Four down, one to go!

Jam and Reeses, glad to be free!

We said good-bye to Jam and Reeses today at the kids' request. I'm very proud of them! They had really gotten attached to Jam and Reeses, but recognized that they were not happy being confined. Their surgeries were three days ago (I think -- too many cats to keep track of!) so they should be fine. We initially thought that it would be good to find homes for them, but the adults have been on their own too long, and we just don't have time to spend finding homes for so many cats. The bulletin board at our vet's office is already full of brochures giving away cats and kittens -- we don't need to add to it. The most important thing is that the ones around our house won't be multiplying anymore.

Out of the five adults we've trapped, we're down to just having one still captive, Smokey. Her surgery was two days ago, so we will hang on to her one more day and let her go tomorrow. Oh my, is she grumpy! If you get near her crate, she hisses and growls. She's even been nasty to her kittens! The three of them are in a very large dog kennel with plenty of space, and she's fine as long as they don't come near her. If they do, she hisses and takes a swipe at them with her paw. Bad momma. The kittens are all very content in their crates, so we are going to hang on to them for a few weeks until they get a little older and can be spayed and neutered. The little orange kitten continues to be a monster, so we have given it the official name of Fireball.


No kitties were caught last night. We didn't set the trap because of the possibility of rain. Depending on the weather predictions for the night, we may set the trap before we go to bed. I hope Reeses and Jam are smart enough not to fall for the trick twice! We saw another adult cat that we have not seen in months, Midnight. He (maybe a she) was exploring the cat house out back, probably wondering where everybody has been. We are not hopeful that we will catch him as he is very elusive and we've never seen him come near our house.

Tom is on a four-day trip, and the kids and I have been home all day -- one of our favorite kinds of days. We unashamedly admit that we are all homebodies! We've been busy cleaning the house, making food for the next week, and cleaning vegetables to get them ready for canning on Monday. Faye didn't bring us anything but clouds and wind. :o( We so desperately need rain.

I'm off to clean green beans!

Number 8 and Counting . . . . .

We found this little one in the trap this morning. No name yet, and we don't know what gender, but it's a little fire ball and loves to hiss. The trap has been reset, and we hope to catch its two siblings over the weekend.

I think we will be saying good-bye to Smokey over the weekend. She is very grumpy and hissy, and I don't think there is hope of domesticating her -- at least not in the time frame that we have to give attention to the matter. We did what we set out to do, which was spay her. She's fattened up quite a bit since she's been coming to us to be fed, so she should do fine outside on her own. We'll continue to feed her if she wants to come back to us as her food source.

Jam has been hissing and growling today, so we don't know what that means -- perhaps that when she was so sweet and docile, she was heavily medicated?! The jury is still out on whether we'll turn her out or try to find a home for her. We'll give her through the weekend and see what happens.

Based on Reeses behavior, Tom thinks that we can turn him out because he'll stay around here and still claim us.

Cats are much so easier than dogs!

Catch of the Day

The sardines we sat out last night proved to be more than Smokey could resist! Tom and I found her in the trap when we got up this morning. She spent the day at the vet's office, came home minus a part, and is resting comfortably in a crate in our basement with her kittens.

We have now captured every cat that we have been seeing around our house. We know that Jam has 3 kittens, but have only seen them one time from a distance. They are at least 8 weeks old, so they are capable of surviving on their own, but we would still like to catch them. We set the trap across the street in the woods this evening, and hopefully, we'll catch one of them and not something unpleasant . . . . .

Smokey and Reeses' kittens are doing wonderful -- they are no longer frightened of us and we can hold them. Reeses and Jam have been domesticated before as they are very affectionate and let us pick them up. Tiger, however, is another story. The poor girl was in the same position this morning as she was when we went to bed last night. We were going to try and hold on to her for a few days until her incision healed, but the vet said to let her go if she didn't warm up to us or take food and water. We were going to try and transfer her to a crate, but couldn't get her to exit the carrier that we brought her home from the vet's office in. Tom even turned it on its end trying to dislodge her, but she dug her claws in and held on. Finally, Tom said that we needed to just let her go because of the stress being captive was causing her. He and Sarah took her out to the driveway and opened the carrier door. She didn't come out right away, but finally peeked her head around the corner, scowled at them, and darted off for the woods. I doubt that we see her again, but at least she can't add to the stray cat population around here.

