Noel

 
Not more than six or eight weeks old, Ellie followed Sarah home one December day and hopped on my knee as I squatted down to paint the outside of our front window. She was bright, beautiful, and impudent. She took up residence on Dad’s lap until he died, traveled with Mom, and inserted her rights and preferences everywhere she went. She adopted two other kittens and allowed them to enter her domain, albeit with parameters. She loved to play a rousing game of tag, stalk the fish in the fish tank, follow yard intruders from window to window, and wrestle no-holds-barred with Joey. She snuggled on my shoulder at night, kneading my neck, sat by us if we started coughing until we were better, dug her way into cupboards, closets, and drawers to find perfect napping spots, and thoroughly enjoyed ruling the roost when she became the matriarch of the household. I loved Ellie’s companionship, her sense of humor, her independence, and her dedication to Mom. She never left Mom’s side the day she died and she mourned for days until little Maia bustled through the doorway, insisting that Ellie accept her friendship.

 

Thank you, Noel, for your feisty love, devotion, and companionship. You are greatly missed.

 

(1996-2013)

Moral Support

Room at the Inn

We’ve extended the idea of K’s Inn to our non-human friends. Although we’ve always been somewhat of a secret safe haven for a few homeless cats and dogs, this winter we have openly begun providing free meals to other members of the neighborhood as well. A couple summers ago we began with a hummingbird program, but the long bouts of freezing temperatures this winter prompted Don to add an igloo shelter, two birdhouses, and a homemade swinging squirrel feeder. Everyone seems quite appreciative and we love watching their antics.

This visitor and a striped one are a bit camera shy, but Molly is quite sociable.

The bird feeder in the backyard was so popular we added one in the front where Mom could see it from her chair. The smaller birds who were often ousted by bigger birds in the backyard claimed it right away.

We have a pair of squirrels in the neighborhood who pay a visit to the bird feeder once in awhile, too. We love their acrobatic antics.

The squirrel family took a whole day to investigate every inch of the swing set and check the coffee can from every angle before they decided it was safe and set out figuring how to get the food out of the can. It swings free, but they soon learned to sit on the slide ladder, reach out and grab the can, swing it around and climb halfway in to help themselves. Then they sit on a crossbar to munch. This character let me get about five feet away to take my pictures. I swear he was posing. (Did you get that? No, THIS is my good side.)

Birds of all sizes flock to this feeder.

A Woodpecker loves to hang on the cage and eat the suet feed inside.

These guys are next in line. Only a couple birds eat at the feeder at a time. They will scrape seeds out onto the ground so that some can eat down there at the same time. The rest patiently wait their turn on a nearby bush. We've spotted the cats sitting below the feeder, looking up at it in deep thought, but they have yet to indulge. Either they are heeding my admonishment to "do no harm" or they are content with their full stomachs. In any case, the birds are cautious and patient about waiting until the coast is clear.

Ellie: Checking Our Sanity

"Okay. Tell me one more time why you stare over here so much because, I'm telling you, there's absolutely nothing back here; I checked."