Sailor and the Ruined Castle, Con't

The day was awash with sunlight resting on the trees and grass that grew bountifully around thick castle turrets and walls. The path leading to the main drawbridge was surrounded with green of every kind and warmth. Lazy bugs flew as if drunk on sunshine! The strong scent of the nearby woods was on the wind as Sailor paused to sniffed the air. The extreme coldness had finally left his body and with it the stiffness was also gone; he felt warm again. He also felt a strange sense of 'right', like he belonged here. But... where was here? Every time he concentrated and thought he recognized something in this place, he had a kind of 'falling' sensation. As though everything he was looking at was moving backwards, away from him and receding. Sailor decided against trying to remember, he was tired and need rest; he would simply explore this place and see what came of it.

It seemed like he'd had been walking for hours... He watched birds flying and listened to the chatter of insects and there were fish in the moat that encompassed the castle, so this had to be a real place and it was alive. Sailor was weary and wanting to rest on his paws when he rounded a corner and found a small side entrance into the castle that was accessed by walking over a small bridge. There was an inviting patch of warm sunshine just beside the fence of the walkway above ; Sailor was drawn to the place and laid down comfortably in the taller grass, relaxing his fatigued body. As he lay prostrate Sailor gazed up at the castle walls, to his left the walls were covered in ivy that had climbed straight up the wall and was spreading to the one beside it. The palisade facing him was relatively narrow and had several stone windows carved into it, four up high and four below with several niches in between. There was a turret to the far right of Sailor's position. Eventually the sound of the water streaming in the moat, the enticing warmth of the day and the crickets all conspired together to lull Sailor into a deep, contented sleep. He was finally home.

Catspaw 

There's A Coon At The Door!

One night while we watched a DVD Merrill heard a strange noise out the patio door. Figuring it was just another of the barn cats, we ignored it. Then it happened again. At first glance he could see nothing, then something moved and a large raccoon shambled into view. The visiting coon was a fully grown one coming to feast from an almost empty bag of old cat food. 

I managed to get pictures but it was through the patio door so they aren't exactly clear but the coon didn't seen to mind posing.
This is an adult raccoon visiting our house one night looking for a meal and he (or she) found one, of course. Hey, come to my house and any critter will find food, shelter and comfort!! 
 

He ambled around the darkened patio for awhile, peering through the glass at the cats who were peering through the same glass at him...


Guessing they were as curious about him as...

I gave him some crackers; the first of which he came over and gingerly took from my hand through the crack in the doorway I had opened so my cats wouldn't get out.

His eyes really shine in this picture! He was looking straight at me when the flash went off. Hubby offered him a piece of banana on the patio, after we left the patio for a few minutes, the banana disappeared! Guess he liked it. 


Catspaw

Cat Feed ~ Rural Farm Style

Anyone who has cats, or dogs for that matter, knows how expensive it is to maintain pets. Whether you have one kitty or four like I have, when it comes to those 8 kg bags that cost $15 on the low end and up to $27 on the high end ~~ and what's the point of buying the high or middle ground stuff in smaller bags when you pay virtually the same price for them and they last a quarter as long?  You tell me. So with our 4 cats and putting food out in winter to help the barn and stray cats that land here, we just can't afford to keep them all in cat food. I buy the 8 kg large bag of low end food; sometimes, when its on sale, I will purchase the higher end. But that's a rare occasion. 


What to do?!  What I do, when I get the chance... 

 ... and hubby brings home some meat...

Since meat is the primary ingredient in their food, it gets ground up in our grinder...

and cracked barely gets added. Granted, it looks less than desirable to us but to them...  

I usually cook it a little bit just to soften the barely some...



 
You'd be surprised at how fast it disappears. 


Years ago, when we first moved to Alberta from BC, we lived on a feedlot farm; they had tons of cats. I would make up a batch of something akin to oatmeal that they'd eat like crazy over the winter, when prey was scarce. Its one reason they didn't go hungry... and they don't around here in winter either.

