Friday Dose of Farm Dog Cute

Have some good clean fun this weekend.

More Bear? Here.

More Topaz? Here.

© FarmgirlFare.com, thoroughly washed—and less terrifying than it looks.

Saturday Dose of Cute: Water Inspection

The Daily Donkey 91: Gus Gets Special Treatment

© FarmgirlFare.com, where everybody on the farm wears many hats, and Topaz's all say Inspector: Water Inspector, Breakfast Inspector, Hay Inspector, Greenhouse Inspector, Chicken Treat Inspector, Outdoor Furniture Inspector, Beagle Inspector. . .

Wordless Tuesday Dose of Cute

The Daily Donkey 38: Hay Daphne


© FarmgirlFare.com

Sunday Dose of Cute: One, Two. . .

Anyone can join in the Great Backyard Bird Count (It's going on now!)

Even our Tough Tortie Topaz (aka 3T):

(click here to see all these posts on one long page)
1/21/08: How Topaz, Sarah Kate, and Mr. Midnight Came into Our Lives

1/29/08: Farmyard Kitty

6/20/08: Meet Our New Hay Inspector

8/18/08: Tractor Cat

9/4/08: Even Kitty Cats Need to Eat Their Greens

5/24/09: Sweet Strawberries & A Curious Cat

8/24/09: Happy Cat

4/29/10: On Little Cat Feet

5/31/10: Bringing in the First Hay

6/4/10: Double Identity Crisis

6/15/10: Hangin' Out

9/25/10: Chicken Food Thief?

10/24/10: Cats on Things

2/3/11: Ice Capades

The Daily Donkey 15: Gus Loves His Sparkly Pink Donkey Brush

© FarmgirlFare.com, the feather brained foodie farm blog where last night I busted Topaz licking the chocolate frosting off my freshly baked brownie, and two nights ago she had a near empty wine glass tilted precariously over so she could steal a drink. She also likes tortilla chips. And vegetables. Her nickname is Chumpkin. (Sometimes I feel like one, too.)

Thursday Dose of Cute: Ice Capades

Lots more photos below. . .

Sunday Dose of Cute: Cats on Things

Saturday Dose of Cute: Chicken Food Thief?

Or Just Can't Pass Up A Cute Dish of Fresh Vegetables?

You never know with our Tough Tortie Topaz!

(click here to see all these posts on one long page)
1/21/08: How Topaz, Sarah Kate, and Mr. Midnight Came into Our Lives

1/29/08: Farmyard Kitty

6/20/08: Meet Our New Hay Inspector

8/18/08: Tractor Cat

9/4/08: Even Kitty Cats Need to Eat Their Greens

5/24/09: Sweet Strawberries & A Curious Cat

8/24/09: Happy Cat

4/29/10: On Little Cat Feet

5/31/10: Bringing in the First Hay

6/4/10: Double Identity Crisis

6/15/10: Hangin' Out

7/19/10: It's that Time Again

9/19/10: Cats on High

© 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the veggie happy foodie farm blog where I used to have an enormous Airedale/Rottweiler named Rex who loved to munch on whole carrots as if they were bones. Every other dog I've offered one to since (assuming this was a nice healthy treat all dogs were crazy about), including Crazy Daisy just the other day, has given me the same puzzled/borderline disgusted look that clearly said, Why on earth are you holding this thing in front of my face?

Who knew. At least I do know exactly what donkeys think of broccoli and will never make that mistake again. The only vegetables donkeys want are carrots.

And for those of you wondering, Topaz is standing on a big metal gas tank that is parked near one of the chicken coops in the farmyard and that we've used once since I moved to this farm in 2000—about 8 or 9 years ago when gas was around $1.50 a gallon and suddenly started shooting skyward overnight, with rumors of it already having hit $4.00 a gallon in nearby towns and lots of price gouging going on.

We, along with everybody else in the area, drove into town and stood in a long line at the one and only gas station, patiently waiting to fill up every gas container we could find for $1.59 a gallon before they ran out.

P.S. Maybe next post I'll explain, for the sake of puzzled new readers, what the heck these ever changing copyright notices are all about and why they sometimes tend to go on for several paragraphs.

Sunday Dose of Cute: Cats on High

Monday Dose of Cute: It's that Time Again

Nap Time!

Thank you for all the sweet comments and e-mails after my last post. So many kind words and wishes! I'm truly overwhelmed.

Tuesday Dose of Cute: Hangin' Out

Friday Dose of Cute: Double Identity Crisis

Cat Plays Mouse. . .

Monday Farm Photos: Bringing in the First Hay

Surveying the hot job ahead of us. . .

Thursday Dose of Cute: On Little Cat Feet

3T Has Turned Into Quite the Farm Cat

Want to see more of our Tough Tortie Topaz (aka 3T)?

