Life in Aylmer Quebec

Actually, these little babies just arrived yesterday. The proud momma is fine, although she looks a bit confused, and the five little kittens look nice and healthy. We lost one, I’m not sure what happened, it just didn’t make it. But now I have to find homes for the little Stinkers and the big Stinky. One is all orange, one is all grey but for a little orange on his head, one is orange and white, one is grey and white, and the last one is a mix of grey, white and orange, like his momma. I really like Stinky, but she just will not fit in. The other cats all get along fine, or at least co-exist peacefully. She tries to attack Anya, and Tye, Jing just puts her in her place. But the last straw is she has now tried to attack poor Sasha, who is the gentlest, sweetest dog, and has never done a single thing to make her feel threatened. I guess Stinky really just needs a one pet home. I hope I can find her one. For now, I will have to move her and the babies into the office. She had them underneath my desk in my little corner of the living room, which is not the most practical of places and gives her a good running start at the dog or the cats that are coming in from the yard. I know she is just trying to defend her kittens, and herself, but that’s not something I can tolerate.

The weather has been so beautiful lately, shorts and tanks and tons of sunscreen kind of weather. The crocus’ are blooming, the tulips are growing, and the trees are budding. My unknown cherry in the front yard is about to bloom. It is always the first tree in the neighborhood to do so, and that is when you know it is truly spring. It will be covered with thousands of little white blooms before a single leaf on any other tree shows up. It is lovely.

The picture of my back yard veggie beds are for later comparison. I have been working hard getting them ready, although it is still far too early to plant, no matter how tempting. Actually, I may start some lettuce and see how it goes. Would be nice to have some salad from our own gardens. But back to getting the beds ready, I have been digging in compost and nearly composted leaves, and trying the lasagna gardening technique this year in the two big beds. Still have to build a few more boxes this year, but I’m not sure if I have enough wood. Otherwise they will just have to be regular rows. My tomatoes are still happily growing away in their little pots, going outside for some sun during the day and coming in at night. They are slowly getting used to the sun, and if the weather holds up will soon be going outside full time. I have a lot of transplanting to do, which will mean more flats to carry in and out. I think last count a had over three hundred little plants. I sure hope I can sell some! And there are some varieties that I am really looking forward to trying. One is Stupice, a Czech heirloom -pronounced Stoo-peach-key, but I’m sure Eva can correct me if I am wrong and I’ll save seeds to send to her next year. It is supposed to be a fairly early tomato, and very productive. And I’ve got some black plum, and black cherry, which should be interesting. Never tried a black tomato, so I’m looking forward to tasting them. And Rouge d’Irak, Rutgers, Orange Jubilee, just to name a few. The only hybrid I have is Sungold, and only because someone sent me some seeds, and it is supposed to be an absolutely scrumptious little cherry tomato, and I love Meggie who loves tomatoes, and especially cherry ones. I will try to save some seeds from it, and grow it out next year, just to see what happens.

Well, it is almost lunch time, and I promised Meg we would have lunch at the park, so I gotta go pack a picnic.

Haven’t been doing as much baking lately, too busy fussing with my tomatoes!

But I wanted to post a pic of my most recent success. Todd said I should make a deal with the devil to sell this, it is so good. This bread is so easy, and practically foolproof.

One thing I have discovered though – it is possible to overproof your starter. If it starts to smell like beer, don’t use it, don’t drink it, just compost it! It makes very heavy bread, and does not taste as good.

(P.S. In my case, overproofing = leaving the starter out on the counter for three days. Shoulda put it in the fridge if I wasn’t gonna use it within 24 hours, then it probably would have been just fine!)

This is Stinky

and this is Jing.

These two have become semi permanent visitors for now.

I think I’ve sort of got the picture thingy, but still need to figure some things out.

It’s a start, anyway.

Please bear with me. If anyone caught last night’s post, well, it’s been deleted. Boo hoo me. So I am going to bloody well figure this  out .   So far the pics work, know just how to put it where I want it to go!  Anyway, this is Tye, my tree bear.  He such a goof!

Does any one else remember Corey Hart? The smoky, sultry, spiky haired Montrealer. Never Surrender, I Wear My Sunglasses at Night, etc. See the resemblance? Anyway, he’s been hanging around (the cat, not Corey Hart – I wish!), I’m not trying to encourage him, but he really seems lonely. He is scared of me, which is how I would like to keep it, but he wants the company of my cats. I think he may be Stinky Patches’ boyfriend, and the father of her babies. And his markings remind of Tye. Perhaps Tye got busy before he got neutered!