongs to just a couple rooms. When we bought the house she told us we could have a few things she didn’t want to take with her to her new and smaller home. One of them was the cat. For the life of me I can’t even remember the name of that cat! Here's Jessica with that first deeded cat:
But I do remember the name of the pregnant cow she also included in the home deal: Mabel. Mabel was due to birth her cow just a monthor so after we moved in. Remember the movie “City Slickers”? You’ve got the picture! We had moved from a track style home on a cul-de-sac in a big city in California to these sweet five acres here in the Oregon countryside…with a cow about to calf. I wish I could tell you all the stories about us and that cow, I think I could fill a blog for a lifetime! I learned how to assist a cow birthing, how to milk a cow, supply feed for a cow and then the reward: I learned how tasty a home-raised steak is! I learned how satisfying it is to have a freezer full of food. Here's Mabel, our deeded cow:
The freezer full of food, well that’s another story. Dorothy didn’t want to bother moving the huge chest freezer, either. So she left that for us, filled with food! Everything from fish from our local fishing vessels to pounds and pounds of butter (she must have found a great sale…and did you even know you can freeze butter? You can.). So you can see we were singing the country song, “Take Me Home Country Roads”. Speaking of singing a song, read on…
Also included in the deed of the home was an organ! Actually Dorothy had two organs and wanted to leave them both for us! But I assured her I didn’t even play the organ, I play the piano, (which I brought with me) and that just one organ was enough! We played around with that organ Dorothy left for us for a couple years, but no one here seemed to take a liking to playing the organ so I listed it for sale. After no calls and no interest in the organ I donated it to the thrift store. And I had to even strong-arm them to take it! Do you know there is barely any interest in organ playing anymore?
So, let’s see, what else was listed in the home deed. I can’t remember anything more that stands out and would make good blog reading, so back to the cat. That particular cat that came with the home was an outdoor cat. We’d feed him outside the sliding glass door, which was our “front door”, as the house didn’t come with a “proper” “front door” (but soon will, thank you Mark! After 17 years of having no front door Mark is making my dream come true…stay tuned for that story). The raccoons would come help themselves at night to the cat food, scaring the living daylight out of me! But soon the Cat-That-Came-With-The-House disappeared. Behind us is forest land and I can only assume she went to make a more comfortable home up there, somewhere….
If you live in the country and don’t have a cat you’ll be in trouble with mice and rats. So quickly another “kitten” was given to us! This kitten was named Mama Cat by one of the girls, because it was VERY SOON…TOO SOON…after we were given this “kitten” that she gave birth to a litter of kittens herself. It took a long time for us to find where she had hid her kittens, but one day they just made too much noise, right there in the middle of the wood pile. BINGO! That’s another thing Dorothy left us: A mountain of spit firewood. (Oh, that triggers one more thing, Dorothy also left the barn filled with hay for the cow!) These kittens soon had a couple litters of their own, and before I knew it I had kittens crawling all over the place. Including in the motor of my Chevy Blazer, not a good combination, I might add. It was the week after those two kitten/auto disasters that I piled all the cats into my Blazer and took them to the vet. ($ Cha-Ching $) But that was the end of our kitten making years. We were down to about 4 cats for many years. Then down to 3, then two. Now today just one. His name is Tiger and I think he’s about 14 years old. If you look in his cat house at any time you’ll always find plenty of tails. Tiger does his job well.
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Now for something artsy-craftsy… Ann helped me out with the Tim Holtz question on the label maker. I guess I must have seen that trick on his blog! Thanks, Ann!
I’m doing a little one-on-one tag swap with Joyce (Scrap For Joy). She liked my Handy-Project tag from last Sunday. However, when I went to packing up that tag it was nowhere to be found! I searched everywhere and I can’t find it. So, I started on a second Hanky Project series. Using one hanky, the second one from my sister Genece, I’m making as many projects as I can with one hanky! Using this second hanky, here’s the tag that I made to send to Joyce:
And for fun I’m sending Joyce another tag from my Nest Tag series:
Guess this is just another one of my long post! Thanks for staying to the end!
Blessings!
*Heidi*
PS Don't forget to read Cindy's blog on Fridays, she writes of her own farm memories.
(Digi frame from Quality Time)
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Oh the sweet memories of your first years there! The cat in the picture with your daughter is the twin/double to a cat we had for over 14 years! I can imagine you would need a cat or two around! Dorothy sounded like quite a character, and lucky for you she left you lots of goodies!
I enjoyed this post and I love the picture of yourself you added to the sidebar! Very sweet Heidi!
Robin
Thrifty Miss Priss -
What a cute story about The-Cat-That-Came-With-The-Ho
use!! I couldn't help but think that it would make the most wonderful scrapbook page.
And I'm impressed with your talented cow skills (LOL). If we ever acquire a cow, I know who to call :0) -
LOL- Your story about moving to 5 acres reminds me a little bit of the TV show "Green Acres"!
I LOVE those hanky tags- I've got to make a note to look in the basement for the box labeled "pretty hankies with holes" -- seriously, I think I have a box with that label! -
Heidi, That was a great story about the cat. I have to ask you though, where did Dorothy move to? Did she give up farm life? I can't even imagine buying a new home, complete with pregnant cow! By the way, the tags are beautiful. Susan
4/22/08 8:31 PM
Have a wonderful day!
Cathy