I enjoy the barn cats. They make me laugh and give me my "pet fix" without having them at home. I also don't get terribly attached. They don't seem to hang around very long. I have finally concluded that it is due to the fact that the property is adjacent to land that is undeveloped. There is all kinds of wildlife from hawks, owls, deer, foxes and wild hogs. I've personally seen all of these minus the hogs.
The white cat is the mother. I call her Casper. She has been around the longest. She was a kitten herself that has survived the "elements". She had 4 kittens.
I believe the black cat is the dad. He is feral and won't let me get very close before running off. He does come up to eat only when I'm not near. I had to zoom in a bit to get this photo before he took off.
This picture was taken 6-22. I have noticed he is getting more used to me and is allowing me to get a little closer these days.
This picture was taken 6-28. I was able to get closer before he took off! I call him Noir (which is French for black). I don't know French...I had some water color pencils that had that on the pencil. 😏
The kittens will be 4 months the 3rd of August.
Two of the kittens have become friendly like their mom. That would be the gray in the middle of the hay pile and the dark striped. They started following me when I put the hay out. They love to play in the hay after I put it out.
Here is a short clip.
They make me laugh!
This one is a male. He is the most lovable. I finally gave him a name. I call him Romeo.
Can you see the kitten peeking through the hay?
Sadly 2 of the kittens have disappeared. I don't remember when the first disappeared but the other has been gone a week as of today. The only two remaining are these two. Romeo and the dark striped one that I named "Stripes" which is a female.
I realized I never posted about Korin's very first piano recital!
Vanessa put Korin in piano lessons a couple of years ago but she just wasn't ready. This year she has done really well and performed in her very first piano recital May 20th. I'm so proud of her!
You can watch her perform in the video.
She received an award for "the most improved" from her teacher.
Of course we took advantage of the opportunity to take some family photos.
The fam, minus Kashton and Remi.
Me and Granddad.
Korin with her favorite ... Grammer!
L to R Aunt Alyssa (Jacob's wife), Nana (Vanessa's stepmom Jan) and Uncle Jake (Vanessa's brother).
Dad has had 3 treatments of chemo since his diagnosis in March.. He's done ok but has had some of the
complications that come with it. He ended up in the hospital May 21st for a blood clot in his leg. While there he developed pneumonia. He spent 10 days in the hospital. He went home on oxygen until the pneumonia was gone. I decided it was time to see him.
Vanessa, Mom and I left early Wednesday morning June 14th and drove straight to Blue Springs dropping Mom off with her sister. We ate dinner with her then headed on to Dad's.
I got to see my cousin.
I'm really glad Vanessa has long arms!
L to R Vanessa, Roxanne, Sandy, Me, Mom.
Dad was still on oxygen when we arrived. Home health came on Friday and told him he didn't have to wear it anymore! He was very happy! After the nurse left he walked to the mailbox to retrieve the mail! The mailbox is on the road. He might not have made it fast but he walked it just fine.
Dad and Barbara go to bed about 8:30. Of course they are up by 5 or 6am. Neither Vanessa and I were ready to go to be that early so we would sit out on the deck and watch the fireflies over the yard and cornfield. This video only caught a few. We saw many more once it was darker.
Dad has complained about being cold since he's started chemo treatments. My Uncle's wife had warned me that he kept the house warm. They had been over the week before to move Dad's computer from the basement to the ground floor. She wasn't lying! The inside temp is on the bottom.
Vanessa and I were both grateful to be sleeping in the basement. It was at least 10 degrees cooler! We escaped often to cool off 😉.
Saturday afternoon, Dad was taking a nap. Vanessa and I needed a few things from the store to make lunch for Sunday. We drove into Polo. Then we went to the "Panther" and got some ice cream. While we were out we decided to drive over to Cowgill. We drove by where I grew up. There is nothing there anymore. Just the hill the house use to sit on and the drive way up the hill. We drove by our old neighbors place, the Clevengers. She passed away a few years ago. Not sure if the place is in the family anymore or not. It still held some familiarity. We drove by the old Post place, the farmstead that my Uncle Alan lives on and the old home place that is nothing but farm land now.
We got back to Dad's just in time to watch a thunderstorm approach in the distance. that produced some hail and rainbow.
Short clip on the hail while at Dad's
The rainbow isn't very bright but you can see it!
I love how you can see the rainbow and the rain shaft.
For the first time in many years I got to spend Father's Day with Dad. I intended to get a picture of all of us while we were at church dressed in our "Sunday best". However, we got home and changed clothes before it occurred to me that didn't happen! I think Dad looks pretty good!
Once again Vanessa's longs arms allowed us to get a picture.
We left late afternoon to head back to my Aunt Sandy's. We spent the night with her then headed home Monday morning.
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