Various Stuff...

I help the cats blog so much I start to lose track of my own stuff at times.  So it is time to catch up a bit.

It is time to start my garden veggie seeds.  The basement is, quite frankly, a mess!  All Winter long, I just kept "doing things" and never mind the clutter.  There was always time to arrange things for the early seed plantings.  LOL, guess what time passed?  Yeah, it is time to plant seeds and I am SO unready for it.

Grandiose plans for better seed/light planting shelves are now forgotten and I have to make do with the old structures.  I have almost no southern light to help the plants, so I depend on fluorescent bulbs.  Even the best ones are inherently weaker than real sunlight.  I had thought to widen the shelves to increase the 2 bulbs to 4.  I had thought I might add mirrors behind the shelves and in front to increase the reflected light.  But I didn't.

So, what I did today was the best I could.  I cleaned and reorganized enough space in the basement to collect all my gardening seed-starting materials into one place.  I was actually leased with the results, though it is not worth a picture.  If you want to picture it, just imagine a workbench with 10 sq ft empty space where there was none yesterday.  :)

Well, at least I have THAT!  And I sorted through my various bags of soil amendments to see what I had for a good seed starter blend.  The local garden centers don't even have sterile soil-less mixes available yet.  I am thrilled to see that I do have vermiculite, milled peat moss, fine sand, and some sterilized loam left over from last year.  At least that will get me started!


On other news, Marley the cat is getting used to the new home.  He is the fastest adapter I have had in decades.  The others hid for several days, but Marley was ready to come out and find his place in the house after the first day. 

He plays  with Iza mostly.  Iza outweighs him 12 lbs to 6 pounds, but he is fearless.  It was a shock to Iza at first because she was "Top Cat" mostly by virtue of weight.  Marley pounces from anywhere!  At first, Iza was quite upset and poofed her tail and whapped him hard, but lately it has become more cooperative play with them taking turns chasing and then curling up together.

Ayla is the "odd cat out".  As a small cat (yet the oldest) she never has been one for aggressive play.  I think she is getting used to it though.  She isn't doing the "chase and wrassle" that Iza and Marley do, but she does a certain kind of "you can't catch me" game with Marley.  She hisses mildly, then provocatively hops OVER him several times then runs off.  I think she is showing him that he really can't pounce her because she is just SO much more agile than he is.

That doesn't stop him from trying, of course.  He's only 6 months old and braver than he is experienced.  Marley chasing Ayla is like Marley chasing a shadow.  When when she lets him get close, suddenly she is up on the top of the closet door and he is looking around for her on the floor.

The crocuses are starting to bloom!  Yay!  Spring is coming. 

I made a hamburger yesterday.  That may seem bland.  But I ground up the meat (short ribs) myself.  I sauteed mushrooms, red and green bell peppers, and some onion.  Then I made a mayo/mustard mix with some minced garlic.  What a great topping!  I've had worse (good) steaks!

Tomorrow, it is back to cleaning the basement.  There is so much more to do!