We have decided not to release the other cats, but are going to find homes for them since they don't fear people and are affectionate. Anyone want a kitty?

Here a kitty, there a kitty, everywhere a kitty, kitty!!!

Our second day of trapping was extremely successful! When I spoke to the veterinary's office Tuesday morning, they told me to catch as many as I could, because they had a light surgery load this week and would be able to spay/neuter all of them right away. So we set out to catch as many as we could Tuesday night.

Around dusk, we set the trap out on the deck with a piece of Boar's Head smoked chicken breast, and within minutes Smokey showed up with her two kittens, Oreo and Cocoa. The meat was more than Oreo could resist, and he was quickly trapped.

We relocated Oreo to a crate and reset the trap. Another piece of meat proved to be irresistible to Cocoa, and we added her to the large crate that Oreo was in. We were hoping to catch Smokey, the momma, next, but she was very cautious around the trap. She would walk all around it, even going in halfway, and then she would back out. Pretty soon, she just laid down beside it.

As we watched from the family room windows, another cat appeared on the deck, Marmalade (who is a beautiful orange color). Marmalade quickly took the meat and was trapped. He was a live wire and went ballistic upon being caged in. We quickly relocated him to a crate (while he was hissing at us) and reset the trap, hoping again to catch Smokey.

Smokey was still on the deck, observing the trap but not going in, when Jam appeared (beautiful orange colorings like Marmalade). Jam fell for the bait, was trapped and relocated to our last available crate. Still no Smokey.

We decided to leave the trap set overnight in hopes of catching Smokey, and went to bed. At 6:15 a.m., I was awakened by the sound of a ruckus from the trap. I roused Tom and told him that we had caught Smokey, and we needed to get her out of the trap. We were very surprised to find that it was not Smokey that was in the trap, but a cat that we had not seen for a very long time, Tiger. We had her pegged as a female because of the way she and Reese's were always together last winter. We thought Marmalade was a live wire -- he was tame compared to Tiger! We left her in the trap as we didn't think it was safe to try and get her out.

Five cats. I called the vet as soon as they opened to make sure that they could still take that many cats, and they told us to bring them on in. After some thought, we decided not to take the kittens so that we could use them to lure Smokey if need be, so we went to the vet with Marmalade, Jam and Tiger (who was not happy, by the way).

We transported Jam successfully into the office, and went back out for Marmalade. We can't believe what happened next -- while we were en route, Marmalade had pushed the plastic tray on the bottom of the crate forward, which meant that when Tom went to pull the crate out of the back of the Excursion, Marmalade was able to slip through bottom of the crate, as the wires were spaced further apart there than on the rest of the crate. We watched helplessly as Marmalade raced across the parking lot, across the street and into the woods. Tiger was still in the trap, so we were able to get her in without any problem.

We needed the crate back so we could continue to try and trap Smokey, so the staff at the office took Tiger back to get her out of the trap. They came back out with wide eyes and said that Tiger is totally wild (which we already knew) and got loose on them. They managed to get Tiger under control, and had a much easier time with Jam. The plan was for them to keep both cats overnight. Right after we got home after dropping the cats off, the vet's office called and said we would have to pick Tiger up late this afternoon, because based on their experience with her so far, she was going to wake up one grumpy kitty. It seems that she escaped in the surgical room, and was very difficult to catch. She was finally subdued, but not before she tried to run through a glass door.

We brought Jam and Tiger back home this evening, and they are resting quietly in their crates. The trap has been reset for Smokey, this time with sardines in it. She came on the deck looking for her dinner, sniffed at the trap, very much enticed by the sardines, but then walked away from it when she realized that she was going to have to go in to get her food. We will leave the trap set overnight and see what happens!

Smokey, underneath the patio table, waiting for her dinner.

Jam, recuperating after surgery.

Reese's and Smokey's kittens - Oreo and Cocoa

A totally terrified Tiger, who has not moved from this position in several hours.

First Catch

****UPDATE****

Tom spoke with the vet's office this afternoon, and it seems that we have a very unique kitty! First, we're glad to report that his feline leukemia test was negative (a positive test would have meant -- well, let's just say it wouldn't have been good). Cats with the tortoiseshell markings like Reeses are female 99.9% of the time, and tortoiseshell males are sterile 99.9% of the time. Reeses is a tortoiseshell male who is a daddy! He's a one in a million kitty! We will be picking him up tomorrow morning, and hopefully be dropping off another cat -- we'll see what we catch tonight.


