Tobey, etc.

 

This picture of Tobey is for Ruth over at synch-ro-ni-zing. I thought Tobey looked a lot like her cat Bishop, but now I see they really aren't that similar. He's a handsome guy, don't you agree? He came to our backyard in August of 2007, nothing but skin and a rack of bones. Poor, starving little guy, of course I had to feed him despite David's protests.

"We're not keeping that cat."
"Don't feed that cat!"
(Me)"You know I can't NOT feed that cat!"
"We're not keeping that cat."
(Him)"What are you naming the cat?"
(Also Him)"How about Tobey?"

As you can see, Tobey has recovered from his on-the-brink-of-death starvation quite nicely. He has turned out to be the best mouser/moler/voler I've ever had. We had a terrible problem with voles before Tobey came around. They were destroying the holly bushes on either side of the basement stairs by eating the roots. I was at a loss to prevent them from dying. It would have been devastating for the birds in Winter, as they use them for shelter at night. It seems that they will survive thanks to Tobey. The chickens are also thankful. Tobey brings his kills to the patio where the hens promptly dispatch the bodies. It's quite amusing to see them play keep-away and then, all of a sudden, one will slurp it down, fur and all, with the tail disappearing last. Yummy!

 

This is Tobey's compadre, Angel. I found her when she was about five weeks old last October. I was driving to the Recycling Center on a busy state route. There were several cars in front of me that were slowing down to a crawl and weaving out into the other lane. My immediate thought was there was an animal in the road. Sure enough, when I got close I saw this itty-bitty kitty in my lane. I put the van in park and hit the emergency lights, got out and ran around the front. The people behind me were not too happy with their delay. The kitten ran under the front of my van and I just managed to reach her before she got too far. I scooped her up and ran back to the door (all this taking, at the most, 30 seconds), holding her up so the frustrated drivers could see why THEY were being held up. I saw several Ahhhhs. I took her straight to my vet who kept her overnight to run tests and give her a bath. She was covered with fleas.

She received a clean bill of health, but I learned that she is stone deaf which is common in pure white cats. She's a pistol, but she and Tobey are good buddies. She eats like a pig and, of course, she has a delicate bowel problem and has to eat special food which costs a bloody fortune! Aren't I lucky?

This morning I remembered this cute little chicken basket that my mother-in-law bought me for Christmas at least twenty-five years ago. It has sat on the shelf in the breakfast nook for the last eight years. It's one of those things that you just don't see anymore. I was looking for something pretty to put some eggs in for a picture and glanced over in that direction. Aha! There it was!