Catspaw

Sailor and the Ruined Castle, Con't

Old memories of mom

The midday sun was high and the air was balmy in the little shelter they called home. He was pretending to stalk along the bulwarks, playing. Abruptly his attention was violently snatched and driven toward the sound of soft yowlings of kittens; Sailor's eye grew extremely wide and he froze in midstep as his mother crossed the dilapidated cloister and tenderly cuddled her offspring. Sailor was riveted to the spot, scarcely able to draw breath as he watched himself nuzzling his only parent's soft, warm belly for food. 

Sailor's siblings?

 Catspaw

Drawings of My Cats

These are a few pics I drew of my cats, I hope you enjoy them.

Winston & Em on the cat tree, Em's in the box

Emerald on top of the fridge

Molly, on the box; Emmy beside & Sassy are watching the Ravens

Ok, technically I drew them, first as pictures then as drawings with my picture software. What do you think of them?


Catspaw

Sailor and the Ruined Castle, Con't

For reasons Sailor didn't understand, he was reluctant to go any further. He didn't like that he heard no bird call and the fish, if there were any, were silent. Although he could detect no threat in the air the whole place made him feel uncomfortable. Finally after much deliberation he crept forward and hastily reached the other side. Sailor headed up the slope but lingered at the fence, sniffing it for any sign that another animal had past this way; nothing. It was as before, no living thing had left its scent and yet he perceived no danger, just stillness and solitude. Now the remnant of the once great tower and wall presented itself before him but he knew of another in and with the awareness that he was indeed alone here, Sailor no longer hesitated to move toward the castle.

The Mysterious Ruined Castle

Catspaw

Mr Sneakers, the Newfoundland Mouse, meets Moggy

Mr Sneakers had free run of the house when the human wasn't looking of course. He'd been silly enough to be seen the last time when he had paused from his mad dash about the place to clean his paws and she spotted him, commenting to her friend that he was cute she dubbed him: Mr Sneakers.
Miss Z’s confidant warned that where there was one, others would follow. How do they know these things? After that the conversation turned frightful; the companion suggested a CAT and knew a neighbor who had one to spare. ‘No’ came the answer, then she'd have to look after kitty!
When Mrs X visited again a week later, she found Miss Z hiding little traps all over the house. A few in the basement, a couple upstairs, several in the attic. Mr Sneaker found them all and cautioned is mates to avoid them.

“What on earth...” stammered Mrs X.

A troupe of mice were rampaging full tilt across the attic floor.

“Oh, state the obvious.” Miss Z remarked at the doleful expression of her cohort. “The traps are humane and I’m sure to collect them all and put them back outside where they belong very soon now.”

Looking doubtful, Mrs X suggested again that a small furred animal was the answer to the herd now amassing in the attic and mumbled again, ‘Where there was one...’

A loud knock came to the door and Miss Z responded. ‘Hello to the neighbor’, at least it would have been if he hadn’t brought Moggy with him. As it was cold outside and he couldn’t very well stand in the doorway allowing a draft to invade so she shooed him in.

“I heard you had mice so I brought Mog over to help out, he’s an awful good mouser.”

Ears attentive to the small scuttling coming from overhead, Moggy hit the floor and bounded straight up the stairs in a flash. Silence ensued. The three in the living room followed the sound of the creaking floor boards as the rodents were hunted. The wait seemed interminable until that wily tabby came slinking down into the room again as if nothing had happened. Indeed, there was some confusion as to whether anything was amiss in the attic so Mr. Neighbor volunteered to take a peek for the sake of the ladies wits. Cautiously he crept the narrow stairwell that led to the dimly lit chamber above and hesitated at the top. In the distance, toward the back of the alcove, an army of dormice were gathered. There seemed to be at least ten. Mr Neighbor duly informed the ladies.

Mr Neighbor positively insisted to Miss Z that it was absolutely no trouble at all for him to part with Moggy, then he was gone. Mrs X smiled in satisfaction.