The trapping has begun . . . . .

We set the trap out on the deck last night, and as predicted, Reeses was our first catch. He was absolutely terrified once he realized that he couldn't escape -- it was heartbreaking! We transfered him to a larger crate for the night, and he settled down quickly.

Tom, Andrew and Sarah took him to our vet this morning, and his surgery is scheduled for sometime today. Once they got him into the office, they tried to tell Tom that because of the calico markings, Reeses is a female. We believe they will find out differently once they have him sedated.

I hope he forgives us for this . . . .

An Uneventful Posting

Our blog has been quiet these past few weeks due to mundane living. Mundane living is good! Living out of the ordinary too often can be draining!

Our favorite time of year is just weeks away, and with the fall season comes a return to the school books. Much of my time lately has been spent planning out the year and making sure we have everything we need. I'm as bad as the kids -- I'm already looking forward to our first break! Thanksgiving week seems so far away . . . .

Bands, choirs, and riding lessons began last Friday. Whew! Fridays are going to be our busiest day of the week! I think it will be easier to do all of our running in one day than to have it spread out over the week.

My little garden is still giving us veggies, but most of the plants have about had it with the summer heat. Tomorrow, I think I will have enough tomatoes to can some tomato juice, and we'll be having eggplant in some form for dinner. One of the moms at band last Friday sold me a bushel of okra from her garden for $10 -- so guess what I've been doing! My okra plants did really well, but I didn't plant nearly enough of them, so I'm thankful for her abundance.

My dining room has been taken over with school books! This is only part of the collection -- the rest of the books are spread out on a table in our music room. (Hmmmm . . . I wonder why the front door was open . . . .)

Our resident box turtle, Pistachio. The boys see him periodically in our landscape, but one morning this week, he greeted us at the front door steps.

Time to get busy with school work! The kids have too much time on their hands! Poor Baxter, dressed in a baby outfit that Sarah puts on her dolls!

This crazy cat is Reeses, named after the peanut butter cup because his fur looks like chocolate and peanut butter mixed together. We began seeing Reeses around our house last winter and started sitting food out for him. Every morning when I would open the kitchen blinds, he would be sitting on the deck, in front of the door, waiting for his breakfast. He showed up one morning in February as usual, we fed him his breakfast, and we didn't see him again. Tom and I suspected his demise. Imagine our total surprise when he showed up again this week, SIX MONTHS LATER! He is just as congenial as ever and acts as if he never went away in the first place. He is the only cat (there are 9) that we can touch. He is very affectionate -- especially with Sarah. He will follow her all around the yard.

Tom and Andrew went to Wayne and Judy's house this week and picked up their dog house (they no longer have a dog), and it has been turned into a cat house. Last year, it was pitiful to see the cats wet and shivering in below freezing temperatures, so we're going to try to help them out this year. But first, we're going to help them stop multiplying . . . . .

Our Last Day in California

Our time here in California has been wonderfully sweet! Although we flew into San Francisco, we didn't see any of the city other than driving north to get across The Golden Gate Bridge. We had a couple of appointments to keep while we were here, so we had to plan our site seeing around them. Our bed and breakfast served us an INCREDIBLE breakfast each morning, and then we found a local place to eat dinner each evening, all very scrumptious.

We did some more driving around town on Wednesday, and then spent Wednesday evening getting packed up for a very early flight Thursday morning. Before we left I took some pictures of The Gerstle Park Inn, the bed and breakfast we stayed at. You can click on the link below to go to their website -- we stayed in The Sunrise Suite.

The Gerstle Park Inn

Tom on the front porch of the carriage house, the building we stayed in.

Each morning, we would walk down a path to get to the main house where breakfast was waiting for us. Here is a picture of the first pathway on our walk.

The next path segment of our walk.

We passed this tree every time we came to and from our room. If you click on it for a larger picture, you will see two little gnomes playing checkers in the tree.

The last segment of our walk before we reached the parking lot.

There were very few plants and trees I was familiar with in California, but these rosemary bushes were very identifiable, and were very beautiful growing over the wall of the parking lot.

The main building of the inn.

A picture of the leaded glass front door to the entrance of the inn.

The foyer

The main meeting room



Another view of the main meeting room, with Tom reading the newspaper in the background.

