Peppers and Lemons still coming off in the greenhouse. Such luxury!

Picked a few lemons — many more to come. Prepping plenty of Peppers for freezing. Olives produced fruit this year, but may not quite push it out. Grapes also produced edibles at last! Greenhouse yielding lots of Swiss chard, spinach, peppers, arugula; need to replant, but waiting for the peppers to finish on the sunny south side. 7 Beefeater tomatoes 18” high and holding their own in these short days — a first-time winter experiment.Warmest Holiday Wishes to all Family & Friends!!

Tasty combo, hey? Has a nice ring to it anyhow… Went blueberry picking this week at Valentine’s ranch with my friend Donna. We learned that a spring hailstorm had seriously damaged the berry blossoms, so the picking season would be curtailed. Nonetheless, I picked 12 lbs, Donna 17! Yesterday it was time to pull the Elephant Garlic and the “Big Beef” tomato plant in the greenhouse had to be relieved of some fruit. Fortunately I have a friend who loves fried green tomatoes; funny, it never occurred to me that green tomatoes aren’t generally available commercially — ya gotta know someone!

I was gathering greens + flowers today, adding to Mother’s Grocery delivery, and came across a Pacific tree frog in the blackberry bramble (our freezer berry supply). Not sure if it’s a thimbleberry or a salmonberry providing a perch, but FYI…their greens last a LONG time in flower arrangements. This frog IS little, maybe half-grown; there’s an ample supply of spiders, fly-bys and creepies to hunt here, but he/she also runs the risk of froggy-eating birds that may come along. Don’t miss Mother’s when you visit Bandon! For you cyclists out there, it’s a convenient spot to stock up, grab a meal in the deli, and just a few doors away is South Coast Bicycles.

=sigh= For freshness’ sake, I decided to postpone veggie delivery ’til next week — the roses a bit paltry too — but I thank our 14 y/o senior citizen, Orphan Annie, for posing (sort of) in the background.

After a cool, wet Spring, peppers started from seed are FINALLY starting to thrive; 140+ plants, 25 varieties. I confess to purchasing a few, just to make sure SOME peppers come off before August!
Meanwhile, the 11 olive trees are fruiting like crazy — maybe they liked the cool, wet Spring?

In January 2014, a stray(?) cat showed up that I named Cheetah Rivera — he was a shy, but frequent visitor and eventually disappeared. He let me pet him a few times, but he would never eat one bite. Not even People Tuna. His photos are filed under “Ghost Kitties” where he has lots of company in the photo gallery — the numerous strays we’ve trapped, altered, and placed in homes or barns. Some friendly, some not. Some grown, some kittens. Six* we added to our family.  January ’16 brought in a 15-pound ginger cat, Henry Huggins, now placed with a woman at local Assisted Living.  January 2017’s stray, a smaller version of Cheetah, goes by the name of Tinker — and sometimes Stinker, i.e. he’s not fully adult and acts like a teenager at times.  Very affectionate, playful and approachable — definitely a Keeper. ;o)   *So make that a 7: Sarah Palin, Shiloh, Olivia, Django Reinhardt, Marlene Dietrich, and Tinker.  Sadly, Sarah’s kitten Mohan disappeared after 18 months (as did Charlie Dickens, an adoptee from Polson, MT.)

“Puddy” tracks to the front gate — probably Olivia’s, as territorial dispute with her brother Shiloh forces her across the street to “Lurkwood Forest”.Also David’s little Music Studio, originally a family reunion BBQ patio, later enclosed with fiberglass & Lexan, became a hot-tub house. I think it will make a perfect Japanese tea house some day. Our front yard is shaded most of the time year-round and would lend itself to a graveled Japanese garden.

A cloud formation I’d not seen here before.God is ever-Creative!

A letter to the Portland, Oregon Cat Adoption Team

Hello & Merry Christmas, dear Cat Adoption Volunteers!
I DID indeed “find Howard a wonderful new home”. We ended up keeping him in seclusion for over 5 months (except for walks outdoors on a leash) — getting his health issues resolved (corneal ulcer $$, diarrhea and skin). By June, I’d begun to despair of finding a suitable home for him; I wanted to be responsible! We have 6 other rescue cats, and couldn’t keep him indefinitely.

