SOTK 2025

 The 2025 State of the Kitties Report 

by Tanner (Resident Housecat-in-Chief))

Well, it's been nearly a year since you last heard from me. Things haven't changed a lot. We still have the same kitties in residence in the house. There's me (of course),; Chloe and Jim-Bob (who will be 16 in August); Arlo (who I raised as my kitty a good while back); Otis and Charlotte (who will turn 7 this spring); the four kitties Daddy rescued—Rufus, Claudine, Orville, and Grover (who will turn 6 this summer). Jim-Bob and I go out every day if the weather is good because there's a lot of outside cat-work that needs to be done. If the weather is bad, we take the day off.

Most of the inside cats sleep in Mommy's bed during the day.

Sometimes I join them. That's me against the pillow. Arlo is next to me, and Otis is in front of me.

Sometimes we sleep in a line. Here I am, then Rufus, then Jim-Bob, the Orville, and the Grover who has his high-beams on.

The only full-time outside cats are Spotz (who will be 16 in June or July) and Cedrick (who I still don't much like and who is about 7). Cedrick went missing for two months in 2023 and never did reveal where he was, but he must have learned a lesson because he sticks around here real good now. Or maybe he can't leave because of his promotion. More about that later. A part-time outside cat is Max who is too wild for Mommy to touch and who likes to hang around outside, but sometimes he sneaks into the garage at feeding time,

It's hard to classify Skippy, who used to be a tom-cat who lived down the road and is the father of Otis and Charlotte. About 10 years ago, Skippy used to visit here most days and his owner would come grab him and take him home but he would soon be back. Then his owner moved away, and Skippy started considering here as his home base. Every so often, he'd go looking for love and be gone about two weeks. About seven years ago, after he'd been gone for nearly a month, Mommy thought he was gone for good. But he finally showed up missing his manhood and the tip of his left ear. Anyhow, he didn't leave after that, and he became the chief patrol cat outside. If anybody came onto our property, Skippy always had to check them out. Skippy would also attack dogs and raccoons. A couple of times he even jumped on me. Anyhow, I guess Skip (I can call him Skip since we're friends now) got tired of so much responsibility and decided to become a house-cat. He'd been training Cedrick to be a patrol cat, so Cedrick took over the job. Now Skip spends a good part of his time inside and Cedrick patrols. Cedrick sleeps in the garage at night. Skip sometimes sleeps in a basket of clean laundry, but usually he sleeps in the bed. Once in a while he will sleep in the garage.

Skippy is sleeping above my head.

A closer look at Skippy.

We had some snow this winter, so I didn't go out much while the snow was on the ground. It was too cold and I don't like how snow feels on my feet. Here's how it looked out the front door. 

Here's how it looked out back:

Here's how the driveway looked:

Here's how some of us looked watching it.

We also had ice and wind which messed up the big pine trees. Daddy wasn't happy about how much he had to clean up.

I wasn't happy because all the limbs blocked a lot of my favorite work sites. It will take a long time to clean up all the mess, but Daddy hauls a load or two down to the farm every day or so if the weather is good. 

That's about all the news I have to report this year. I am looking forward to warm weather.

~

Shop on the Corner: A Review

I've read all of Lin Stepp's Mountain Home Books and have really enjoyed them: Happy Valley, Downsizing, Eight at the Lake, and Seeking Ayita. But Shop on the Corner —coming out in mid-March but now available for pre-order from Amazon—is my favorite one yet! Check out the cover:

Set in the small town of Waynesville NC, Shop on the Corner is about small town life, starting over, the importance of family and faith, and love. One of the things I especially like about Stepp's books is that she provides a map of the town to help the reader see what is where. Shop on the Corner, of course, has a map. 

While some of Stepp's novels feature a main character who finds her way back to her home or hometown, Shop on the Corner features a young woman—Laura O'Dell—who leaves her  hometown and relocates in another small town. The back cover blurb tells you why—and it also foreshadows what will happen: 

Thanks to prodding from her friend Lillian and thanks to the Internet, Laura soon connects with a North Carolina realtor who just happens to have a building for sale—a building that was formerly used as an upholstery shop—and, like Laura's current building, happens to be located on a corner. Without telling Georgina that she's leaving or even where she's going, Laura moves to Waynesville and sets up shop. Laura and Mitchell, of course, become involved with each other. He helps her find experienced employees to assist her in the shop, shows her around the town, introduces her to his family, and—well, you can figure where this going to lead. Unfortunately, there are a few complications, but the story—like the other Mountain Home books—ends happily.

Laura and Mitchell are likeable and believable characters. So is the setting—which is a real town in North Carolina. The plot has some interesting twists to keep you guessing. While there are a few unsavory characters, Shop on the Corner is still an upbeat, positive read.