After that Moggy was always about the house hunting Mr Sneaker and his accomplices; the tabby had a habit of lurking that would startle Miss Z every time she walked into a room. It was a deadly game of old fashioned cat and mouse but Mr Sneakers was clever; when the cat was searching the attic, he would led them into the basement and when Mog padded into the furnace room, the gang would sprint to the upper story. This continued, to the discomfiture of Miss Z, for over a week until she could not tell where the two parties actually were and at times both mice and cat seemed very confused themselves. Then one afternoon a series of wild little squeaks resounded from the cellar.

Miss Z took an awful start at the unexpected sound, hurried to the stair and snapped on the light. As she carefully descended Mog was right behind her tiptoeing all the way. There, in the corner, where she had left two open traps were the mice. Five in each humane trap, very agitated and jumping at the sides. They quieted at the stealthy approach of Moggy.

Miss Z stooped and raising the cages remarked, “Well, that’s that then. Outside you go.” And outside they went.

That very day Miss Z proudly announced to both Mr Neighbor and Mrs X when they came by to check on the situation, that the little rodents were decamped from her home. Moggy boastfully entwined all their legs as they listened intently to Miss Z’s telling of her story. She gave the impression that both factions had become baffled concerning who was where in the house in their efforts to either avoid altogether or to catch and eat; Miss Z summed up her tail expressing her sentiment that Mr Sneaker had become so confused that he led the rest to enter the traps by mistake to the happy conclusion of the whole episode.

Catspaw

Who Is Catspaw?

Catspaw

Born in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory as a sourdough; I have yet to figure why Yukoners are considered such by doing a little research on it, should be interesting. In my formal years teachers recognized my writing abilities and started me on a path to nurture them. I loved words and the power they have to create imagery with all I was worth; I practiced writing every type of story and poem that came to me. Those journals, some going back years, go with me no matter where I am; so I take after my Dad who was a writer himself.

I was in my teens before we left Whitehorse for Vancouver, BC. I became a Vancouverite. We left in the early 70's because for some reason there were many suicides that year and some were people my family knew; sometimes the Land of the Midnight Sun lives up to its name and causes people to go a little stir-crazy, especially in winter. Then after 25 years there I moved to Kelowna, BC and met my husband online; after we were married, we moved to Calgary, Alberta (Albertan) and out to the farms I've been telling you about. I had grown up with cats since my early childhood and we had some pretty special ones in Alberta.

January 3rd of 2008 I joined Ezine and began writing a series of original, web-content articles and quickly reached the platinum level in the directory. I published 38 over the next few years; but I've been away for awhile. I did earn a couple of badges; I've gone from Basic Plus Author to Intermediate Expert to Platinum Expert and have badges for Bookworm, Wordsmith, Scholar, Around the House plus Google +, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Just to name a few. Here is the link, http://my.ezinearticles.com/

A little later on one of my goals with this Blog is to join other article directories like Hotpages and Go Articles so I can pursue more adventurous topics and expand my range of article material. I am currently working on a series of stories based on the Bible for which I have a publisher who is interested in publishing a book of these short stories later this year or next.

For right now I am working from home and as secretary for both my husband and his business partners while he is working on a dairy. We are building, when chance permits, our own home on two acres from scratch; literally from the foundation to the finished home.  Hence my interest in rural living and all it entails.

Some of my hobbies include writing inspirational, how-to and informational articles, digital photography, online scrapbooking, rural living and doing things from scratch and caring for any animals that need my help. For instance, when hubby first brought me to the island he thought I'd enjoy trying things like lobster, it being very popular on PEI and I probably would have had I not learned that I go 'living' to their demise - I'd have them in the bathtub as pets faster than you could turn around!

My favorite movies include Memoirs of a Geisha, Gladiator, Riddick series, all Agatha Christie and Jane Austin movies, Underworld, Van Helsing, Resident Evil series, Immortal Beloved and 13 Ghosts. Favorite authors include Jane Austin and Agatha Cristie and others along that vane. Music, most soft rock.  

So that is a little about Catspaw a.k.a. Stephanie