Max, The Psychokitty

I don't usually post about other cats here, but have to mention one that left our world Friday.  His name was Max, The Psychokitty.  He was 19 1/2.  He was snarky, opinionated, an expert observer of his Humans, their world, and the world in general.  

Max is the reason I have a cat blog, and by extension, this one.  I do not remember how I came across his blog.  I was gainfully-employed at the time and did not spend much time entertaining myself with odd internet searches.  But somehow I found it in 2004.

The idea of a cat blogging stunned me.  I started reading it daily (at home, I was a serious worker in the office).  Max was sarcastic, snarky, and observant.  When I retired in March 2006, I noticed a clickable button that promised "free blog".  I hesitated for months.  

I had read a couple of blogs by people who were self-important, opinionated (or amazingly boring).  Max was different.  And well, I have cats and I like to write.  So after reading up on blogs a bit and missing talking to a coupe of co-workers), I pressed the "free blog" button.

Of course it wasn't easy.  I had to learn "new stuff".  But I was missing the challenge of new things at the office.  Not to be trite, but my job had always been "out on the edge" and going where no one had gone before.  Nothing was routine.  I retired because a reorg had placed me in an office that was dedicated to "routine" and I was tired of getting up at 5 am every workday, commuting an hour each way, and getting home at 6 pm.  I was working for a completely out-of-touch supervisor.  And I had already figured out I would still gain savings on retirement.

So I left the first day I was eligible.  I wasn't worried about being bored.  I have hobbies and home-maintenance.  I participate in some serious-discussion boards.  But I was missing friendly conversation.   A cat blog seemed "purrfect".  

It was days before I figured out how to post a picture on the blog (well, it WAS 2006).  It took days before anyone found my blog and left a comment (I remember them gratefully).  14 years later, I'm still cat blogging.  5,000 posts is coming up next year.  It has been a joy and I don't plan to stop.  

I've lost 3 cats along the way.  Skeeter was a heart cat.  LC was Skeeter's cat (though I miss her for her calm quiet way of living.  Iza'a loss was crushing.  She was a Tonkinese point with fur like a mink and utterly attached to me.  12 years with her was way too few.

And I have this blog just so I can sometimes say things not appropriate to a cat blog.

And I owe it all to Max and "The Woman" as he called her.  Now Max has gone over The Bridge.  My world is more than "one cat smaller".  Everyone loves their cats.  And I generally follow about 60 cat blogs.  But in cat blogging terms, Max was a GIANT.  I will miss him greatly.

Few people actually START anything, and Max wasn't the very first blogging cat.  But he was close and kept going all my blogging years.  That matters.  Max (through The Woman) invented some terms.  "Stinky Goodness" for canned cat food.  All other cats were "DOODS".  There were others but memory fails me.  

If you knew Max but haven't heard the sad news or if you didn't know but want to comfort The Woman in her loss of him go here  If you would just like to read about Max, look at the archived posts and read at random.

Farewell Max. 

 

 

 

 

Undergrowth

Three years ago, after failing to find anyone who would clear 1/8 acre of wild blackberries and small junk saplings, I bought a brush mower.  It is like a super-heavy-duty lawnmower.  The blade is bigger and heavier.  It has forward and reverse powered wheels.  It cuts down sapling 1 1/2" thick.  It grinds up debris like a chipper-shredder.

It worked great!  Cleared that whole area in 2 hours.  But all gas-powered machines need some basic maintenance and I am terrible about leaving old gas in the tanks.  It goes bad in the tank and leaves some parts sticky with dried gas.

That Spring, there wasn't much new undergrowth, so I thought I had killed it.  There was some growth  that Fall, but I planted 4 decorative trees (2 Sourwoods and 2 Korean Dogwoods) expecting that the shade of the trees would keep the undergrowth down (I used to have junk trees there that did that) and I would just brush-cut again THIS Spring.

Couldn't get it to start.   I gave a half-hearted try of soaking up the old gas with an old towel and then spraying carburetor cleaner into the tank and carburetor and adding a small amount of new gas.  No luck.

I probably could to a complete carburetor removal and cleaning.  I've done it before.  It a pain.  And I have a regular lawn mower than needs the same work.  I decided to just let a professional do them both.  Which requires delivering them to a repair shop.  Remember a couple days ago I mentioned my trailer was full of yard debris and I was waiting for the recycling center to dry and it won't because of all the rain?  I kept waiting.  And waiting.