Usually my cats help with my reviews. Otis, how about you? What did you think about the book?

Otis: I'm sun-bathing, so I didn't get a chance to read it
I looked at the cover and liked it. Isn't that enough?

No, Otis. It isn't. But I liked the cover, too. Claudine, what about you?

Claudine: I'm too busy doing yoga to read.
And I heard the two cats in this book only sit on the couch. 
I want those cats to  play a big part!

Fine. I'll ask your brother. Orville, did you read the book?

Orville: I'm doing yoga too, and if I move, I'll kick Jim-Bob.
If I wake him up, he'll be real mad.  So I can't read now.
Ask somebody else.

OK. I'll do that. There are plenty of other cats on this bed. Hmm. Tanner and Grover are sleeping, but Rufus is awake. Rufus, how about you? What did you The Shop on the Corner?

Rufus: Well, I liked it, My brother Grover did too.
Grover especially liked the border collie because
Grover is black and white like border collies. 
That's why Tanner liked it too. Tanner is old enough
to remember when a nice border collie lived here.

I'm glad you liked the book, Rufus. And you too, Grover and Tanner.

Rufus: I recommend this book. I live in a small town
 and I had to relocate a few years ago, so I could identify.

Thank you, Rufus. I'm glad you could relate.

Rufus: Well, I'm related to three other cats in this house.

Grover: I'm related to Rufus and Orville and Claudine!
I'm glad I'm not related to Jim-Bob. He's kind of grouchy.

Thanks cats, for your help. I'm glad you enjoyed the book, and I think most people will like it too.

~

SOTK 2024

Tanner’s State of the Kitties Report for 2024

 

 

I haven’t done any state of the kitties reports for a while, so I guess I’m about due. All of us cats are getting older. At eleven, I’m pretty much long in the tooth. Actually, I do have a long tooth. It is my upper right fang. See:

 

 

 Chloe will vouch that I have a long fang:

 

One of my favorite things is taking a nap with the some of the other cats. Mommy’s bed is our favorite napping place. Our favorite time to nap in winter is the late afternoon when the setting sun comes through the window and warms up the pillows, but some of us nap any time we get a chance. In the picture below, I have the coveted pillow spot and I am waiting for the sun.

 

In this picture, Rufus has the sunny spot. I think he is getting solar recharged.

 

I don't nap all the time. Sometimes I work. Jim-Bob and I still go out to do cat-work every day that the weather is good. Sometimes we work together and sometimes we work separate. Here we are on rat patrol in the back yard.

 

We like to work in other places too, but sometimes we have distractions. Since late spring, Mountain Valley Pipeline construction resumed. It is now mostly—but not quite—finished. Noise and traffic from the MVP—including incessant beeping some days from the multitude of heavy earth-moving equipment—has been within a thousand feet of us for months and puts us well within the blast zone if the 42-inch pipe blows up when it’s turned on. It has disturbed a lot of Jim-Bob’s and my cat-work that we like to do in what used to be the horse pasture.

 

I sometimes work at night in the garage. Something that disturbed my night cat-work is that Mommy had new garage doors installed last summer. The old ones were falling apart, had holes in the bottom, and the door openers sometimes didn’t work. I miss those old doors because there was a hole in the bottom of one corner where a rat could get in, and sometimes I’d get the rat. I miss being able to do that.

 

I guess the biggest news this past year is that Cedrick, one of the full-time outdoor kitties, vanished mysteriously in mid-October. Skippy, the old ex-tomcat, who is probably Otis and Charotte's daddy, raised Cedrick as his kitty.

 

 

Now, I have never much liked Cedrick, so it didn’t matter much to me that he was gone, but Mommy was upset. I don’t think Skippy was very happy either.

 

After a few weeks, Mommy figured a coyote had got Cedrick and she said we would never see him again. Then, one afternoon in early December, Daddy came up from the shop and said he saw a black cat down there. Mommy got in the golf-cart and drove to the shop. It was Cedrick! She brought him back to the garage and fed him, and he ate and ate. He was real thin for a while, but he has gained back all his weight now. He never told any of us where he had been or why he left. I guess I’m glad Cedrick is back because Mommy and Skippy like him, but I still do not much like him and probably never will. Cedrick walks around like he owns the place.

 

 

Last spring we had a big turtle pass through our yard. It was a snapping turtle that travels from the pond across the road to another pond across another road. Momy and Daddy decided they'd help him pass through a little quicker before he snapped one of us. Daddy shoveled him into a big can and Mommy gave him a ride in the golf-cart to a place a lot closer to where the turtle was headed. Then Daddy dumped him out and the big turtle went on his way.  

