The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday—-Farm Life Series 5, Tractors, Friday, August 27, 2021

“Farms, any farms, well, all Farms have Tractors”, Mom picked me up and sat me down on her lap.  I was trying to hide because Dad had just started one of his tractors and was heading out of the farmyard. “You are right to run fast away from big noisy machines, of which tractors are one.”

Mom and I sat down in one of the outside chairs, me on Mom’s lap, and Mom’s hand petting me.

“You see, TLC Cai-Cai, Tractors are how all the groundwork gets done. Tractors are the ‘heavy-lifter’s of the farm, they pull implements to make the soil on the farm in a very lovely soft loamy state so Dad can then plant the fields.  The tractors even pull the planter which does the planting.

Then there is the water, tractors use special pieces of equipment which make the ditches and help keep the ditches clean so the water can flow onto the farm, and down the rows, the tractor created right after the crop was planted.

There are other BIG pieces of equipment on the farm, like the swather and the combine, but I will save that for another time. For right now just know that there are many tractors on the farm, and each one has its own special job to do.” Mom said softly to me all the while petting my head, my ears, my back, my sides, my…………smile purr. Humm.

“I am so proud of you for being very careful around all the tractors and the big noisy things like cars and trucks, for Dad and I want you with us for years and years and years.” Mom whispered—“years.”

 

I really am not sure all of what Mom was saying, I was purring very, very loud, while Mom talked softly to me and petted me. I kept on purring until I think I must have fallen asleep.

Which is a very lovely thing.  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

TLC Cai-Cai

 

 

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday—-RAIN, Friday, August 20, 2021

Mom says we will get back to all about ‘Running a Farm’ next week, but for right now, there is REJOICING in the House and on the Farm.

It started raining and

it hasn’t really stopped.

As for me—

I’m not sure about this rain stuff.

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday—-Farm Life Series 4, We Continue On without Mindy, Friday, August 13, 2021

“People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and the future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”—Albert Einstein reflecting on the death of his friend Michele Besso

Mom took me on her lap and started petting me, I began to purr, LOUD, just for Mom.

Mom said I know Mindy Lou-Sue, my wonderful Min-Min, was teaching you about our way of life. I guess I should try and pick up where she left off.

So, while I purred; Mom petted me, she told me about the Business of Farming.

Mom told me that ranches are mostly grasslands for cows and sheep and horses and mules and… and farms raise crops.

Ranchers raise animals for meat and farmers raise crops that feed and clothe animals, including human animals.

Dogs and Cats, (purr, hum, purr) are important parts of farms. And ranches, Mom explained.

Dogs help ‘work’ on the farm and help ranchers take care of the animals on a ranch.  Here on our farm, when Mom and Dad had dogs (Mom stopped and sighed.) The dogs went everywhere with us and helped irrigate.

I CAN GO! I stopped purring and stood up; looking Mom right in the eye.  I can help.

Mom smiled and turned me back around and sat me down so I could get more scratches and pets.

Kitties, of which you are one, Mom said, all the while petting me, as the keeper of the farmyard/ or if the kitty lives on a ranch, the ranch yard.

Kitties keep the mice away from the house, the barns the work sheds, the grain bins, everything.

Kitties are a very important part of making a farm or ranch run smooth.

I got up again and gave Mom a head butt and a lick on her cheek.

Then I jumped down, stretched, fluffed my tail, and strutted off.

We, Cats, ARE very important!

Mom is so right!

Now, I have ‘stuff’ to do, important Stuff!

TLC Cai-Cai

 

 

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday—-It’s Just Me, Friday, August 6, 2021

When I woke up one morning, I realized Mindy was missing.

She didn’t come in for her regular spend the night and eat some kitty candy

Nor was she anyplace I could find her on the farm.

I meowed out at the barn,

I called by the Grain Bins,

I meowed and called and squalled in the hay stackyard.

I looked in Dad’s collector ‘parts’ cars,

I looked in all the grain trucks (there are three of them)

I walked down the corral fence and hollered constantly.

Then I went over into the orchard and meowed,

When I got back into the farmyard,

Mom was outside looking for Mindy also.

So, we both called.

After all that I knew.

But Mom kept calling for her for days and days,

Even going out at night (which she would NOT let go with her)

and called for Mindy

Sigh!

It’s lonely here without Mindy.

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of Mindy on Friday—-Farm Life Series 3, The Big, Noisy Stuff, Friday, July 23, 2021

Another thing you need to pay attention to is the BIG, LOUD, STUFF!

Like the tractors

Corn choppers

Hay Swather

The baler

Old trucks

Mom and Dad’s four-wheelers,

The pick-ups

Mom’s Car

The Lawnmower,

All those things can KILL you!  Smash you flatter than a smashed miller.

When you hear one start-up or

one coming into the farmyard

RUN!

Your life depends on it!

Mindy Lou-Sue, or as Mom calls me, Min-Min

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday—-I’m a Big Kid Now, Friday, July 16, 2021

I like to go for rides! In the Pick-Up with Mom and Dad.

I get to see lots and lots of stuff.  I like learning about STUFF!

Mom makes me wear my harness; as soon as she puts it on, I KNOW!  WHEEEEE! Off we get to go!

I don’t whine or meow or anything.  When I get tired, I curl up on Mom’s lap and sleep.