1/21/08: How Topaz, Sarah Kate, and Mr. Midnight Came into Our Lives

1/29/08: Farmyard Kitty

6/20/08: Meet Our New Hay Inspector

8/18/08: Tractor Cat

9/4/08: Even Kitty Cats Need to Eat Their Greens

5/24/09: Sweet Strawberries & A Curious Cat

8/24/09: Happy Cat

© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the fine feline foodie farm blog where Topaz, who lived at the shelter for 15 months before moving in with us, is not a lap cat, she's a chest cat, which is something I never knew existed. If she spies you sitting down, she leaps up onto your lap and then just keeps going, until her paws are almost on your neck and her face is in your face. And then she starts to loudly purr. It's sweet and yet slightly terrifying, since Topaz has quite the little temper and will turn on you in an instant. But of course I still let her do it.

Monday Dose of Cute: Happy Cat

Topaz on Her Personal Sun Deck

Our Topaz has turned into quite the farm cat:
1/21/08: How Topaz, Sarah Kate, and Mr. Midnight Came into Our Lives
1/29/08: Farmyard Kitty
6/20/08: Meet Our New Hay Inspector
8/18/08: Tractor Cat
9/4/08: Even Kitty Cats Need to Eat Their Greens
5/24/09: Sweet Strawberries & A Curious Cat

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the tortie colored foodie farm blog where we stopped at PetSmart the other day during a trip to the Big City, and when I went over to check out who was in the feline adoption room (couldn't help myself), I saw a cat who looked so much like Topaz I could hardly believe it. Hopefully that sweet thing hasn't spent 15 months living at a shelter like Topaz did—and has already found a loving new home.

Do you have room for a four-footed family member? Please consider adopting a shelter or rescue animal—perhaps from my amazing friend Bernie Berlin's A Place To Bark. Click here to find out how you can spend a few seconds to help her one woman, non-profit organization—which finds homes for hundreds of dogs and cats each year who would otherwise be put to death—win a desperately needed check for $10,000. And click here to learn how you can help Bernie make her reality animal rescue TV show (which networks are seriously interested in) a reality!

Sunday Dose of Cute: Sweet Strawberries & A Curious Cat

Topaz Inspects My Freshly Picked Breakfast

Just getting to know our Tough Tortie Topaz (aka 3T)?
1/21/08: How Topaz, Sarah Kate, and Mr. Midnight Came into Our Lives
1/29/08: Farmyard Kitty
6/20/08: Meet Our New Hay Inspector
8/18/08: Tractor Cat
9/4/08: Even Kitty Cats Need to Eat Their Greens

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the juicy red foodie farm blog where we're just glad that farm cats don't like homegrown strawberries as much as the turtles do.

Thursday Daily Dose of Cute:Even Kitty Cats Need to Eat Their Greens

Greenhouse Kitty

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the aleafy green loving foodie farm blog where sorting through a zillion old photos is a boring, time consuming job but it does have its benefits; some of our favorite photos often slip through the cracks, like this one taken back in May of Topaz (before she moved outside and slimmed down) inspecting some salad greens—right before she started eating them.

The lemon balm and Greek oregano (in the pots on the left) and Swiss chard (which is one of my favorite—and easy!—things to grow) are all still going strong, but that beautiful, heat-hating arugula has long since gone to seed.

Now that the days will be cooling down, though, I'll start watering the section of raised bed where the seeds fell (since I was too lazy to actually collect and save them), and a whole new crop of arugula will hopefully sprout up in a couple of days. We'll go from seed to salad bowl in less than a month.

Topaz will be thrilled—and I will, too of course. (And we've decided that it's okay to use crazy run-on sentences in the copyright notice.)

Monday Daily Dose of Cute: Tractor Cat

That's Our Tough Tortie Topaz (aka 3T)

Want to see more collections of cat candids?
Topaz
Patchy Cat
Sarah Kit Kat Kate
Smudge
J2
New Cat
Molly Doodlebug (aka The Doodle Monster)
(Sorry, no photos up yet of Mr. Midnight & Sylvester)

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Patchy Cat may be the boss around here, but 3T (who, after living at the animal shelter for 15 months before we adopted her last December, chooses to spend nearly every minute outdoors) rules the farmyard — and she loves our rickety old tractors almost as much as Joe does. I think she's already vying for position as next year's hay raker rather than hay inspector. (Oops! I totally forgot I said I would explain the haying process to those of you who asked about it back during haying season. Sorry!)

Monday Daily Dose of Cute:Meet Our New Hay Inspector

Topaz takes her job seriously

© FarmgirlFare.com, the scrutinized foodie farm blog where Topaz, who spent 15 months at the animal shelter before we adopted her last December (along with Sarah Kate and Mr. Midnight), decided to move outdoors and is loving her new life as a farm cat. She even rode around the farmyard on the hay trailer before I snapped this picture.

Oh yeah, and I lied — a brief explanation of the whole haying process will accompany the next photo, not this one. Plus I still need to get you caught up with the rapidly growing livestock guardian puppies (yes, they finally both have names!), the new bread bakery building, and some other stuff I'm forgetting at the moment. There are more recipes to share and lots of wonderful new cookbooks to give away, too.

Sheesh. How did I get so far behind? It's been almost a week since the last Daily Dose of Cute. And you haven't even met Sylvester the cat — or the cows! At least we had cake and cookies. That makes everything better, right?

