Krasotka's Kittens

Krasotka (Babe) was Roman's cat.  She came to live with us January 2nd, much to the delight of Kuchma who never met a female cat he didn't like.  Two weeks later she was pregnant and her four kittens are two weeks old today.

She likes to look out the window in my office

We made a bed for her in the closet under the stairs

Four kittens: two tiger, one black and white and one black and grey

Here they are at six days old

Today we put them on the floor for a few minutes to crawl around

Their legs are not very strong yet but they were interested in their surroundings

Krasotka watches from their bed box

The Hunter

When the babies are asleep and she needs a break, Krasotka will often come upstairs.  We have a large attic over the garage which both cats enjoy exploring because there are mice there once in awhile, so I let her in if she asks.   The roof/ceiling needs repairs as there are two holes under the corrugated panelling through which about once or twice a year a small bird will enter and need to be rescued.  Krasotka will sit motionless on that ledge by those holes for an hour or more, listening to the birds hopping and chirping on the roof just above her head. She is certain that if she waits, a bird will enter through the hole.  When I get tired of waiting for her I grab her and haul her out of there growling at me for ruining her hunting.

Kuchma Kot and Krasotka Koshka

Lina moved in with us after Roman died and will stay until she feels able to face the empty flat again.  She has her best friend from childhood visiting her this week and they have been staying at the apartment together so that is good.

When Lina moved here she brought Roman's cat. Krasotka (Babe) is a very pretty one year old female with soft silky black fur which she keeps very clean.  We have had quite a few smiles watching this young cat adjust to our house and to Kuchma and watching Kuchma adjust to another cat and a female at that. When one or the other had been outside and came in, they would run up to each other, touch noses and then she would bat him upside of the head.

At first they squabbled, then they mated and now they ignore each other.  She will have kittens in mid March sometime of which we will keep one, maybe two.

Because the apartment was ground floor, she entered and exited through their kitchen window, sitting on the ledge until it was safe to jump down or until Roman opened the window to let her in.  She is not fussy about using our front door to go in and out, preferring that we open the living room window so she can enter and exit as she is used to.  She bangs on the window to be let in.

Kuchma comes home after hours away all dirty and ragged looking; Krasotka comes home as clean as when she left.  Including feet.  One day she banged on the window to be let in, then ran and used her litter box.  House trained!

She is the most curious little critter especially when it comes to shelves.  She climbs up on the book shelves, climbs into and empties the shelves in the closet. She loves to sit on things and look. Like Tanya's desk or the coffee table or the kitchen counter.  Actually she likes to sleep on the kitchen counter as it is right over the radiators and nice and warm.  She will climb on my knee at meal time and sit.  If Lina isn't here she will jump onto the table and park her butt on Lina's place mat and watch us eat.

She likes to play but has no one to play with.  Kuchma does NOT play.  One day, the two of them were sleeping on the divan in the front entry.  Kuchma's tail would twitch and she would grab it.  Finally she dragged it into her mouth and chewed on it.  Kuchma woke up and stalked off.

March Winds

Today would have been a perfect day for flying a kite, if I had such a thing.  March winds are howling.  It is +12 and warmer in the sun.  The sky is clear and blue as the top half of our flag.

There is still a few spots of snow on the north sides of things but most of it is now gone.  The creek/river by our place is spread out into the hayland but not like it could have been if we had a fast melt.

Sunday, Tanya pruned the grapevines while I held/moved the big ladder for her.  Masha who had been here for the night, helped clean up the vines after. I got a picture of Tanya dressed for pruning in her teenage jeans with the store-bought raggy holes and patches and wearing her "Goodbye forever, young girl" black felt zipper boots with white fluffy band around the top.  A contradiction in fashion statements.  She said if I put it on the internet she would compost my corpse to grow flowers. I will put it on her computer as wallpaper.

Tanya is itching to get into her flower beds and has started working on anything she can reach from the sidewalk. There are hundreds of shoots coming up in tulip beds, crocus beds, hyacinth beds and daffodil beds.  I have no idea how many bulbs she planted last fall and neither does she.  Lots.

