Slinky is ready for Halloween
What a joyous day! Fall is in the air and pumpkins are in my house. We harvested three orange lovelies this morning, then brought them indoors for safe keeping. Two have been ready for a while but I left them on the vine for up to the minute ripening. The third pumpkin was a surprise, in more ways than one.
We still have four extra-large pumpkins on the vine, hoping they’ll turn a bit darker. Currently they have a peach complexion. I lifted one of these large pumpkins away from the beds to give it more sun, and discovered a smaller pumpkin had been growing just below. It has multiple cracks in an interesting geometric pattern, but each of the cracks healed over. I can’t wait to take a picture and share it with you. We’ve never seen anything like it. I’m wondering if the extraordinary weight of the pumpkin above caused it to slowly crack, giving it time to heal as it split. My husband and resident carver is looking forward to hollowing it out. He thinks it will look like a star burst. We’ll restrain ourselves until Halloween.
Do you think she’s waiting for The Great Pumpkin?
The plan is to give each of the larger pumpkins a name on our Wii Fit, so we can weigh them one by one. Won’t that be fun?
Meanwhile, I’m practicing sitting on my hands. Every time I go out there I want to harvest the fruit and make way for the winter garden.
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Gardening Nirvana 
I love seeing Slinky in your post today. I can’t wait to have a yard and the opportunity to investigate the ‘Cat Containment System’. Blossum especially longs to go out. She never has since we adopted her. Even a screened porch would be so nice for her. She practically runs to the screen door when I go out. I have to be super careful and of course feel bad leaving her in dispair on the other side. I’m starting to see all kinds of halloween things in the stores now. Does Mike have a carving plan in place?
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Thank you, Boomdee. It’s funny because I wish she would come in. She slept inside for three months, but Lindy is so mean to her, pinning her behind furniture cowering, that she stopped coming indoors. I’m back to feeding her in the side yard. She has a nice set up there (kitty condo, a covered bed, etc) but as the weather cools down, I would like to coax her into the laundry room, at least for the night. I’m also a bit nervous now that we’ve had a visiting raccoon. She is so timid, that I’m sure she would avoid a confrontation.
Poor Blossum. I know how hard it is when they want to go out and they can’t. Our friends just built a cat enclosure where they live for the six cats they have. I hope you find a home soon.
Mike will just wing it when the pumpkins are ready to go. He has some patterns from prior years he likes to do, but he’ll carve whatever we want. Fun!
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What a perfect Halloween picture! In my (limited) experience there’s only one pet more difficult to photograph than cats…. and that’s chickens!! I have pumpkin envy at the moment so look forward to seeing more x
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I’ve never photographed a chicken, but the way they move around must make it quite challenging. I taken dozens of shots of Slinky before getting one or two good ones. Cats eyes are especially tricky.
Thanks PJ!
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I might have told you, my brother has four kitties (2 black ones, white one, black & white one). He got them all at different times and although they seem to each have their favorite buddies, he does have the odd mix up. I don’t know if kitties get used to each other after a while but he seems to think they do. So maybe there’s hope for Slinky & Lindy. Can’t wait to see what the hubby does this year.
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You are indeed a cat family! We’ve been mixing cats for years. Usually the new one hisses and snarls for about a week or so while they test the waters and then they seem to come to an unspoken agreement to get along. They may not be great pals, but they co-habitate.
What is so odd is that Lindy is such a mellow cat. She gets along with Beijing, got along with our now-deceased Fluffy, and even plays when Mouse drops by. I wonder if she senses Slinky’s fear? She will chase her out of the room, back her into a corner, or wait for her for *hours* under our bed, as if daring her to show up. Lindy is 16 pounds to Slinky’s 8, though older (10 vs 2 – 3).
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Oh, poor little Slinky. It’s hard to know what to do. That’s odd of Lindy isn’t it? Thank goodness you live in California and she can be outside year round. I would worry about those racoons though too. At night, it’s just nicer to have the whole fluffy family inside, safe and sound. Can you take Slinky to bed with you and leave Lindy to the sofa?
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Oh you have no idea of the drama. We tried all sorts of variations for three months. Slinky would come sleep next to my pillow, while Lindy pounded on the door. Then we put Lindy in the laundry room (with a bed, litter box, water, food, etc.) and she cried and cried and cried. It got harder and harder to get her in there. We tried to do the reverse (put Slinky in the laundry room), but she is near impossible to catch and she bites when frightened. We’re all a little afraid of her. I agree, it would be nice to get all the felines indoors for the night. I’m going to keep working on it.
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Oh dear, what a mess, gee I hope it can all work out. Hugs xoK
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Thank you!
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