The Garden Fence Is (Almost) Complete

So a beautiful (and non-rainy) Saturday for a change gave me a perfect opportunity to finish up a project that had been lingering on my to-do list - putting up a new garden fence.  As previously discussed, the old homemade picket fence had rotted, leaving gaping holes that our cats skittered through the gaps and used our garden as their personal latrine. 

With a crowbar I removed the old panels of picket fence and replaced with 'store-bought' ones.  It was a lot easier than making them from scratch like the first fence. 

The only tricky part was the very last panel.  I had to use precise measurements and my amateur carpenter skills to fashion a gate out of the last panel.  The fit had to be seamless, and it had to line up, open to the inside and latch perfectly.  Believe it or not, it all came together in the end.

And here is the finished product.  Or almost finished.  As it stands now, the cats can still get in the garden as the slats are wide enough to let them through.  My plan is to staple chicken wire on the inside of the picket fence.  This will keep the fecal felines out, hopefully.

We've got to protect what's behind that new fence.  Our cole crops are just starting to come in now.  We've got some nice cauliflower that is ripening now!

Along with some broccoli!

I picked a big colander full of beautiful broccoli on Sunday...

I also picked an enormous head of cauliflower.

Tricia roasted some broccoli with garlic tonight in the oven.  I can't even begin to tell you how good that is!  We asked her to cook more tomorrow night.  At this rate, we may not have any left over to blanch and freeze for later.  Nothing quite like fresh broccoli and cauliflower!

Fences Make Good Neighbors

I have lamented recently about our cats getting into our garden and wreaking havoc by digging up freshly planted carrots and using the garden row as their personal latrine.  This ends now!  I must take some responsibility for this since I've allowed the picket fence to fall into disrepair.  When we built our barn years ago, I made homemade pickets out of the leftover lumber.  I was pleased with the outcome and we painted the fence white like Tom Sawyer.  There was one problem, however.  The wood wasn't treated and so the pickets rotted.  You can see where the rotten pickets have fallen off of the fence and created openings where the cats are able to get it and do their dirty business.

I did a little shopping and found some 8 foot, 3.5 feet tall wooden fence panels.  They are made with treated Southern Yellow Pine and the panels retail for about $27.  I purchased four of them and got ready to install them.  First I had to dismantle the deteriorated fence.  I pulled them off a little at a time.  Using a level, I ensured the fence was straight and true.

It didn't take me long to have most of the fence erected.  The only thing left to go is rebuilding the gate.  That is going to take a little fabricating.

I'll have to take the last remaining 8 foot panel and cut it into two pieces.  A two foot section will make up the last portion of the fence anchored into the last two support posts.  The remainder will be used as the gate after I fasten hinges and a latch onto it.  It will open toward the interior of the garden. I'll have to wait for some better weather, though.  It rains every cotton-pickin' day!

While the new fence is taller, it has a big short-coming.  The slats between the pickets are four inches wide and cats and other critters can easily get between them and into the garden as you can see below.

One the entire fence is erected, I plan on stapling chicken wire across the inside of the fence, creating an impenetrable barrier that will keep the cats and chickens at bay.  I'll post final pictures of the completed fence when I'm able to get it done.

Every Rose Has Its Thorns

I remember there was a children's book about a king that liked cheese, but mice were eating it.  So he got a cat.  That took care of his mouse problem, but he didn't want cats around, so he got dogs.  The dogs made the cats leave, but he really didn't want dogs.  So he got an elephant, which got rid of the dogs, but what do you do with an elephant?  So he re-introduced mice which again started eating his cheese.  A very circular story about unintended consequences.

The owner of the farmland across the road sold his farm to a developer who is going to make a big subdivision out of it.  We talked about that in an earlier post.  We weren't thrilled about this, but what can you do?  The developer plowed the land. The farmland that had laid fallow for years and had grown up in weeds chest-high was now plowed smooth.  This displaced every critter that had made his home there, including rats.  They all, I presume, packed their luggage and moved on over to our place.

Our cats that were 16 years old both died, leaving us with no defenses.  The battalions of rats flanked us and in blitzkrieg fashion, stormed over the line, setting up a command post in our attic.  One day Tricia said, "Kyle, our telephone isn't working."  We called a repairman and he discovered that rats had eaten through the telephone wires in the attic.  What a mess!  So we got these two with the quickness.

It took them only a matter of weeks before we found them entertaining a rat and then killing it.  The Rat Killers are working!  But there's always unintended consequences.