The dining room where we enjoyed our breakfast each morning.

The inn had a rocking chair front porch, and was so peaceful to sit on.

Another view of the front porch

The gardens around the property were beautiful! At the back of the property was a fruit grove containing limes, apricots, apples, peaches, plums, and figs.

Another view of the front garden

We are so glad to have been able to take this little trip!

The little, red Mustang that Tom went zipping through the mountains with. He enjoyed it, but concluded at the end of the trip that he is still a Camaro kind of guy.

It was a wonderful trip, but we were certainly glad to be back home with our kids Thursday night!



I didn't have the kids do anything with the garden while we were gone, so Sarah and I had lots of picking to do when we got home -- okra, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes and watermelon!



This is what happens to cucumbers when the gardener goes out of town! We made a double batch of cucumber soup with this one alone.



I think figs are most luscious fruit on the earth that God created! Figs have come into season here in the south, and my taste buds are in heaven! Our friends, Wayne and Judy, have a large fig tree in their backyard that is loaded with them. They are out of town and have invited anyone who wants to come and pick them to do so. I don't have to be asked twice! These beauties had just been washed and were headed to the freezer. They will be used in numerous recipes in the coming months, and are also wonderful treat to pop in to ones mouth after they have thawed a bit. My love for figs is pathetic -- I actually dream about them. Yes. You read that right. I have had dreams about figs . . . . .





The following is a history of the inn for when I put these pictures into a scrapbook. You are welcome to read further, but I just wanted to let you know that there isn't any information about our trip beyond this point.

The Inn was originally part of the Sloss Estate, which together with the Gerstle Estate next door (now Gerstle Park) were two of the most beautiful homes in the area. These estates were built by Louis Sloss and his brother-in-law, Lewis Gerstle. Both men were natives of Bavaria and married sisters, Sarah (Sloss) and Hannah (Gerstle).

Louis Sloss came to California in 1849. He traded in some of the flourishing mining towns, but early in the 1850's, went to Sacramento and joined Gerstle in the wholeswale grocery business. Louis Sloss was one of the founders of the Alaska Commercial Co. and its first president, while Gerstle was the vice president. The company was granted exclusive rights to 20 years to conduct sealing operations on the Pribilof Islands by the federal government. This lease had a reputed anuual income of $1.25 million. When gold was discovered in Alaska, the company expanded into a great trading enterprise, including six salmon canneries and ninety trading posts.

At this time Sloss and Gerstle had their homes in San Francisco on Van Ness Avenue. In 19881 Gerstle purchased a 4.6 acre of property in San Rafael as a site for a summer home for $15,000. In 1883 Sloss purchased the adjoining 4-acre property for $6,500. The Gerstle's built a series of houses on their property as their family grew, however the Sloss house was concentrated in one building which at one time had 36 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms. The home eventually accommodated four generations of Slosses. In 1895, a second home on the estate (currently the main building of the inn) was built by the Sloss' son, Leon, after his marriage.

No fence or barrier of any kind divdied the Gerstle and Sloss properties. Members of the two families wandered freely from one garden to the other, the children playing together, and the younger members of the families using the tennis court (still existing in Gerstle Park). The families entertained extensively and were know for their festive parties. The families usually moved to San Rafael late in April and returned to San Francisco in September or October. The men commuted to the city daily by either train or ferry, traveling to the station by horse and carriage. Both Gerstle and Sloss died in 1902. The two sisters Sarah and Hannah were inseparable companions all of their lives.

In the 1930's, after the death of Mrs. Gerstle, the heirs deeded the Gerstle Estate to the City of San Rafael for a park. The buildings were demolished. The Sloss home was left to the Evangelical Lutheran Church which used it as a home for the aging called "The Lodge." The building was dedicated on May 14, 1933. The home was managed by Arnold Leonard Sr. and his wife Anna. The church sold the property to the Leonhards during World War II, and The Lodge became a temporary home for scores of Air Corps families.

In March 1955, the main house was destroyed by a fire set by an arsonist. This portion of the property was later sold to a developer who constructed the townhouses known as Lodge Lane in 1980. The second home continued to be run as a boarding house by the Leonhards through the 1960's. The Leonhard family lived in the carriage house which was converted to a family home in the 1950's. In the 1970's, after the death of Mrs. Leonhard, the Leonhard Estate leased the property to the operators of a drug rehabilitation center.

