On The Lookout

    Driving home from church I had Joe stop the car so I could check to see if the little black road kill was the kitty I am missing. Nope... a little skunk. 

Double or triple takes have become normal as I drive down the road or ride on the edge of the fields. I have taken a good look at several different black












or dark blobs moving in the field....but been disappointed by what I see.  It is amazing how many plastic bags, or tarps, or other litter there is in fields and ditches all over out here....and I have to take a long look at each just

to be sure it isn't Sissy.  I have been looking up in trees and knocking on neighbors doors.  It is a bit discouraging...but I haven't given up hope yet.

   Wed. while riding, I came upon an animal crouched at the edge of our mowed yard and the tall weeds by the tracks.  It lowered it's head making me realize it wasn't dead and that it was a cat.  I hollered "Sissy?" and it took off running.  It was a gray cat a little bit larger than Sissy. It ran up and along the tracks and disappeared down the other side.  As I rode along,

Brother then came out of the weeds. Were they stalking each other? 
Could the stray have injured Sissy?  If it is surviving out there, can
Sissy be out there too?    I have renewed hope.

      Last weekend, in addition to searching for Sissy several times, I Rode one last time at Moraine View with our neighbor Lisa.  The park closed for the winter last Sunday night.

   











    

     Joe bought and brought home a "new" larger truck, trading in our smaller 97 Chevy S10.  It is a 99 Chevy 1500, extended cab with 215,000 miles on it and a new engine, transmission and exhaust system. 

     Just one more thing for Hercules to scout out.  He is always on the lookout for our chicken  flock, although I suspect he was just looking at his reflection when confronting the truck.  He is finally growing his tail feathers back...but now losing some wing feathers a little bit.







     We went dancing at the VFW on Sat night.  The Biscuits and Gravy band was having a Halloween bash. I had a good time as usual....
I just love to dance.

     The chickens have really slowed down on egg production.  Last week for a few days I thought they had stopped completely, until I spotted this:

     a nest of eggs in the barn by an old bike. Think those had been collecting there for a few days.










    We have been regularly closing up the barn to slow down the wind and keep it warm.  I still leave a small space for Zorro to look out of. Here, Brother is hangin' out with the chickens and Zorro ..... he is still on the lookout for Sissy.

   Bro hangin' out with Kaysha who has let him use her dog house.

                                   
                             Bro trying to make friends with our house cat Abbey.
















    Joe took out a dilapidated section of barn wall I asked him to patch. 


  












     I didn't expect him to completely redo the wall, but he did.

     Once it was rebuilt,
                   he and Britney painted it.

        It really helps block the wind much better now.

    With the rain and wind, I was keeping Zorro in his stall more....but he was not happy.  So Joe fenced off a small section of the paddock with access to the corn crib. This enabled Zorro to get in out of the rain if he wanted.  He could also be with his beloved Amiga.  It was nice for him to have a little more room to walk around.  Then we expanded his space some more and finally just divided the paddock in half basically.

A couple of mornings when I have turned Zorro out...he has gotten a little rambunctious and gaited around some.  But at least he hasn't done the spinning and bucking he was doing earlier. 
  

     We finally finished up with our apple harvest a few weeks ago but the pears have still been dropping.  We had more than we knew what to do with so Joe decided to fix and freeze them and Britney helped him out.











     My Thursday riding lesson was moved to Friday....which ended up being better because Thursday late afternoon we got some hail with heavy winds.  Glad I wasn't loading and trailering a horse then.  I had a good lesson yesterday and now have more things to work on.  I have not been working Amiga in the round pen, as I should, because we have been out and about looking for Sissy.  Here are some pictures of Sissy growing up....I don't have many by herself because usually Brother was right there by her.

    
     Playing with her puppy toy.  She used to carry it all around in the tack room and sleep with it.

Playing with Chuck the cow.













On the lookout for Bro in the barn during a tag game.

Climbing on the fence post pile.

Playing hide and seek in the old dead tree with Bro.








Playing with a mouse.

By the fish pond.

Sharpening her claws.

Riding Zorro.

Last photo of her taken Sunday afternoon, three days before she disappeared..








I am still On The Lookout for Sis, my sweet  kitty who is missing.