Splendor in the Grass

Sadie and Smitty went on an excellent adventure yesterday. Ever since Sadie came to live with us, she has wanted nothing else but the freedom to explore her surroundings. That, and a heavy dose of lap-sitting each day, and her life would be purrfect. We, on the other hand, have been reluctant to let this unpredictable little waif of a cat outside without a leash. That has not prevented her escaping to the great outdoors several times. A few nights ago, she escaped...after dark...which put both of us in panic mode. Try finding a black cat at night with flashlights. The language that was spoken that night is unprintable.

After lengthy discussion and a great amount of soul-searching, we decided to give her the run of the place for the afternoon yesterday under the close supervision of her good friend Smitty and the humans that inhabit the Three Cats Ranch. It went very well.

There was a whole lot of grazing.

Nom, nom, nom. Snuffle. Snurf. Wow, Smitty. Grass is purrticularly delicious this time of year.

You really should try the taller stuff, Sadie. It's the most tender.

They went this way and that way.

They lounged and rolled.

Sadie! Look over there!

I'm not looking, Smitty. I know you played that 'made you look' game with my purrdecessor, and I'm not falling for it.

Except...purrhaps...

we should climb these trees, Smitty!

They climbed both cherry trees, and the evergreen tree.

What kind of tree is this, Smitty?

It's called a Douglas fur tree, Sadie. It has bark...nothing to do with woofies, so don't worry.

We should build a tree furt up here, Smitty! That would be purrfect!

Sadie discovered a squirrel habitat where the decking meets the retaining wall. Smitty helped her flush out a squirrel and a mouse. Sadie caught the mouse, and they played with it until it was dead, then walked away.

Eventually, they were back to where they started, having thoroughly explored the propurrty and run the humans all over hill and dale.

Our goal was to keep them out of the woods. Smitty won't go into the woods, but Sadie seemed hell bent on getting there. Finally, she got around both of us and headed down to the edge of the trees. Smitty went right behind her. This gave us a few anxious moments, but within a few minutes they were back without a single fur out of place. We're not sure whether we'll be doing this again any time soon, but we're hoping that giving her a little more freedom to roam will make her less crafty about plotting her escape from the house.

While we were out, I took a few pictures of the garden. The lavender is beautiful right now.

The daylilies and lavender are the stars of the garden.

Also, I had some time to work on the scrub jay yesterday afternoon. I switched out the orange for this orange check. It still seemed too bright.

Then I remembered I had the same fabric in a color that was nearly identical to the orange poppies.

I switched to that, and also remade the section just above the tail so that it spans both borders in appropriate fabrics now. The poppy fabric was placed so that one of the orange poppies ends up adjacent to the orange check, and I think it looks better.

And then I tested out the orange check below the perch. I wasn't sure how I would like it, but it seems like the right choice to me. It puts me in mind of a lattice fence.

That's where I left it yesterday. I'm itching to get back into the sewing room today to finish up the right leg and the rest of the perch. There's just a little bit of the bird to finish toward the bottom of the breast, and then I'll start sewing everything together. There's probably too much to finish today, but possibly tomorrow I'll have this top completed.