Little Kitty is a Grandma!!

Actually I have another blog almost ready to publish, but this mini-event needed a quick blog!! I took some pictures of my 'kittens' (8 1/2 months old) on Saturday to show how big they were, knowing that the births would be very soon. So, here's Sienna on Saturday:

At dinnertime tonight, there was a commotion with Sam out on the porch, and Mike went out to check out what was going on. Maybe because of the new kitten noises coming from the box, Sam was responding with worrisome sounds. Sienna had already had a few kittens and was in the process of having another. My next few trips out found her 'pushing' to deliver another and another! I don't yet know how many are out there, but for a first litter, she has a pretty full house!! There are at least 6 or 7, and they're all different colors - I see an orange tabby, a blonde one (like Powder), a couple of calicos, black and white, and grey-orange-black combo. It's like a rainbow out there!!! Maybe I can get better pics tomorrow.

Then, Mama Kitty (now Grandma Kitty) came out to investigate:

Powder's next, and I think she has at least 5 - we'll see in the next couple of days!!!

TIMBER!!!!!

A few months ago, a great wind storm came through Ohio and we were notified we had a tree blow down in the yard. I know there's a dead tree in the back yard, and I hoped it was THAT tree!! What a silly thought!!!! (picture on left)

So, when I visited my mom last month, I took a day trip to Ohio to have lunch with my friend, Loretta, who I worked with at the Kettering School of Medical Arts. I also visited my friends, Melissa and Bob, who I knew from the condo community we lived in for a few years. I stopped by our yet-unsold house to check out the yard for the fallen tree, and peek in the windows. Except that the yard could use some TLC, it looked pretty good.

When I got back, we too had some terribly windy days and don't ya know, we needed the roof repaired (for the 3rd time) because of missing shingles and one of the cedar trees blew down in our side yard.

At least here, Mike could go out with his handy saw and haul it off the the burn pile to await the calling off of the burn ban currently in force. Though we've had a few inches of rain, it's still pretty dry. I'm praying for more rain before the hot summer comes!!

In the meantime, the newest litter (2 boys and a girl) are getting really cute - they like sleeping in sunshine on reasonably comfortable days. Yesterday (and today) it's hot and humid and they're happy in the shade of the house.

Latest Project

Olney Centennial Celebration is one week from today, and the Hospital Auxiliary will have a table. We're planning a Bake Sale, and we have a great location just around the corner from the Gazebo (where many events will be). I've been making hot pads (such as they had 100 years ago) patterned after some my mom had. I remember these being around as far back as I can remember. We get so used to ever-updated technology, and some of these old talents are all but lost in this generation. My grandmother taught my mom, and my mom taught me when I was 8 or 9, and I've passed it on to my daughter. But most younger people I talk to don't know how to knit, crochet, darn a sock -- we just get new ones. Of course, I too take advantage of modern conveniences, but I thought it would be nice to promote this old art for our centennial. I'm actually having fun knitting and crocheting while watching movies or TV. I can now almost make one a day!!! We'll see how well they go at our table - I'll sell them for $5 apiece.

Busy-ness limits blog activity

There are always things to do with all the animals on a ranch (farm), -- and living on a gravel road creates more things to do IN the house - what with all the dust! It has been SO dry here for MONTHS, -- so there is a lot of dust kicked up by passing vehicles (5 or 6 a day!!!).
On the left, note the dust in the air compared to our more usual Texas sky on the right! Also note the lack of green secondary to the drought conditions!








This week we've had a couple of storms come through, so for the first time in a long time, there's no dust in the air!!! In fact, with 3" of rain about 10 days ago, and another inch 4 or 5 days ago, things are starting to green up nicely!!

Aside from the busy-ness associated with 'ranch' life, I became a member of the Hospital Auxiliary (i.e. 'pink ladies') a little over a year ago, and don't you know, they voted me in as President last fall! We only have a small hospital, Hamilton Hospital, here in Olney (about 20 beds), but it has a rich history. At one time, Olney was a thriving community of over 5,000! There were 3 clothing stores, a nice hotel with an ice cream parlor, a bowling alley, several banks, a tea room, a couple of five and dimes and lots more. Now we have around 3400 (at last census) which includes more than our fair share of government housing. Oil activity has fallen and taken with it much of the industry/business that was once here. Back then the hospital had over 100 beds and supported 8 or 10 doctors. Now we only have a couple and they bring docs in from around the area to cover the Emergency Room. Anyway, our auxiliary was once around 40 strong and now we have under 20! Since I've been president, the first regular BIG activity of our year is a bean and cornbread luncheon put on each spring. This is THE MAIN FUNDRAISER every year. Aside from that, we assist with projects wherever we can, and we provide fresh ice water, newspapers, and some companionship for the 7-18 patients. Our beans and cornbread meal was March 26th, so I was quite involved in that (but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures). Even Mike helped serve as we expanded to serving at Air Tractor (a major employer in Olney) as well as at the Civic Center. We also had a raffle (an afghan that my mom donated for the event). Then on April 8th & 9th, we had our first ever Book Fair and also finished up on the raffle. It was a very successful event, earning us just under $600 that will allow us to donate some additional things for the hospital. We're not done yet either! In 2 weeks the town of Olney celebrates it's centennial. The whole town will be turning out for city-wide events, and we'll have a pink lady table somewhere along Main Street. As the new president, I find myself busy organizing all these projects, new and old. 'My ladies' have been wanting new members and now I think I can keep them busy, so we're going to have a 'new member drive' along with the big Centennial Celebration!!!