Farm Photo 1/29/08: Farmyard Kitty

Topaz Reminds Me Of A Teddy Bear

Want to see more?
Topaz Photos
Farm Cat Photos
Farm Cat Stories
Haybarn Photos
Haying Season Photos
Farm Landscape Photos

Update: A Place To Bark & The America's Giving Challenge $50,000 Grant
A huge thank you to all of you animal lovers who have so kindly donated to Bernie Berline's A Place To Bark non-profit animal rescue during this exciting and important fund drive. Bernie is absolutely overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity from around the world, and the Zoline Foundation is so thrilled by the tremendous response that they've upped their $25,000 matching donation (which has already been matched!) to $35,000.

Right now A Place To Bark is in second place in the Giving Challenge, but the competition is quickly gaining on us, and only the four charities with the largest number of donations (not the highest amount of money donated) will win the $50,000 grant. These last two days will be crucial. All it takes to help Bernie realize her dream of constructing a shelter building for the hundreds of animals she rescues each year is a $10 tax-deductible donation made through A Place To Bark's Six Degrees badge, which you can find at the A Place To Bark blog or on my previous post: A Place To Meow, A Place To Bark, Another Phone Call From A Foodie Farmgirl, More Prizes, & How To Turn Ten Dollars Into Fifty Thousand. 100% of all donations go directly to the animals.

Everyone who donates will automatically be entered in a drawing for all sorts of wonderful prizes, including signed copies of books and beautiful original works of art created by Bernie and other talented artists.

In addition, I'll be holding two separate drawings: one for a half hour phone call from this foodie farmgirl (we'll chat about whatever you like) and one for a signed copy of the fun new cookbook, The Cornbread Gospels, by Crescent Dragonwagon. Simply leave me a comment or send me an e-mail (farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com) letting me know you made a donation to A Place To Bark and if would like to be entered in one or both of the drawings. Again, thank you!

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where the dogs bark whenever they like and life is the cat's meow.

A Place To Meow: Rescued Pets are the Best

A new furry face on the farm

Many of you know that last June our magnificent New Cat died suddenly, most likely from a snake bite. And then a week later we lost Gretel, a sweetheart of a tabby cat who was my beloved companion for 20 years. What you don't know is that early last November we lost yet another cat, one you'd never met (she was very private). Twin was a beautiful Siamese mix who was Molly Doodlebug's half sister.

Their mother, an incredibly smart calico cat named Ollie, was one of the seven semi-feral felines that came with Windridge Farm. There were several litters of kittens born before I was finally able to get everyone caught up and spayed and neutered.

Twin was an outdoor cat who came to live in the house after she'd had her leg badly torn apart, probably by a coyote. I didn't think she would ever walk again, but with the help of Dr. Susan's Cat Repair Kit, I nursed her back to health (hydrogen peroxide is an amazing thing!), her leg healed up just fine, and she spent ten happy years amusing us in her own quiet way.

She didn't meow, she couldn't purr, and she pretty much stopped moving around once she realized that inaction was the best way to lose The Doodle Monster's constant interest in attacking her.

With both Twin and Gretel gone, only 12-year-old Molly was left in The Shack. The thought of being the 4-1/2 pound Doodle Monster's only potential indoor victim terrified Joe so much that, despite the fact that he happens to be extremely allergic to cats, he suggested we rescue a couple of cats from the always struggling, always overcrowded, and always underfunded no-kill shelter that we've been donating money to for years. Then he let me go there alone.

On December 1st, I visited the shelter and adopted the three adult cats who had been there the longest—because really, three cats is only one more than two. (My dear friend Beth kindly pointed out that three is actually a full 50% more than two, but I told her we weren't doing the math that way and to please keep that fact to herself.)

Topaz, who is pictured above, had been living at the shelter for 15 months. There was a big 'QUARANTINE' stamped on her paperwork because she had bitten a small boy and a teenage girl, and nobody wanted to risk adopting her.

She was curled up on the bed within an hour, and when I crawled in next to her later that night she ever-so-subtly shifted her body so that it was pressed against mine, gave my hand a lick, and began to purr. I started to cry. She's a total foodie, and her favorite place to be is on Joe's lap.

Panther-like Whiskers (who now goes by Mr. Midnight) and frisky little Sarah Kate had both been at the shelter for 8 months. These two are the best of friends, and if they ever stop chasing each other around the house I'll snap some pictures of them and introduce you.

It's been a long time since I've lived with young cats, and adopting this instant family has been way too much fun. I forgot how much energy two-year-old cats have! It's been quite a change going from animals that lay still for so long you have to check to make sure they're still breathing to crazy critters who start their day by doing top-speed laps around the bedroom and bouncing across the bed to wake you up.


Settling Into Life On The Farm

Adopting a pet from a shelter is a win-win situation for everyone. As shelters go, ours is very nice and the animals are treated well. But it isn't home. I'm so glad we could finally give these wonderful, loving cats a real one.

February 2011 update: Topaz is doing great and (for three seasons a year) has turned into quite the farm cat. You'll find lots more photos of her here. You can meet Mr. Midnight here and Sarah Kit Kat Kate here. They're both doing really well, too.

© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the fur covered foodie farm blog where life is full of laughs and there's always plenty of fresh cream for the cats.