The tulips are up and many other things are poking their heads out. The peonies and hostas haven’t made an appearance yet.
Just to get a kitty into the images: here is Claribel and her very long tail.
March 2022 sprouting outside
Claribel
January 2022 new cat tree
I splurged on a new cat tree for the kitties. It has scratching posts, which is a good thing. Everyone has been very pleased about it.
Below is a picture of Claribel and her shadow in the morning sun.
December 2021 snuggling kitties
The kitties are all very happy; they have two new beds. They aren’t properly big enough for two of them to fit into, but they have worked it out.
Above is little tiny Claribel all alone in one of them. She is the smallest of the inside kitties, but has a magnificently long tail to make up for any tininess. Here is a post with many more pictures of her (including as a little baby).
Milton, the big black cat, and Claribel are unlikely snuggle friends. He can be a bit roguish, but she is very quick and lithe and can easily get away from him. Milton is on the left below.
And below are several pictures of Milton and Claribel squeezed into the same new little bed.
Here is a picture of these two from last summer: Trouble and Sneaky:
December 2021 Snow
Although there were predictions of 9-12 inches of snow, I think this snow was a fairly decent 6 inches. And absolutely lovely.
The inside kitties have been snuggling into nice warm spots like this little Claribel.
July 2021 phlox and hosta
I am very fond of this white phlox and last year moved it to this corner spot of this bed as it gets more sun here than it was getting in the midst of the hostas farther to the north in this bed. It turns out I didn’t get all of it when I moved it…. so now I have some bravely emerging phlox back over in the old spot. I cleaned out this bed and tried to spread out some of these hosta last year, and I think that actually gave this phlox a better chance and might have even improved the amount of sun it is getting in the old position. I particularly like this phlox because it continues to bloom for a very long time. This bed gets moonlight in the early nighttime and it is stunning on these blooms.
The hosta are starting to bloom –the miniature hosta are finished. For some reason they bloom really early.
And here are a couple of kitty pictures to round things out this morning.
And here is some ambitious over confidence about the possibility of working that door handle.
June 2021 mystery plant and kitties
This purple plant with cup-like downward pointing flowers showed up in a nice swath by the barn a few years ago. I do not know what it is –maybe someone can help with the identification? It does well in this spot, and it has shared a few stray seeds and spread a little to some other places.
Here is a handsome Tiglet sitting outside. The clouds in the next pictures did manage to drop a very little bit of rain for the garden last night. Much needed rain.
An entertaining bit of kitty discussion inside: Claribel and Milton are quite good friends, because he has a very good big warm tummy for a small cat to curl up against. But whenever he steps over a boundary she is quick to swat him back. I think this touchiness on her part is necessary since he is twice her size and can be a bit of a bully.
June 2021 White rose and some kitties
This white rose is the most fragrant of the roses I have. It has also been here the longest. Last year many of the roses were eaten by Japanese beetles but the timing on the beetles must be a bit different this year and the roses are coming through beautifully. They are such full roses –so many petals.
This a coneflower right behind it –they are also getting ready to put on a show. Meanwhile, here are some happy kitties.
Claribel, completely sacked out on the back of the sofa.
Sidney looking very handsome –and a little later when part of the blanket slipped down over him.
June 2021 white hydrangea and kitties
The hydrangea are in full bloom. I tried to pull out the dead stalks from last year –this is really only possible very early on in the year since they are so thick and the patch of them is quite big. Obviously they are very happy here. I thought for a long time that it would be nice if I were to dump the acid/ base – soil fertilizer stuff on this ground so they would go lavender (since I like lavender flowers so much). I did foolishly buy a bag of the stuff many, many years ago and then when putting it on realized it would take a truck load to actually cover the space. A couple of years after that I realized that these hydrangeas are white hydrangeas and wouldn’t change color anyway.
May 2021 : : Kitty spotlight on Claribel
Claribel is Vladimir’s sister. There were only the two of them –and here is a picture I’ve already included that shows Vladimir and Claribel with their Mum.
But since you can barely see her little tiny self in that picture, here are a couple of others of her as a tiny kitten.
Claribel was born in August of 2009.; I’m not sure why she looks so grey in this picture. It must be the light reflecting off the mass expanses of that sofa.
This picture was taken in December of 2009 –she is about 4 1/2 or 5 months old here.
Claribel is definitely the most limber, flexible, and acrobatic of all the cats.
Cousin is looking at that toy… I think it had been rubbed on catnip.
Above, Claribel cuddles her head into a nice warm Cara tummy. All the kitties like to cuddle with Cara. Fewer of them are keen to cuddle with Milton (the black kitty below). Milton and Claribel are often found together. Here they are looking like a pair of snoozy outlaws: Trouble and Sneaky.
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