In Jue 1995, the property was purchased from the Leonhard Estate by Jim and Judy Dowling. The Dowlings did a major restoration of the property and opened it as the Gerstle Park Inn in December 1995.

California Trip!

WE'RE HERE!
After an uneventful, looooooooooong flight across the country, we have arrived at our destination in the San Francisco area.

We are trying very hard to keep our bodies on east coast time, so I'll only take time to post a few details right now. It is 10:20 p.m. eastern time, but only 7:20 here. We are getting ready to go to bed, but it is really hard when it is so light outside!

When we arrived Sunday evening (5:00 p.m. Pacific time), the weather at the San Francisco was cold and damp, and in the 50's. Brrrrrrrrr! We got our rental car without any problems (which Tom is having a lot of fun driving -- I'll post a picture tomorrow), and arrived at the Mill Valley Inn we had reservations at in Mill Valley, CA.

For my dad, who loves maps:

Marin County, CA Map
(zoom in to see the the route we drove on 7-29)

Remember to click on the picture for the full view!

7-27 - Alcatraz, the first picture I took as we were heading north towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

7 - 27 - Looking back at the fog covering San Francisco, as we were driving north.

7-27 - As we got out of the San Francisco area, the fog lifted and it was beautiful! I have never been to California, and really didn't know what to expect -- the terrain is breathtaking!

7 - 28 - The Mill Valley Inn sits in the middle of a red wood grove -- they are huge! I took the 3 pictures above of the one outside of our room. We were up on the third floor, so I couldn't get a good picture of the base. What you are seeing in the bottom left of the picture are roofs of buildings.

7 - 28 - Standing in the midst of the red wood grove, looking up -- you can't see the tops!

7 - 28 - Tom's impression of a California citizen.

We originally were planning on staying at the Mill Valley Inn for our whole trip, but we didn't really care for the location. It was in a busy part of a town that was actually, quaint, but bustling. The modern, minimalist, Spanish styling was a real turn off for us, and everything was located outside, reminding us of a motel. After shivering through our continental breakfast (it was in the 50's and located outside) we decided to move on.

We found a wonderful Bed & Breakfast up in San Rafael, The Gerstle Park Inn, and were thrilled to find that they had a vacancy. I'll post pictures of the inn tomorrow.

7 - 28 - Everywhere we go, the terrain is so hilly and mountainous!

7 - 29 - We had our whole day free and decided to drive north up the coast. But before we headed north, we went south to see if we could get some pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge from a look out point. This is a picture I took from the top of the look out point, looking southwest, and again, the San Francisco area was covered in fog.

7 - 29 - I took this picture looking northeast, and you can see that the fog begins to lift further north.

7 - 29 - Tom standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, with San Francisco in the background.

7 - 29 The Golden Gate Bridge, looking south, towards San Francisco.

7 - 29 - I'm almost embarrassed -- no, I AM embarrassed to post this picture! It was SO WINDY on top of this look out point, and COLD! Tom is fortunate that his "do" never gets messed up. ~wink~

7 - 29 - Another picture looking northeast.

7 - 29 - A picture of the coast as we drove north on highway 1, looking towards Stinson Beach.

7 - 29 - I'm not sure where in our adventures I took this picture, but isn't it beautiful?

7 - 29 - Ummm, not sure what this one is of either, but how gorgeous!

7 - 29 - We turned off of the Shoreline Hwy onto Bolinas Fairfax Rd (I know that doesn't mean anything to you -- those are notes for me for when I go back and label these pictures), heading for Fairfax. Oh my goodness! It was the steepest at times, most winding road I have ever been on! Tom was LOVING it! Part of the road winds along Alpine Lake, pictured above.

7 - 29 - Another view of Alpine Lake.

7 - 29 - After we reached Fairfax, we continued in an easterly direction until we came to Point San Pedro Road, and drove on that around to the San Francisco Bay. As were driving just north of China Camp State Park, I took the picture above. We were looking north across the bay at Sonoma County, which looked utterly desolate and dry. If you click on the picture, you will see what looks like a cloud just above the water. It was a dust storm blowing off of the hills in the left of the picture!

It is now 11:10 p.m., eastern time, and the sun is beginning to go down here on the west coast, so I'm going to try and get some sleep. To my dear children who are reading this, I miss you so much, and look forward to coming home on Thursday!