Cat Sitting

The wheels of progress are turning slowly on the catio. Construction Man picked up the remainder of the materials he needed to do the job yesterday, only to discover that his 3-inch screws were too short. This project requires 4-inch screws. Sigh. This is obviously going to be a weeks-long project, but it's going to be nice when it's all finished. Smitty continues to take it in stride, although when he's awake, he whines considerably. As I'm writing this post, he's sitting in my office window tapping his little kitty paw awaiting our next walk outside. 

Yesterday morning we needed to do some watering. The drip system is operational in the greenhouse now, but I still check in each day to make sure everything is working properly and to be on the lookout for any pests. I looked for and found the first tomato while I was there. Yahoo! There are lots of flowers, and so I'm expecting a good crop. Also, I jumped on the sulfur dust early this year, and the foliage is looking the best of any crop I've grown so far.

Taking a walk around, I noticed that one of the hydrangeas is beginning to open. This one has pink, lavender, and blue flowers all on the same plant.

Here's a blue one on the other side. The flowers are a little different on this one...very delicate.

The orange petals are beginning to show through on the buds for the daylilies. Can flowers be far behind?

And the first blossom has appeared on one of two zucchini plants. I planted these for the flowers because they bloom all summer and into the fall. The pollinators will thank me, and the zucchini will be a bonus.

After that, I finished off the latest block for the Wheel Estate quilt. I'll be linking up to Scraphappy Saturday this week.

Here's my June block:

Thanks to Auntiepatch for the suggestion of "Meow Manor" for the sign. Here are all the blocks I have so far.

Now here's something: This is a satellite image of the Three Cats Ranch. You can see the house and garage in the southwest corner. Left of center is where the 5th wheel lives. Interestingly, in this image, the camper was parked at the front of the house. We must have been getting ready to take off on a trip. To the right of center is Mike's shop.

So why am I showing you this? Well, I've figured out that I can get 1,000 steps by following this route around the property. I go out the front door, around the far side of the loop driveway, around the shop, down to the end of the driveway, back around the shop, back up to the house, and then make a figure eight around the house crossing over the deck twice. Did you follow that? Yes, a walk through the neighborhood is more interesting, but sometimes I don't want to leave home.

So yesterday afternoon, I went out for a walk around. I needed 3k steps to reach my goal, and so three trips around my loop would do it. I took Smitty out with me, figuring my presence moving around the property would be protective of predators...and it is...only, my little cat is now so enamored with this whole let's-go-outside-together-and-sit-in-the-shade-of-the-fir-trees routine we've established over the course of a few days that he stood at the front porch and cried and cried for me to come back. Sigh. So pitiful were his cries that I abandoned my quest temporarily and sat with him. It was nice...better than walking...and I'm glad he's enjoying our little cat sitting interludes. He won't follow me down to the end of the driveway. Our neighbor has five dogs. It's just as well. He's safer when he stays next to the house anyway. I ended up taking my walk later when he was safely stashed inside the house.

Today is a CSA pick-up day. I'm planning a big salad for dinner with the addition of some poached eggs. I loves me a salad with poached eggs. Last night I tried this recipe for Asiago Chicken Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Spinach. It was delicious. The asiago cheese is a little stinky until you put it into the pasta sauce, and then it adds the nicest flavor. 

For now, we've been getting garlic scapes in our CSA shares. Garlic scapes are the flower of the garlic plant, and they can be used in place of garlic cloves. I've been using them whenever I can, and they add the nicest little bit of chewiness to a dish along with that delectable garlic flavor. Last night's dinner was served up with a Romaine lettuce salad. The Romaine from the CSA share is so crisp and delicious. Have I said lately how much I'm enjoying all the fresh veggies? It's a challenge to use them all, but so far, so good. Usually I make a pot of stock each week from clippings and trimmings, but it's been too hot for that. What would ordinarily go into the stock went into the compost pile this week. 

My sewing goals for today include sandwiching the Live, Love, Teach quilt and also drawing out and coloring the last block for the Gingerbread Square quilt. I'm still working on my hand-quilting for another week or so, but it's too large to take along to the beach this weekend. I want to get the block made up. It will fit inside a shoebox, and it will be easier to cart along.

So that's a pretty full day. Time to get out and feed the birds and spend some time cat sitting.