God DOES answer prayers! A woman at Bandon’s Assisted Living facility (we volunteer there) had to have her elderly cat euthanized in May and she evidently became quite despondent without her beloved companion. We had previously reached out to the Activities Director and VOILA!! ..the purrrrrrfect situation for Howard, now “Henry Huggins” — he IS a hugger.

Mary and Henry both have a new lease on life, so to say. Mary will always exclaim how grateful she is to have him in her life. Being very curious and affectionate, Henry’s something of a celebrity. He has a sunny window to nap in and watch seagulls. It’s a very nice facility with great views, i.e. not a dark nursing home. I check on him and visit Mary most weeks, and he remains very healthy; he’s indoors full-time isolated from other cats in the building. Important too, he gets LOTS of attention which he craves …and which I couldn’t always deliver. Mary is wheelchair-bound, but I’ve been told several times that if/when she becomes unable to care for Henry, there are other residents “waiting in line.” The caregivers love him too. He especially enjoys sleeping in the bathroom sink.

This afternoon I’ll clip Henry’s claws (a hazard to the elderly especially) and administer flea treatment, as there can be fleas in the building, evidently from other residents’ pets. His skin issue was flea bite allergy. I’m happy to help out with his health maintenance/vet visits.

I wanted to share this story with you, not just as a happy outcome, but it might be an option to suggest to people, calling you for advice/Sanctuary intake. Or perhaps if the Sanctuary reaches full capacity, suitable kitty candidates might find a new home in elder-care/retirement facilities.  Maybe you already do!

God Bless you and your work there,
..kristin

On Feb 4, 2016, at 3:17 PM, Cat Contact <contactus> wrote:

Hi Kristin,

Thank you for contacting CAT, and for looking out for this stray boy. We are sometimes able to assist with FIV+ cats. We keep a wait list, and can only bring in new FIV kitties as others are adopted from our shelter.

To get started, please fill out our intake form at catadoptionteam.org/intake. After submission, our intake counselors will be in touch with you to discuss our current capacity and whether or not we would be able to assist.

If we are able to accept the cat into our care, we will ask for a $50 mandatory fee per cat to cover testing for FIV and FeLV, and a recommended $35 donation per cat to help with costs while they are in our care. Our intake counselors can discuss our fees in more detail with you if they determine that your kitties would be good candidates for our shelter.

We would also recommend looking at our list of other shelters in the area that might be of quicker assistance: http://catadoptionteam.org/cat-care/other-organizations/. In addition, you have the option of seeking a home for the cats on your own, which may be the best option to save them the stress of a shelter environment. Our website has a page of tips and tricks: http://catadoptionteam.org/programs/rehoming-your-pet/#anchor_advertise

In addition, this guide from Best Friends has a wealth of information about how to best go about rehoming: http://bestfriends.org/Resources/How-To-Find-Homes-For-Homeless-Pets/

Thank you so much, and we wish you the best of luck in finding Howard a wonderful new home.

Cat Adoption Team
(503) 925-8903

Hours and Directions: http://catadoptionteam.org/about-us/hours-directions-to-cat/

On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 9:05 PM, Kristin wrote:

Hi … and THANK YOU for ALL YOU DO!
I just rescued a stray/abandoned male kitty who has been spraying around our home/greenhouse the past 2 weeks. Today he got neutered, vaccines, etc. — and identified as FIV+. I already have 6 cat rescues, and am in a quandary what to do with “Howard”, not wanting to put my cats at risk. I’m fairly certain fighting would be inevitable and/or Howard may wander off taking FIV with him of course.

I’ll begin seeking a forever indoor-only home for him as soon as I can give him a bath! He’s a well socialized, extremely affectionate boy. Orange Tabby, possibly some American Shorthair or Maine Coon. Approx 4-5 y/o, healthy weight.

Can you take him into your sanctuary? Or if not, any advice? Contacts in Southern Oregon — I’m in Bandon/Coos Bay.

Thank you very much,
..kristin

… with cabbage onion stuffing, taters carrots & jalapeños.