Yum!

My cantaloupe (muskmelons?) are finally ripening. They're wonderful... big, juicy and sweet! Here are the 2nd and 3rd ones I've picked. Grandpa and I are eating the first one, which was even bigger... we'll be getting our 3rd meal from it!

I put the tomatoes next to them for a little size perspective, but I guess that wasn't necessary. Here's some more perspective, thanks to my "helpers".

There are 5 more (cantaloupe, not cats) that should ripen, plus some smaller ones, still on the vine. Not bad, for only getting one plant that grew! (I guess my 2003 seeds aren't the best anymore.)

A giveaway!

Nope, I'm not giving away anything here. But if you head over to Jess's blog, you could win 3 yards out of her latest fabric line, some of which is pictured below:

There will be TEN winners drawn! The giveaway ends at midnight on Friday, so hop on over to her blog and sign up. Good luck!

I hope to soon be finished with my latest project made from her fabric, and I'll be showing you then. Stay tuned......

Synchronized hummer watching

Starring Snuggles, Princess, and various hummingbirds:

She did it!

Patches had her babies during the night. The poor thing had EIGHT of them! They weren't overly big, but they were overly many! Two of them looked doomed from the start, however, and when I went back with the camera later, there were only six left. Still too many for that poor mother.

She had them out in the long grass. When I got there later, she apparently was in the process of moving them. I only found these three in the original spot:

The others weren't far away, though. She'd moved them under a trailer nearby. I guess she thought, as I did, that it looked like rain. Here are the other three as I found them:

Patches quickly moved in to take care of them:

I took pity on the squirmy first three, saved Patches a few trips, and moved them for her. Here's the happy family having a late breakfast:

Below is the trailer, which is used to haul the skid loader, under which is the new family. If you look closely, you can see older sibling Rainbow under there, not quite sure what to make of the newcomers.

I believe the one below is Snuggles, keeping tabs on things, too. I just hope the older ones don't rob the food from the babies!

So my current cat total is now up to 21... plus Wispy and Josie, of course. Anybody want an adorable kitten???

Now, where were we?

Since it's a holiday weekend and most of you are probably busy with other things, I'll just be brief in saying that my computer's back up and running. I felt like I was a bit handicapped for a few days... nice to have things in working order again! And fortunately, it was nothing serious.

Here's a photo of my crew... count 'em... 3 adults and 13 young'uns. Yikes!

Sad to say, the young'uns are down by one. My adorable little Funny Face was fearless and too often in the way, and she didn't get out of the way of the pickup one morning. :(

Also, Miss Purrkins and Tuffy had both disappeared before that photo was taken. I suspect Tuffy was driven off by another tomcat, but I have no idea what happened to Miss Purrkins.

On the other hand, the count will soon be up again. Did you notice Patches above? Here's a closer look:

She was big already then, and that was 2 weeks ago... she's HUGE now! The poor thing can barely waddle. She's GOT to have them any day now! I'll keep ya posted!

And on that note, I'm taking the rest of the weekend off from posting. (Well, unless I find a new batch of kittens that I can't resist showing you.) Enjoy your holiday, and I'll see you back here next week!