I guess I am just going to have put on my mud boots and get rid of the yard debris.  Then bring the brush mower and regular mower to the repair place and wait for a month for them to fix them.  I can clear the brush in Winter as well as I can today.  And maybe that makes the blackberries die being cut down out of season (one can always hope).

One thing I am ceetain of is that, after years of this, I will either drain the gas from all my equipment or add gas stabilizer to the tanks!  

My "TO DO" list has gotten too long for me to mess with gas engines.  I'm losing ground on it the list.  It is probably the thing I CAN do that I like the least.  There is too much to do inside the house easier to do the than the things I like least.  And that would cost the same for professional help.

I also am making a list of professional improvements I want for the house (I'm not even going to TRY to install linoleum floors or wall tile).  But that's a future post. 

Rain

What an awful gardening year!  I would say there was NOTHING good about it, but the local reservoirs are probably filled to capacity and there have been years when they got dangerously low to the point of home watering restrictions.  And I will admit that my pole beans and cucumbers did pretty well in the raised beds (better drainage).

But the tomatoes died of fungal diseases, the carrots and leeks and broccoli crops never grew.  The spinach wouldn't even germinate.  And when you cant get radishes to grow, things are serious.

It was a cold wet Spring. July-October, we got over 2' of rain and November hasn't been much different.  It didn't rain for 5 days last week, but the ground is so saturated it didn't make any difference.  It isn't like we got the rain in large batches all at once; its just so CONSTANT!  And I got 3" of rain yesterday and today.

I cut down a lot of junk samplings  and undergrowth in late Spring and filled the trailer.  And there it sits.  The County yard debris recycling center (where they pile it all up in huge heaps that steam and decompose into a mulch/compost mix for homeowners to take for free and will use a bucket-loader to fill your trailer on Saturday mornings for free) is located in a slight depression.  

When it rains, the bulldozer that keeps turning over the piles for even decomposition churns it into a sea of mud.  I've been waiting for things to dry out enough to bring my debris there.  SINCE MAY!  And I have enough debris for 2 more loads.

Possibly the most consequential result is that my lawn is dying.  The soil is so wet for so long that there are large dead areas in the front.  The soil just "squishes" underfoot.  The last time I mowed it. it left muddy ruts.  Even just walking across it not only leaves footprints, the dead grass slides around underfoot.  If next year is relatively normal, I will have to do a lot of renewal.

The soil is good.  I'm organic and I use a mulching blade on the mower that turns grass into shreds in place.  There is no better fertilizer for grass than grass.  Well, grass has exactly what grass needs, right?  And I mow all the tree leaves too.  They get shredded into leaf dust after a few times around the lawn each Fall.   

I know the soil is good.  Each year I dig a hole randomly and look at the sides.  What used to be mostly clay is now darker and loamier after 3 decades.  And when I first moved here, the soil would crack open in Summer.  It doesn't do that anymore.

A couple years ago, a yard-maintenance agent came by to try to sell me on his services.  I invited him to look at the lawn.  He found some weeds of course.  He poked at the soil with a screwdriver and it went in nicely.  He actually complimented me on it.  And I don't do much.  The mulched grass clippings, the leaves.  An application of corn-gluten meal in Spring.  And overseeding every few years.  Cutting the grass 3" high.  I don't even water the lawn (except lightly when I overseed).

I may lose some decorative trees due to root-rot and drowning.  Last year was so dry I was forced to even water the decorative trees.  And this year they are soaked and drowning.  Yes, trees can drown; they actually need air.

Last year,  my 2 Golden Rain Trees lost most of their leaves by late Summer in spite of long drip watering.  This Spring, some branches were dead but there were new shoots from the trunk and a few living branches.  So I figured I would wait a year and seriously prune both of the deadwood next year.  

Well, half of one just broke off in a windstorm and I bet I could just break off more if I pulled on them.  But hope springs eternal.  I'll hope for their survival and gradual recovery.  I more worried about the Saucer Magnolia in the front lawn.   I would very much hate to lose that.  It is a joy to see blooming in the Spring.

If this precipitation pattern lasts another month or 2 I am going to see serious snowfall.  I better make sure the snowblower is working and move it into the garage.