I have, also, figured out MICE!  I watched Mindy bring Mice to Mom and get lots and lots of pets for bringing Mom mice. So I got Mom a mouse also.

That Mouse was LOTS of FUN!  I played with it here and there and, well, gosh everywhere.

No, I didn’t eat it.  I only eat cereal and yummy stuff in a can.  The eating mouse thing, Mindy does I just don’t get.

Anyway…I AM A BIG KID NOW!

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of Mindy on Friday—-Farm Life Series 1, We are a Farm, Friday, July 9, 2021

Well, since you don’t really listen to me, or take my advice—yes,

I have seen you clear out by the Butler Bins—-you need to get this through your fluffy head…

RUN! RUNNNN!  GET OUT OF THERE!

TLC CAI-CAI!!!!!!

there is a fox out there!

Fox EAT CATS!!!!

 Let that sink in…STAY. AT. The. Butler BINS!!!

Huff, huff.

Well, on with your lesson.  We live on a farm.  We don’t live in town, or in a clump of houses called a sub-division, or on a ranch.

We live where Dad works the land—plowing, planting, marking, watering, growing, and then harvesting.

Farms grow foodstuffs.

A Ranch grows Grass.  Grass called Pasture. Pasture lands for animals.

Not us…yes, I know we are animals.

Big animals, cows, horses, sheep, goats, those sorts of animals.

Oh! Just so you know.  Come winter, after the crops are gone from the farm, then cows come. They eat up all the dried-up grasses and weeds and alfalfa, and left-over corn stalks.

“Are we a ranch then?”

“No, we are a guest hotel for a rancher and all his cows” I replied.

So, now you know, we live on a farm. We grow pasture grasses, alfalfa; three big fields of alfalfa, which Dad and Mom turn into hay, and corn.  The corn is field corn, not sweet corn.  Although, the cows think it is pretty sweet and yummy.

Our corn is the kind of corn that goes for food like cereal, and food for animals; like chickens, cows, goats, etc.”

Okay, so now you know…we live on a farm.

Next time I will teach you more about the farm.

Until then you stay out of the cornfield, there are foxes in there!

Mindy Lou-Sue, or as Mom calls me, Min-Min

The Adventures of Mindy on Friday—-Farm Life Series 1, Friday, June 25, 2021

Okay.

Since you are going to be outside with me—sigh.

You need to learn some things:

We, that means, you, me, Mom and Dad, live on a farm.

You live in the house…. where I wish you would stay 24-7.

But since YOU don’t WANT to stay inside, I guess I can say you live in the house and outside just like Mom, Dad, and Me.

We live and work on several acres of ground that belong to Mom and Dad and You and I.

Mostly you and I will hang around the Farm House and the Farm Yard.  That means you and I take care of the house and yards, the chicken pen, and the two tractor sheds, plus the equipment building, and Dad’s shop.

I (I NOT YOU) will take care of the equipment parking area and the hay stackyard. (And go on walks with Mom and Dad, but I won’t let you know that.)

You need to stay at the house and take care of the lawn.  I’ll handle the rest.

Oh, yes, you can go as far as the Butler Bins (grain bins) and the fuel tanks, but that’s far enough.

You can also go into the corrals but STAY OFF the canal banks. That water can get you.

Okay, you got all that?

Good.  That’s how it’s going to be.

Lesson One. We live on a farm.

Mindy Lou-Sue, or as Mom calls me, Min-Min

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday—-IF it Isn’t One Thing, It’s Two Things, Then THREE THINGS, Friday, June 18, 2021

I begged.

I whined.

I raced out the door.

Until Mom and Dad said I could go outside!

YAY!

So out I went.  It lasted for three days.  Then I pounced on a stray cat someone dropped off.

No, the stray cat wasn’t Mindy.  We touch noses lots.  And if I get too pouncy Mindy TELLS me to knock it off.  She never BITES me!

(To tell the truth, I just wanted to play.  I understand differently now.)

That stray cat bit my leg…bad. It swelled up and up and up.  I wouldn’t let Mom touch it to see what was going on, If Mom tried to I bit MOM!

So, Off We Went to the Vets.

Yep…money, money, money later…I came home with a chicken leg instead of a cat leg.  And guess what!

I have to stay inside until the scab falls off!

Sigh!

But – don’t let it fool you—I AM going BACK outside.  And THAT is THAT!

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of Mindy on Friday—-Why Worry , Friday, June 11, 2021

“Well, this is a fine thing,” Mom said, getting out of the car with her hand in a massive pink thing. “I looks like I actually fractured my joint in my right hand, in the little finger.”

“Six weeks of PINK and metal on my hand” Mom explained as she bent down to pet me.

What is a six weeks, I wondered to myself; what is that heavy thing on Mom’s hand?

O………….purrrr………..turn over on my tummy……………..purrrr…keep petting Mom this feels good.

Mom scratches me under the chin.  Then gets up. “Well, it’s going to slow down some things, but not going for walk with you, Mindy Lou Sue.  Let me put my stuff down inside, then you and I can go for a walk. I think my mind NEEDS a walk.”

I jumped up on the lawn chair and waited.

Soon Mom was back outside—off we went.

Out to the chicken house

Over to the shed

Behind the woodpile

We took a small walk-about. I don’t get why Mom is worried, she can still pet me and do walkabouts. Life is still Good.

Mindy Lou Sue, Min-Min