 

 

Well, that is about all the news I can think of. It is past time for my nap and all the good places have been taken.

~ ~ ~

Possum for Breakfast

 No, I didn't eat possum for breakfast. The possum came for breakfast. And he brought a friend. 

As we were finishing breakfast in the den, my husband and I saw a possum looking at the cats' empty bowl on the deck . Then another possum appeared. When I went to the sliding glass door for a better look, the possums scurried away. I went to the study to check my email.

Then, in the study window, the first possum appeared. Earlier, I'd put out the cat buffet, so the possum probably couldn't believe his good luck. Grover jumped onto the bookcase to get a better look. I picked up my camera, which was conveniently on my desk.

 

 

 

Grover was soon joined by Charlotte and Claudine. (Yes, Claudine is sort of upside down.)

 

 

The possum didn't care who was watching,

 

 

Soon Orville joined the other three cats. Nothing like a little possum-watching to start the day.

 

 

I went onto the front porch to get a better look. This surprised possum #1 while possum #2 lurked at the corner of the house

 

 

Possum #1 decided I was no threat and went back to chowing down. I think Possum #2 really wanted to leave.

 

 

Possum #1 pondered: Is it better to stay or to go?

 

 

Finally Possum #1 decided that he didn't like being watched and decided to go with his buddy. Orville watched him depart.

~

SOTK Spring 2023

 State of the Kitties Report, Spring 2023

by Tanner (Resident Cat-in-Chief)

Here I am in bed with Rufus, Grover, Charlotte, Orville, Jim-Bob. and Arlo.

Not a lot has changed since my last year state of the kitties report. I am still in charge but I am slowing down a little, and I sometimes only work half a shift instead of a whole day. I only stay in the garage at night if it's warm. If it's cold, I stay in the house and sleep on mommy's bed with a bunch of the other cats. It is a good thing we all get along.

I am an old cat now. I turned 10 this winter.  There are only three cats on the property who are older than I am—Chloe and her brother Jim-Bob will be 14 in August, and the outside cat Spotz will be 14 in June or July.

Spotz in her domain—the shop window.

Spotz works around the pasture and goes in the shop at night. She has a friend named Max who is a feral cat, and they sometimes hunt rats together when Max isn't away for a few days. Mommy told me he is likely looking for love. Mommy golf-carts out to feed them twice a day. Spotz is always glad to see her, but Max won't come closer than a foot. He is the only cat on the property that Mommy hasn't been able to tame. He usually sleeps in a box on the patio under the deck.

Skippy and his kitty Cedrick also work outside, and they usually sleep close to the house where Mommy has fixed several cat nests for them. They often sleep together. Cedrick has been here for a few years now, and I still do not much like him. I can usually tolerate Skippy, though. Jim-Bob still hates Cedrick and wants to fight him.

Cedrick thinks he's king of the castle.

Jim-Bob and I are the only housecats who work outside during the day now. Chloe would like to go out the way she used to four years ago before she disappeared for 9 days and came home hurt real bad, but Mommy won't let her go out anymore because it cost a lot of money to get Chloe's fracture fixed. Jim-Bob usually only works half a day. Then he comes in and naps with some of the others. Arlo would like to sneak out if he could like he did a few times last year, but Mommy watches him whenever she goes out. Arlo and Chloe usually stay in the garage at night to hunt the rat, but we haven't seen any garage rats for a long time. The other cats have no interest whatsoever in going out.

Rufus, Jim-Bob, Otis, Orville, and Grover.

Late in the afternoon, the sun shines in the window and a lot of us like to sleep in its warmth. Claudine gets in the window and tries to hog all the sunlight for herself. Her brother Rufus is so big that he gets a lot more sun than anyone else.

 

Sometimes I'm in and out during the day. When I'm out, I do my catwork, which is mostly patrolling and watching. Two weeks ago, Mommy golf-carted me and Skippy out to the former pasture so we could check the fence line. Here I am inspecting it.

Skippy inspected it too.

The weeping cherry tree by the fence is real pretty when it blooms.

An even prettier one is across the pasture. A bird planted the see there a long time ago.

Here's a closer look at it. In summer, I sometimes sleep under it.

A few weeks ago, Spring was just starting to show itself. The corkscrew willow that Mommy planted a long time ago—before I even got here—was the first to show green.

Next to it is a cherry tree, which is in bloom. 

Here's a closer look at the cherry tree.

The redbud soon started showing its buds. I sometimes climb the redbud trees.

The forsythia near the mailbox really showed its color. 

The bridal wreath near the side yard bloomed early this year. Sometimes I sit under it because it is a good hiding place. 

All around the yard things are changing, but the view of the mountains doesn't change all that much.

That is about all for my report this time. It is time for my nap.

~