The fragrance of lilac fills the air. Our front yard is full of fragrant blooms and the snowball bushes are just about ready to explode. The dull sticks of March have finally become decorated with spring. I have always been a fall season type but spring here in the mountains is challenging my favorite season. We put out a couple of raised garden containers near the side flowerbed and we are in the midst of determining if what is growing is a perennial plant verses a perennial weed that has run amuck. I wish we could say if it is a weed it spreads quickly but alas, the brown eye susans are spreading quickly in the same flowerbed. I don't want to buy an app to identify so I went to the NC agriculture page and looked up weeds in WNC. It certainly was helpful in identification.
The saga of the continuing exploits of the Feral Fam has been entertaining to say the least. Cutie's three are doing well but Sweetie chases and then brings back the runt of the litter back into the garage. He fights her tooth and nail. When she is distracted he heads out of the garage only for the process to begin again. I saw him last night with his siblings and he is considerably smaller than they are. On Saturday, as we worked once again in the flowerbeds and as we cleaned the back porch, I saw a little bit of Feral Fam life that I have seen before and don't like. Cutie called out for her babies. Beanie and Barney straight up followed her with Benny lagging a bit behind. A motorcycle noise scared Benny and he ran back into the garage for shelter. Cutie, went through the slats of the fence, B and B following her and she took them down the gravel road. She was gone a long time and she returned without her babies. She went straight to the water bowl and drank water like she'd been in the desert. Oh no, just like her ancestors, I thought she had taken them down the gravel road and abandoned them. Now, she was looking for Benny. Ensconced in the garage, he didn't budge. Finally, her siren song called him out and he began to follow her up the stairs. She went through the fence and waited. Sweetie watched this with me and she began to dog Benny's steps trying to impede his progress. I picked up a large stick and threw it away for all the drama. It frightened Benny and he ran back to the garage. With Sweetie on duty I went into the house for a minute but when I returned, no Benny, no Cutie. It hit me hard because in the midst of all of this Roy and I tried to catch Benny, which we did but in the transfer from Roy to me, Benny wiggled his way out of Roy's grasp. I figured Benny and the rest of the Bs were gone. Cutie came back while I was putting supper out for those waiting. Cutie, barring KH's presence, was now public enemy number 1 on my list. Back inside the house I moped a bit while doing all the stuff that needed completing. Later in the early evening, I went back out to the garage to put some dry food out for the supper stragglers. Sitting near the food bowls, the three Bs. Maybe the excursion to the woods had merely been Cutie taking her kittos to the homeplace where she grew up, you know where she and her siblings had to walk five miles in snow to get to school. Punky hadn't brought her litter to the backyard until they were almost like teenagers in cat months. Maybe she was teaching them to have a wilderness experience. Don't know but thrilled they all returned.
This morning I was kind of dreading going out to see The Fam because when I returned home from choir last night, Sweetie had one side around her mouth swollen. She sat in her usual spot for the snack but she didn't eat anything. It seemed throughout the day as I saw her from a distance, she was lethargic and not herself. She wasn't keeping up with Barney and I wondered if she had been over where her almost one week old kittens are. Because Sweetie was just staring at me, I thought well, is she trying to communicate she needed help? But, she did not let me near her. Came inside googled up cat with a swollen side of the mouth and tried to figure out what to do. Before going outside, I checked her usual backyard prebreakfast perch, not there. The Fam got breakfast early and as I made my way over to the prep area, I saw her. She quickly moved out the others crowding her usual spot. No swelling and she ate two big bowls of food. Google and I decided that she probably had an encounter with an insect or her teeth were telling her, quit carrying too big of kittens around. She didn't seem lethargic this morning so hopefully she is on the mend. The Three Bs were there ready to eat, especially Benny and Beanie. Barney slept in a bit but came out to eat before I finished putting out food.
Roy is certainly enjoying strawberry time especially the ones from SC. It is fun having him here to see all the stuff he didn't experience too much while being here for a week or so. Being retired agrees with him. It agrees with me too. He just came inside after pulling more weeds. Some people have farms, some have flower farms, we seem to attract every type and kind of weeds that spread and take over in a nights time.
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