Our youngest son began to complain about some bumps in his arm and this concerned us. We took him to our family doctor and Benjamin was diagnosed with Cat Scratch Fever.  So we have our rat problem solved, but now we have cat scratch fever.  So, I guess now, in keeping with the story line of the book, we need dogs and then an elephant?  I think not.  We'll take the cats to the vet and if the cat scratch fever doesn't go away, we'll use antibiotics.

Rat Killers

It has been almost 3 complete years since our two cats died.  Sheltie and Christie were sisters and were 13 years old when the last of their 9 lives expired.  We've missed having cats around. We've also missed their ferocious desire to hunt out and kill rats, birds and the occasional squirrel.

Since their demise, the rats have grown in number.  As they say, "When the cat's away, the mice play." We've seen the population of rats in the barn skyrocket and have even seen a few in the garage.   It was high time that we restored order around here.  We began looking around for kittens and found a couple of kittens from a friend on Tricia's facebook.  The kittens were sisters.  A few days ago they brought over a laundry basket of kittens and Russ and Benjamin each picked out one.

Russ' kitten is the one on the left and Benjamin's is the one on the right.  They are living in the garage for now, but we'll introduce them to the barn at some point.

At first we were a little concerned about how they would fare with Big Boy, our Great Pyrenees dog.  Big Boy makes sport of chasing down and violently killing possums, rabbits and other varmints.  We were thinking that Big Boy may enjoy eating our new kittens, so we kept the kittens in a kennel for a few days.  Then we released them while we kept a close eye on Big Boy so he wouldn't snack on the kittens.  Believe it or not, Big Boy wasn't interested.

How could you eat a kitten in a Croc?  Really...

For some reason they like sitting in my Crocs.

I have made a personal note to make sure I check the Crocs before putting my feet in them.  The kittens show lackluster skills in using a litterbox that the boys set out in the garage and I don't want to find a 'surprise' when I slip my feet into the Crocs.

Although I'm not a cat person, I have to admit that they are kind of cute.  They need to grow up quickly though.  Some of the rats on the property are much bigger than them.  The cats will have to earn their keep around here by putting a dent in the rat population.  We'll be anxious to see how our new Rat Killers perform.

Farewell to Sheltie, the Farm Cat

We have two farm cats, Sheltie and Christie.  They are sisters and joined our family about 13 years ago after I got them from a friend of mine.  They help us by controlling the rat and mice population around here.  We live in the country surrounded by woods on the south side and a field on the north side.  Both provide ample habitat for rodents and over the years, our cats have killed a number of them. These are strictly outdoor cats.  They haven't seen indoors but for a minute or two. We don't feed them a whole lot because we want them to be hunters, but we do feed them enough.  They've done a nice job and we are fond of them.

Shortly  after we got them as kittens, Christie got run over by our car as we were backing out.  She had gotten into a bad habit of sleeping on top of the wheel of the car.  As we backed out we heard a loud noise and saw her dash off.  To be honest, I didn't think she'd make it, but remarkably her leg healed up and she lived.  She still walks with a limp as a reminder of that day and I think we all can relate as we sometimes face the consequences of bad decisions that cause us to "walk with a limp!" Christie was always the weak one, a little skinny and timid and I always figured we'd lose her first.

Sheltie was the other cat.  She was the leader.  The strong one.  She had an independent streak and would venture out to the woods on her own, hunting and exploring.

Sheltie

Wednesday morning at 5:30 am Tricia and I ventured out to do our morning chores. As I passed by the refrigerator in the garage, I noticed Sheltie lying on the carport floor.  I thought she was just sleeping, but it did catch my attention as being odd. When we came back in, Tricia went to pour and chill milk and I began filling the water troughs.

Tricia came out to me and said, "Kyle, I think Sheltie is dying."  I walked in and Tricia petted her and she was meowing like she just didn't feel good.  Her breathing was labored and she wasn't moving.  There was no blood, no sign of foul play.  She was very weak and we both knew that the prognosis wasn't good.  We sat there on the garage floor and told her that she'd been a good cat, that she'd done a good job, and we enjoyed having her as a member of our family for the last 13 years.

Sheltie's final morning

I drove on to work after getting cleaned up and received a call from Tricia not long after I got to work, telling me that Sheltie had died.  It made us all sad.  Tricia and Benjamin buried Sheltie in the garden.  We'll miss her and I can tell that Christie is sort of lost without her sister to lead her around.  She'll have to step it up! She's got big paws to fill.  RIP Sheltie...