Yesterday we went into town and bought 33 twelve inch square patio blocks, three square meters worth, for under a dollar a block.  These are going into the flower beds in strategic locations so she can work in muddier conditions than last year.

Today she transplanted into individual little pots, 30+ geraniums from seed she saved last fall.  Said it was easier to start new ones than try to keep last years plants alive over winter.  We also picked up her seed order from InterFlora at the post office.

The dogs have stayed in their yard like good boys though they are dying to get loose.  Their yard hasn't been cleaned for months thanks to nice fresh snow falls that saved me the trouble at the time.  Today I went out to clean it and it looked like I had kept cows in there over winter or maybe elephants, instead of Fox Terriers. Fibre soaks up a lot of moisture and the cheap ($30 per 20 kg bag) dog food I buy them has a lot of fibre. Shoveled and swept everything into piles.  Maybe I can hire a corral cleaning contractor to spread them in the fields.

Kuchma has been banned from the house because he stinks up the place something fierce with Tomcat smell. But we made up a soft bed for him mostly in the sun and he can invite the neighbour cat over for meals once in a while.  He sure is lonely for human companionship though.  When we go outside he is meowing and rubbing all over wanting to be petted.  But just don't pick him up.

Andrei hit a huge badger on his way home from Krivii Rih two nights ago and wiped out the front of his Lexus.  Bumper, grill, headlight on one side.  So he borrowed our car.  It needed washing anyway.

Steps have been taken?  No, placed.

Cat Fight

If you have never heard Rossini's Duet for Cats, this clip is one of the best I could find.  I have seen this performed live in Dnipropetrovs'k by Ukrainian or Russian Mezzo-sopranos and again last night on TV by two other sporanos. I just love it.  As do the performers. They really get into the act.

It has Bean One of Those Days

Yesterday and today were the kind of days Tanya lives for.  She is, to say the least, radiantly happy, which makes me happy.  She has been in her garden from morning to night and I've done the running around, shopping and cooking.   It has been +20C both days.  Shirt sleeve weather.  she has been putting out a few flowers that were started indoors but mostly cleaning up weeds and moving flowers from clumps to their own beds.  Photos to follow soon, I hope. 

The crocuses are done blooming, the daffodils have started, the hyacinth large and small are blooming and there are tulips coming up EVERYWHERE. She has 96 gladiola bulbs soaking in potassium permanganate solution to plant later this week.  She claims she has 150 bulbs so I don't know where the others are.

Lena came after work today and they planted all the peas, beets and onions. So along with lettuce, carrots and radish, planted previously, the garden is taking shape.  Tanya says she will plant white and pinto beans for me to dry. for pork and beans.  I guess she liked my first try at it here.

Tanya had been to the market on Sunday and brought me a kilogram of white beans, so I put them on to soak and Monday went and bought a kilogram of pork.  Not having a slow-cooker was a bit of a nuisance as I had to learn all over again how to cook them.  I boiled the beans for an hour till they were soft, browned the pork and threw them all into a huge pot and added the usual suspects including molasses, brought from Canada for that purpose (and for ginger cookies). 

The recipe I found on the internet said bake at 400F for 75 minutes.  That made no sense to me so I baked it for 2 hours at about 300F.  Delicious, if I do say so myself.  But the beans were slightly crunchy.  Now I know that cooking beans with sugar makes them hard again but I have no idea what to do about it.  Any has-bean cooks out there with experience please help.

The cat is absolutely at loose ends in this nice weather.  He wanders in and out of the house, meowing about something but what?  Tanya says he needs a wife.  I dunno.  This morning he went into the downstairs bedroom and was sleeping on the bed in the bright warm sun.  I had put a towel there but Tanya objected anyhow and booted him out.  He was mad and came up stairs to complain to me, meowing loudly at me as though I cared, then fell asleep on my foot.

He is always getting into trouble with Tanya who loves him anyhow but he isn't sure about that.  When we had several days of rain, he would come in muddy and get his feet wiped before proceeding.  One day Tanya went out to speak to a neighbour and Kuchma came in unnoticed, as she left.  He was mud to the hocks but sat in the entry and picked the mud out of his feet.  When Tanya returned there was this pile of lumps of mud on the front entry floor. Out he went.

Which is why I tread carefully around here too.