Sunday, January 15, 2012

Miss Priss

They (whoever "they"are) say those with pets live longer. Well, we here at the Garden Spot will live a very long time. I have introduced you to Stevie, The Wonder Bird, an aging cockatiel and Mr. Country; now meet little Miss Prissy Kitty, Jasmine. She came to live with us shortly after Country who arrived as a graduation gift to our youngest daughter from her boyfriend--the one we didn't much care for. I hinted that the ugly boyfriend went away. Without going into too much gory detail, our young daughter decided to take a road trip to Missouri where the fellow had moved to see what life there would be like. Just let me say that she made a good decision and came home bringing with her a little baby kitten for his sister. Just how Jasmine came into her possession is still clouded in mystery. I didn't really much care, for my young daughter chose her family over a creep.

Not quite a glamor shot; she wasn't in the mood to pose.
Jasmine had a growl like a bob cat for one so tiny. Early on she and Country were buddies, but in her old age (15 years old) she is picky, prissy,  and snobby. She barely tolerates the other 2 cats and has learned that Max the dog is not the enemy; however, she still exercises great caution when he is around, not quite trusting him. We laugh when she sneaks up on him as he sleeps to sniff his tail or his foot.

She is a hoarder. In the old house I had my office/craft room in the basement where she hung out a lot. When I sewed, I would find scraps of material and ribbon that she had drug up stairs. She comes alive at night, sneaking around the house looking for things to do when no one will disturb her. She likes to collect things and she chews paper.

We had a college student living with us in the spare bedroom in the basement. Shey was a classically trained ballerina. One morning she asked if I had seen her ballet slipper. We went through the whole list of did your look in your car, did you look in the trunk, did you look. . . ? She was really quite annoyed and perplexed because ballet slippers are very expensive and she would have to travel to Boulder or Denver to buy a new pair and she was very poor college student. She could have left it anywhere between home and the dance studio.

Several days later as I made by bed, I looked down behind the headboard and there lay a pink ballet slipper. Now if you have ever seen a ballet slipper you know that they have a block of wood in the toe about an inch in size, giving the slipper some weight. The tell-tale tiny hole in the satin ribbon tie pointed directly to Jasmine. I had to keep reminding Shey to shut the door to the basement  to keep the cats from going downstairs, but she didn't and Jasmine when exploring. She is a small kitty, but she managed to drag the slipper from the far side of the basement across the cement floor, up the stairs, through the laundry room, through the kitchen and into the my bedroom where she hid her little treasure under the bed. We had quite a laugh over the missing slipper. While Shey was convinced that her resident ghost who took her other things had hidden her slipper, the mystery of the missing slipper was easily solved.

 I don't know about everyone in blog land across the planet, but here in N. Colorado we need moisture--any kind will do: rain, snow, sleet. Instead we have had warmer temps and winds that dry the gardens out. The head gardener will have to do some watering today. He started sorting seed packets last night and making his list. We are going to start seeds this year, hoping to save some money. We buy the usual sets: broccoli, egg plant, tomatoes, cucumber, and squash. They are becoming very expensive, so we will set up tables in the basement by the large windows, hoping that there is enough natural light to grown healthy plants. He tilled the garden beds last fall, adding chicken do-do that he had cleaned out of the coop, so we will be doing some things differently come spring. Big plans for the garden: a strawberry bed and a new rose bed. What are your garden plans? Seems early to be thinking about gardening, but we can't help it can we?

Have a wonderful week.


9 comments:

  1. We had tons of rain here the other day, I wish I could have sent you some.
    I'm not even thinking about the garden yet, too busy enjoying the beach :)

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  2. Looks like such an innocent cat in the photo, one that would never get up to any mischief. The hawk photos in your last post are really great. Good idea about growing from seed; it is quite easy; just takes a bit of space.

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  3. we have had lots of rain but have a cold snap at the moment and it feels like winter at last!
    Miss Priss is a cutie and I guess she would rarther it stays mild!
    xxx

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  4. She's a real cutie.
    We still have a bit of snow on the ground up here.
    I hope you get the moisture out there in Greeley area.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ann,
      Sorry again this is the only way i can leave a comment on your blog....i love that Jasmine took a ballet slipper to bed so she could dream of being a ballerina don't you?
      We are frozen over here in the Uk and it is oh so cold,i hope your rains come,fingers crossed.
      xxx

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    2. Hi again Ann,
      I am not sure what is happening,it has happened on a few blogs i read and when i go to comment there is no box to type in but i can read everyones comments above x

      Delete
  5. If only I could offer you the contents of my Scottish Water Butts (water barrels, not wet wobbly bum cheeks). We've had the winds in the milder weather too, but they came with the opposite problem, too much torrential rain, weeks of it. It's eased up now that things have returned to frosty winter temps this weekend but of course this means the wet ground has frozen solid.

    I love your Hawk photo. I've been trying to capture a shot of the mass starlings gatherings but they come at sunset so the low light and fast flight mean a LOT of blurry shots.

    I was wondering if you (and indeed your green fingered readers) might add your garden to Folia the online gardening website (it's free). I'm always looking to encourage more gardeners to join as it's the best garden site I've found in several years.

    It's a great resource for gardeners and has helped me keep on top of my 800+ plantings with photo's, notes, journals, milestones etc. They have an extensive plant wiki and a seed stash section where people can also list seeds for swapping and see who else is growing the same plant around the world.

    Here's the link join and to access my own Folia pages www.myfolia.com/gardener/CDfolia/invite. (my member name is CDfolia). Hope to see you there.

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  6. Ah, miss jazzy cat. I loved that little cat. She is a very small cat. She attached to me and I loved her. I made her a fake sheepskin bed and trained her to sleep on it on top of my waterbed headboard. My little couch nap buddy for eternity. She is indeed a special kitty. You left out the part where she used to sit in your lap and cover your mouth with her paw when we were on the phone. I do know the story how she arrived at our house-the true story.

    We do need moisture. And it isn't too early to start thinking about your garden spot. Dad can start building a compost bin to mix the chicken droppings in and you can start seeds later in February. I am anxious as well. I finally heard from laporte avenue nursery. They will have their plant list up on the Internet soon she said. Not sure why I didn't hear from her sooner but apparently they are still around. Good news for me. I still have three months until I can get the pond going. About this time in February. Right now it is full of snow water.

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  7. Hi Ann!
    I love thinking about the garden.
    Your kitty is lovely. What a perfect shade of gray. Hooray for your daughter, making a wise choice.

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