A break in the weather

Me trying to nap on the wine cooler.

Marquette up close and personal on the buffet.

The blur on the railing is ME!

See the whirring fan!?

Tacumwah looking through the railing into the dining area below.

Will she jump?

There has been a break in the stifling weather and Mommies hope to get outside and do some work today. Mommy Bonnie will work in her veggie garden while Mommy runs the trimmer-mower along the road.

Mommy Bonnie has announced her retirement from Cooper Industries, effective July 31. You may read about it on The Farm blog.

Book review: People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks.

Mommy enjoyed this book very much. Though she would not equate this book to Brooks' Pulitzer winner, March, she said it was very good. It is about a woman who is asked to restore a very old haggadah, a Jewish book used during the Seder. She finds in it an insect wing, a white hair and a red stain, clues all, that reveal the history of the book - where it has been and who has had it over the past 500 years. The reader is privy to the history, but the main character of the story is not.

This is a delightful and entertaining book. A "must" read.

~There is no such thing as a FREE kitten!~

Ledge cats!

Me on a front porch window ledge.

Marquette through the screen in the window

that divides the front porch from the dining area.

Marquette from the dining room side of the same window.

See me in the background?

Marquette in the same window.

He looks a little mean, doesn't he?

Another shot of me. I am in the dining room window now.

Mommy says she has enough photos now for several posts. Today's photos are of us on the great window ledges we have here in The Cottage!

It is 93 degrees outside and we are really glad the AC is on and the fans are going. Mommy got her outside work done early today, went to town for cat food, and then decided to catch up on the blogs. I think she may take a nap in a bit and read. She says she has earned it. She will soon have a review of Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book. She is anxious to get back to it.

Mommy would have a review of Angels and Demons except that she fell asleep during it. She says that is no reflection on the movie...that she had worked outside all day in the hot sun and was beat.

There is not much going on here for cats, but Mommies have been busy working in the garden and vineyard and going to their jobs.

~There is no such thing as a FREE kitten!~

It's in the bag!

Me helping Mommy clean the litter box. See my face?

What do you mean I don't fit!?

It is another weekend at Blossom Ridge Farm. It is supposed to be in the high 80s. Mommies finally turned on the AC Thursday night. Before that it had been cool enough to sleep comfortably in the loft at night.

We have had so much rain. Mommies wish the yard had been ready for grass seed sooner because they wouldn't have had to water much. The vines look very good because of the rain.

Mommies are going to work on some water issues today, putting some stone by the downspouts and trying to divert the water there. Maybe they will work in the vineyard too. They are so busy we hardly see them. We are busy too. We eat all day long when we aren't napping, and we play very hard all night. We also keep track of all the bunnies and birdies outside the many windows here at The Farm.

I wish I had something really clever to say or an interesting story to tell you, but nothing clever or interesting has happened in the past few days.

~There is no such thing as a FREE kitten!~

Return from Oz

My favorite places to nap - the mat by the front door...

...and Little Bear's kennel.

Mommy has been off the last two days. Yesterday she was outside working most of the day. Today the weather isn't nice, so she has been inside most of the morning. Most of what she has been doing can be found in the posts on the farm blog.

Mommies returned from Oz Sunday evening. Mommy was sad to see the journey end. She enjoyed the play very much and said the company did an excellent job. She hopes to see the play again one day. So...7 thumbs up for Wicked!

After the play, Mommies, Grandma and Mommy's brothers, Connie and Charlie and their wives, Sharon and Kathy Lynn, all went to Maggiano's for family style Italian. The review of Maggiano's was as good as that of the play.

Well, Mommy thinks she can go out now and work a little, so that will cut this post short.

~There is no such thing as a FREE kitten!~

Dust kitties!

One of my favorite places...in front of the fireplace.

Another photo of Lucy.

Dust kitties on the stairway!

Mommies are going to be very busy today, trying to beat the rain and get some trellis wire up in the vineyard. Mommy Bonnie also needs to redo her trellis for her raspberries.

Tomorrow mommies are off to The Land of Oz, and they are very excited about their journey. For a couple of hours anyway, they will be transported to another world in a bygone time where they can escape from the work, stress and decisions of life here at The Farm.

Mommy took a photo of me the other day that is her new favorite photo of me. She is saving it for a blog where it will be the only photo in the post!

~There is no such thing as a FREE kitten!~

Thrills, chills...and occassional spills!

Lucy on the rattan chair on Grandma's porch.

Little Bear makes himself at home on the quillows.

Tacumwah on top of the shower curtain rod!

Mommies only think we are not allowed in certain places in the cottage. The truth is that we go wherever we like!

Today Tacumwah walked along the railing again. She stopped and studied the tops of the fan blades like she was considering jumping to them. Mommy held her breath, but Tacumwah decided to leave that challenge for another day.