OUCH!!!!!

Little Kitty doesn't miss a chance to kick Tober's butt!!! When Little Kitty first came she was a polite friendly Kitty that resided mostly on the back porch. But Tober, seeing her out on the porch would get pretty 'put out' and growl through the glass and bite on the wood frame to show Little Kitty what she'd like to do if she could just get through that glass!! NOW, Tober's rather 'laisez faire' but Little Kitty says 'point taken' and looks for her opportunities!! Yesterday was pretty windy and the directionality of the wind would blow the screen door ajar enough that she could get her paw in there and sneak through the door! AHA!! Where's that *#@** cat???? A one-sided cat fight ensued! Mike came to Tober's rescue and grabbed Little Kitty by the scruff to throw her out. All I heard was the cat fight and the LOUD scamper of chunky cat diving under the bed. Then Mike came in dripping blood from Kitty's response! She can be very fierce when 'tangled' with!! She bit BOTH of Mike's hands trying to get free - piercing skin with all 4 canines and probably nicking a vein! It's a good thing she's the OUTSIDE cat!

Now Tober gets to watch Kitty's comings and goings from a safe distance since Kitty moved her kittens from the front porch yesterday. THREE times we had to rescue them from behind the shelves in the back of the garage! That was obviously her first choice place to stash them! Finally she accepted the box on the side porch, her usual training grounds for the other two litters.

Birds and Kittens

Well, when I got back from visiting family in Illinois and checking out our Ohio property (next post), I found Little Kitty sprawled out on the porch. I knew she should be due soon, but she was smaller than last time, so I figured I miscalculated. Then, on the morning of the 24th, I noticed she was smaller and looked in the box. Sure enough she had her kittens right on time, but she had only 3 this time (so no wonder she didn't look as big as last time - with 6!!). Anyway, all is well and she's being the attentive 24/7 mom as before!

In the meantime, while she's bathing her babies, the mockingbirds and white-capped sparrows fly in for breakfast and a bath! They are SO messy!! They love to drink the water and bathe in it - BUT they also poop in it!!! I've talked to them about it, but they pay me 'no never mind'!! They dance around in the food dish and spread it al over too! And not just the cat food, but the bigger chuncks of dog food too!!

A trip to the past... but it had changed!

I first went to Texas A&M in June 1962 to take a 5-hour summer school course in calculus so I could hit the starting line at full speed when the fall semester began in September.
Close your eyes and imagine this picture:

Right out of High School; My first commercial flight (an American Airlines Electra - look that one up airplane buffs – first class, of course); Philadelphia to Dallas Love Field (DFW wasn’t even on the drawing boards in ’62); change planes at Love Field to a Trans Texas DC-3; three stops down to College Station.
At Texas A&M’s Easterwood Field, the plane landed and taxied up to the one-room terminal. There was no-one there, and the pilot didn’t even shut down the engines – the stu (not “Flight Attendant” - they were young, good looking, and single back then) just opened the door and handed me my suitcase, pulling the door up as I stepped off the air-stairs.
I watched as the plane taxied away and took off, leaving me standing all alone in the middle of nowhere, with the campus looking like an island in a sea of prairie grass, about a half mile away.
I picked up my suitcase and walked over to the campus, and found the office where I needed to check in and get a room assignment.
I went to Building 10– a sandy-brown brick dormitory in the ‘quad’, where in a couple of months a cadet squadron would be housed, and claimed the bottom bunk of my assigned first floor room. I had to open the window to get a breeze, since there was no air conditioning.

After a brief nap, I wandered around the nearly empty campus to orient myself to my new environment. One of the places I ‘discovered’ was the MSC – the Memorial Student Center – one of the few air-conditioned buildings on campus.

College Station was a pretty small town in 1962; I remember only a few small stores and businesses just outside the campus boundaries called Northgate: A movie, a storefront restaurant, a drug store, and “Old Army Lou’s” Bookstore. Needless to say, other than going to the “flick” on Friday or Saturday, or to Aggie sporting events whenever, there wasn’t too much social activity to distract one from the Corps or academics.

Jump to 2009 – 47 years later:

I was lost when I walked the campus. First of all, when I was a sophomore, Texas A&M underwent a significant change – they admitted women, and made the Corps of Cadets an option. So the university went from 8000 students in 1962 to nearly 50,000 today.

The campus was packed with new and expanded buildings, some of which replaced the old buildings where I had my classes. The ‘Quad’ was still the home of the Corps, but there are only 1700-1800 cadets anymore. I found my old dorm, and talked to a cadet that was living in the same room that was my “hole” as a cadet… same fundamental lifestyle (although I’m sure that the corps doesn’t condone some of the stuff we used to do – Bab-O Bombs; booby traps when the upper classmen opened their doors; skinning deer and other game in the showers; stuff like that.)

College Station is now a major town, packed with fast food joints, bars, hotels, bookstores, law offices… AND LOTS of traffic.

It was good to go back, but my memories of A&M will always be of the campus that I knew in ‘62.