Fun for Kitties...and Mom, Too!

This past week a package arrived from Canada.  It had kitty stickers on the wrapping!
It was from Deb at the Just Cats blog.  In case you haven't yet visited Deb's blog, she is a professional cat sitter who also is a collector of lovely china teacups and teapots.  She is an amazingly good photographer. Her blog is a delight!  Here is the link:

http://justcats-deb.blogspot.com/

Deb recently had a give-away of a lovely tea mug, tea strainer and a box of tea.  I was the lucky winner!  So were my kitties....

Look at all those mousies with feathery tails.  One for each of my guys!

Isabell was the first one on the scene.
WOW, Mom, this is FUN!!!  This is a job for a quick paw!

Oh no!  Here comes Reggie!

Isabell must work fast.  These are supposed to be MY mousies!

Yikes!!!  Now Penny is trying to push her way in!

 Isabell manages to retain control of the scene.

There seems to be a bag of kitty treats in there too!

Should we let Mommy open her part of the surprises???
Her stuff isn't nearly as much fun as ours!

Isn't this mug just purrrfect?
Check out the tiny mousie faces between the cats.

This is my favorite little kitty face.

Isabell says the one with her paw on the treats is the winner!
OK, can we open the bag now???

After everyone else has taken their mousies off to play, Deiter comes on the scene.
He likes the ribbon best of all!

Thanks so much, Deb.  They played with their mousies all afternoon!
While I enjoyed a nice cup of tea...

Meanwhile we are having work done outside.

We decided the tree that was damaged in the storm had to come down before the winds of winter arrived.  We were afraid that in it's weakened condition there would be more limbs splitting off and the ones that were left were sure to hit the house and do worse damage.

We contracted with a local Amish man to do the work.  He had taken down a tree for a friend of ours and did a good job without a lot of modern equipment.
He arrived with a wagon to haul away the bush, a log splitter, all pulled by a Bobcat (a small piece of machinery that is like a forklift).  He lifted the tree off the pantry roof with the scoop on the Bobcat and laid it aside. 

He then climbed up in the tree and attached a long cable to one of the higher branches, then attached the cable to his Bobcat.  Next he cut the usual notch in the base of the tree, pointing in the direction he wanted the tree to fall.  You can see the cable on the right side of the picture.

 

Then he hammered in wedges.

A good pull with the Bobcat and the tree was safely on the ground.

Ready to cut and split.

Amazing that several hours later a whole 150+-year-old tree was reduced to about a half-cord of firewood.

In the spring we are planning to plant a replacement tree but it will not be a maple that will grow so big.  We will choose a smaller-growing tree and plant it about 6 feet farther from the house.  Hopefully that will prevent future damage if we have another severe wind storm.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!