We are all fed in different areas of the cottage. Tacumwah eats in the bathroom, Marquette in the kitchen, and yours truly on the front porch. Today Mommy opened the bathroom door to let Tacumwah out after her dinner and couldn't find her. Now our bathroom is not big and there are no closets. Mommy looked behind the shower curtain and Tacumwah was not in the shower. Then she heard a noise from above and there was Tacumwah on top of the shower curtain! She must have jumped on to the vanity, then to the window ledge and then to the top of the curtain rod. She finally jumped down into the shower with a very loud thud.

Then Mommy decided to help me with this blog and went out to the porch where the computer is kept and Little Bear was MISSING! She knew she had brought him back into the house after his potty break but she could not find him anywhere. She searched everywhere and ended up in the sleeping loft. There was Little Bear, just like the Prince(ss) and the Pea, on top of a stack of quillows on the shelf of the quilt rack! He had climbed the stairs and decided that was where he was going to take his nap!

Mommy got back about noon from her sleepover. The food, the wine, the conversation...all excellent as always. Conrad and Sharon were there when Mommy got there. Everyone is all excited about going to see Wicked on Sunday at the Murat in Indy. Then Mommy and Grandma went to the cemetery because it was Grandpa's birthday. 'Nuff said. Mommy doesn't like to talk about it.

Movie review: Frost-Nixon

Mommy and Grandma gave this movie two thumbs up. The acting was very good and they understood why Frank Langella was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, and why the movie was up for Best Picture. Now you didn't have to be alive during Watergate and Nixon's resignation to appreciate the movie, but it did make the movie a more personal experience. What a sad and lonely man he must have been.

~There is no such thing as a FREE kitten!~

Anything you can do I can do better!

Helping Mommy with the blog.

"And, then, write about how I walked along the railing...."

So Mommy got up Tuesday morning a little before 5 a.m. and one of us cats was walking along the loft railing. It was sooo dark that Mommy couldn't make out which one of us it was. The more she looked the more she realized it was NOT Tacumwah, but a LARGER cat. Then, much to her surprise, she saw it was ME! She held her breath as I took a few steps, stopped and looked down into the dining area, then took a few more steps. She was afraid to move or say anything. Her complete attention was focused on me, hoping I didn't make the looong drop! I not only navigated the entire railing, I turned around and completed the round trip! So there, Tacumwah! Anyone can walk the railing in the daylight, but I walked it in the pitch black! Miss Becky told Mommy not to praise me too much or I would continue to do it, but I have proven my point and I don't need to do it again. And the point is that even husky-sized cats have great balance and can do anything a leaner Bengal can do...even better!

It is raining today and Mommy is stuck inside doing chores. She needs to use the Swiffer and get up the dust kitties. Mommy was telling Miss Marra that to clean the cottage all she needs to do is turn on the huge fan in the dining area. It blows all the cat hair into the corners of the room where it can easily be collected. The stairway to the loft is always covered with hair because we race up and down it all night. The Swiffer works great on that. Mommy should own stock in Swiffer!

~There is no such thing as a FREE kitten!~

It's all about Marquette!

Marquette on the kitchen counter this morning...

...and on the cat ledge.

The big news here is that the Timber Lake Tigers have lost some weight! Both my brother and I have lost half a pound! Marquette now weighs 12 1/2 pounds and I weigh 14 1/2 pounds! Tacumwah hasn't been affected by the move and has remained steady at 9 pounds. Even Mommy lost a few pounds!

This is sleepover week (Grandma was in Texas at the Cliburn competition the first Wednesday of this month) and the menu will be the same as always (scallops), and the movie will be Frost-Nixon.

KJ has completed his third week driving for Hiner and was on the road the last two weeks. He just called and is on his way to Nebraska.

Mommy hopes to till in the vineyard today before it rains and then move indoors to work when the rain comes and maybe watch a movie.

Book review: March by Geraldine Brooks. It took Mommy many weeks to read this book because she was trying to pack and move. In an earlier blog Mommy stated that she wasn't certain that this book was worthy of the Pulitzer but would reserve judgement. She is now encouraging everyone to read this book and proclaims it Pulitzer-worthy. This is a wonderful, beautifully written book, every word a culinary delight.

The hero of the story is the father of Alcott's Little Women who is off to war during the year covered in Alcott's book. Brooks modeled the character of Mr. March after Alcott's father, Bronson. Some of the misunderstandings between Mr. and Mrs. March are heart-breaking. The book is touching. It is human. Another book we cannot praise too highly.

Mommy is now reading another Brooks book, People of the Book, which she is also enjoying. She has yet a third Brooks book, Year of Wonders, on hold on CD and she is going to see if she can listen to a book while driving to work. She says she is done picking out books for herself, because all of the best books she has recently read were recommended by Grandma!

~There is no such thing as a FREE kitten!~