Potted Cat Reported in the East

Brindle Potted Cat

Alert reader, Kimberly, who also happens to be my niece, reports the unique phenomenon of Potted Cat has been spotted at her home in Pennsylvania. We seem to have an eastern species of the western variety of Potted Cat that I reported in a previous post. Kimberly sent photos of this unusual potted growth. This Potted Cat is a mother stray who showed up at Kimberly's house with two kittens about a year ago. One of the kittens adopted Kimberly and family. Her name is Onyx. She walked inside one day and never left.

In Kimberly's words: "I call the mother cat, Brindle.  The day Onyx decided to come into our house was the last time I saw her brother, who looked very similar to the mother cat.  Brindle had been biting at Onyx and growling at her, when only weeks before, had been nursing the two kittens.  I guess mother cat was telling her 4 month old kittens to get lost.  Onyx was very intrigued by our resident male cat, Majik, who used to be Mom and Dad's cat.  At first, he was not thrilled with his new little friend, but Majik has never been mean to Onyx.  She has followed him around from day 1 and does exactly as he does."  See photos.

Brindle continues to live outdoors and sleep in pots, preferring independence as cats often do. She enjoys leg rubs and allows a few pets from time to time. It seems Onyx has taken over the family.

Thank you Kimberly for that report and photos!

PS.  In her spare time Kimberly is a volunteer costumer for local school plays, musicals and other events. This has been going on for the last ten years. She also enjoys gardening and is a fabulous cook. 

Onyx takes over

 

Majik and Onyx

Fire Trucks

 Fire season is early this year. Not much snow this winter which meant not much snow pack. No water in the ditches. Two years ago we were an island in a lake. This year we are dust and blowing away. The good news is the weather is hot and sunny and we're getting some thunderstorms. Bad news is the thunderstorms bring lightning in a dry year. Though T-storms don't usually bring much rain. We need a soaker.

John and I went to Prineville, a small town to the west of here (in better shape than Burns and Facebook is setting up a campus there). The Oregon Dept. of Forestry had a fire truck for him to pick up to bring back to Burns for the Crane Rangeland Fire Protection Assn. It is the white one in these photos. But it was the wrong truck. So we went back two weeks later to pick up one of the three green trucks. These are old military vehicles with a flatbed. The rangeland fire protection volunteers put tanks on the back of these vehicles to haul water to fires. We have one sitting in our farm yard now -- a 1962 Studebaker 6 x 6.  John wanted one of the green ones which is newer. He drove it back to our place at 55 MPH, just about the top speed for these trucks.  He has fire training this Saturday and then two days in June.  He's not sure which truck he'll end up with this year but he's been keeping the fire truck's 1,000 gallon tank filled from our neighbor's irrigation pivot well just in case. Pray we don't have a bad fire season. I think most of the region is in the same shape. Dry year.  Fighting fires is a summer industry in the west.

The green mobiles. They take off the back and put a tank on the flat bed.

John checks out the trucks with an ODF guy. Hills of Prineville in the background.

This truck hauls back hoes to fires.

One of the newer trucks with a tank.

The Crane Ladies' Literary and Alfalfa Society

Ladies attending from the top: Tammy, Debbie, Sue, Cheryl, Tiz, Denise, Nancy

Discussing Designer Detective or watching the baby

Last week I had the pleasure of being invited to The Crane Ladies' Literary and Alfalfa Society to discuss my book, Designer Detective.  These ladies are an impressive group and have read an impressive booklist. They've been together for eight years. Not all members of the group attended. Meetings always include lots of socializing and good food besides discussing the book of the month. I got great feedback on my book and enjoyed meeting everyone. They invited me to join the group and I will. The next meeting is June 7 and they'll be discussing "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese.

Nancy Fine, reporter for Ruralite Magazine and fellow writer buddy, attended to do a story on the book club and take some photos. The ladies were particularly excited that their book club was going to make the magazine which is a publication of the Harney County Electric Cooperative and features regional articles on locals and events.

Thank you Ladies of the Literary and Alfalfa Society!I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

Denise's little boy, McKee wants in the photo (actually he wanted to go down the steps)

Nancy Fine, mild-mannered report for Ruralite Magazine

Blitzen Moves to Drewsey

Morgan, MacKenzie, Spike and Blitzen

 Blitzen celebrated his first birthday, April 8, in his new home with the Cronin family on a ranch in Drewsey. (If some of my friends and relatives thought I was in the middle of nowhere, this ranch is east of that.) Harriet, his mother, is with him. MacKenzie, thirteen year old daughter of Toby and Lisa, is Blitzen and Harriet's new trainer. She has already trained two horses and some of her other pets.  Blizten shares the round corral with his new horse pal, Spike, a two year old buckskin who MacKenzie is also training. Both boys are not clipped yet but that is scheduled for this week. Then Blizen should calm down a bit. Mackenzie has made good progress with him. He now leads much better and doesn't bite anymore. Harriet and Blitzen will be saddle trained. Lisa and Toby have a cow/calf ranch operation and make hay. Besides their three daughters, they also have two goats, five dogs, a collection of cats, oh yes, and more horses out in the pasture. Blitzen and Harriet have found a really good home. Horse heaven.

Mackenzie and Morgan with Harriet

One of Harriet's cow pals. Lisa milks four cows. I was very impressed.

McKenzie puts Blitzen and Spike through their paces.

Lisa and Morgan.

The boys with their trainer.

Gaggles of Geese

 As I was driving into town recently waves of snow geese were flying over Burns. When I got to the library I got out of the car and snapped these photos. What fascinated me was the patterns they made in the sky as they flew high overhead. This weekend the John Scharff Bird Festival is in full swing in Harney County. Birders come from all over to see the birds. Someone said they saw ibis this week. I haven't seen any yet. The hay fields around Burns are flooded now which makes great feeding for water fowl. 

Sky

Back when we still had some snow on the ground, I was driving home from Burns one day, watching the snow squalls circling around the hills. I stopped several times and snapped some photos with my IPOD camera. It was bright sunshine where I was but rain or snow was falling from these clouds. The squalls leave as fast as they come. 

A Visit to Bend

Mt. Bachelor chair lift

 John and I enjoy visiting Bend and we had occasion to make a trip recently and stay overnight for a little mini vacation. We took a trip up to Mt. Bachelor which is not even half and hour to the west of Bend. The town actually sits smack up against the Cascades and the Three Sisters. It was the week of spring break but the fog over the mountain did not deter skiers. There was a steady stream of cars going up the mountain. The parking lot guide said they ski on the mountain from Thanksgiving to Memorial Day.  On the way back down the mountain we stopped at an over look.  In the distance was the Newberry Crater, a dormant volcano. There is also a long black strip of lava flow in the distance which didn't come out in these photos.  The pine forests are spectacular. Hiking is great around Bend as is fishing and camping. The Newberry Crater is on our list of things to do in Bend.  We're waiting for the weather to get a little warmer.  There wasn't any snow in Bend and the weather was seasonably mild. 

Fog over Mt. Bachelor from parking lot

Easy way to get to the slopes from Bend.

Looking toward Newberry Crater

John takes a walk in the pines.

A place to sit and commune with Nature.

Same view more pines toward Newberry.