On the Mend

Happy news for our weekend update - Jojo is doing wonderfully well. Energy is good, breathing is even and light, playfulness is normal, appetite is strong, and she also took some quality naps to recover from her all-nighter on Thursday. She is on 1 pill a day for now (5mg prednisolone) and we have an appointment at her regular vet Monday morning for a follow up. 

I want to take a picture of her cute little fur boots (they shaved both ankles all the way around) but she is always on the move when I reach for the camera. 

Gussie (the old man who had dental surgery) is also doing well and keeping the young'uns in line with his grouchy paw of justice.

Thank you all for your well wishes and support.

Difficult Times

Hello kitten fans, I hope you and your furry family members are all doing well.  The original "fountain pen" kittens and mama are hale and hearty.  However, in the past 10 weeks some of the other cats have had health issues.  

Darling Tuppy (14 years old, red tabby) started to look "not right" at the end of August and went in for a checkup at the beginning of September.  He was diagnosed with gallstones and despite our best efforts over the next several weeks, he never recovered.  It was terrible to lose such a sweet, calm, *orange* boy.  

Immediately after that, Gussie (14 years old, red & white tabby), his brother, started losing weight.  He was having a pancreatitis attack and also needed several bad teeth removed.  With medication, love and tenderness we pulled him back from the brink and also got him cleared for the dental surgery. He was a risky candidate who already has thyroid issues and heart failure (under control with meds).  He is recovering well and putting weight on again.  

Then tonight, barely three weeks after Gussie's surgery, wee Jojo and I rushed to the ER vet because she suddenly had a lot of coughing and labored breathing.  She is being kept overnight in the oxygen condo while they run tests and also do some x-rays to find out what is going on. It could be asthma, it could be heart failure, it could be allergies.  I hope it is something manageable. 

I am thankful for the mojo of all the kitten supporters and that I have had room on the care credit card to approve excellent vet care for these furry family members. However, the bills passed $7,000 tonight, and surely there will be follow up care needed for Jojo at our regular vet going forward. I know times are tough with inflation, year end expenses, and family celebrations for the holidays, but we would be so grateful for any support right now.  

Thank you for your kind thoughts and be sure to kiss your pets on the head for us tonight. 

Wrassle-mania!

 The kittens are 2 weeks old today and in the last 30 minutes they realized they are Kittens and not larval cats and are roiling about in the nestbox.  

wrasslin'

Kaweco is looking up and wondering if there is life outside the nestbox

everbody rumble!

The kitten cam is still running great (as you can see).  It is still free to watch but contributions are welcome as food and litter is still being stockpiled, and vet trips will be upcoming!

The Kittening!

It's been a rough year. Unexpected expenses, job insecurity, housing insecurity, deaths in the family; 2022 has not been kind to the Picky household. But I think we have turned a corner now in August and there is room in my heart to help a little family. 

Please meet Katie and the kittens!  

 There is more on the new "kitten cam" page (see header).  I wish I had this tech when the feral mamas were raising the garage kittens back in 2017-2018. But everything in its own time, I guess. I haven't tried knitting in there with them yet, they are just so fascinating to watch, but I might try today. 

All The Pretty Flowers

 WELP since Ravelry has imploded we are time traveling back to 2008 and the heyday of blogs!  I hereby resolve to start posting content again. I have some socks in progress that are quite lovely. 

Soap For a Cause

You may know that I have a strong pro-asylum position regarding anyone who is seeking a better life here in the US.  RAICES is a group with a "mission to help separated families, detained families, unaccompanied minors, and others who are seeking asylum in the United States."  That is some hard, good work.  

So I'm having a flash promotion:  buy a 6 pack of soap bars for $50 and I'll donate the shipping of $8 per box to RAICES.  Good for orders placed between 4 PM PDT Thursday to 4 PM PDT Friday and for in-stock items only (please see below).  Can't decide?  Give me an idea what scents you like and I will choose for you.  

Arabian Spice - 1

Cedar Balsam - 3

Coconut - 3

Cucumber Melon - 1

Ginger Lime - 3

Lavender - 2 

Lavender Mint - 2

Lemon - 2 

Lemon Vanilla - 3

Lime - 3

Natural - 2

Oatmeal Milk & Honey - 2

Orange - 3

Orange Vanilla - 1

Oud - 4

Patchouli - 3

Plumeria - 4

Rose - 3

Vanilla - 4

I accept PayPal directly or I can make a private listing on Etsy just for you! SleepingFoxFarms

Citrus City!

The scent of citrus is in the air here Chez Picky and I am ready to fill a box just for you!  6 bars for $50 includes priority shipping in the US.

lemon

lemon vanilla

lime

orange

orange vanilla

ginger lime

I'm taking advantage of the 100+ degree weather to keep up soap production. These are just some of the scents currently in stock; drop me a line and we can create a custom box for you.  6 bars for $50 includes Priority Mail shipping in the US.  Bars are 5 - 5.5 oz, Sheep are 3 - 3.4 oz, Llamas are .10 oz each. 

Lavender, the staple of the soap world. Today's batch has a light purple color and a great scent.

Lavender bars $7

Lavender llamas 5/$1 

 Lavender mint was a customer suggestion and it smells *amazing*. Real essential oils of lavender and peppermint with lavender flowers mixed in.  I can also make a version without the flowers. 

Lavender Mint bars

Lavender Mint Sheep

 Hey little buddy, you should be with the Lavender flock! 

Lavender sheep

 Lemon and Lemon Vanilla soaps are scented with Lemon essential and Vanilla fragrance oils. It's a lovely blend of sharp and warm scents that is light and summery. 

Lemon bars

Lemon sheep

Lemon Vanilla bars

 LLAMAGEDDON

Lemon Vanilla Llamas

Other scents in stock:

Applejack
Arabian Spice
Coconut
Natural
Oatmeal, Milk and Honey
Oud
Patchouli
Plumeria

Flocking Amazing!

The workshop is up and cooking and this week is all sheep all the time.

plumeria

Arabian Spice

Out Standing in Their Field

For just $5 each, you can start a whole herd!  Much more affordable than live sheep, and with a lower feed bill as well!

Come join us in the Facebook Group Sleeping Fox Farms

or drop me a comment or an email: sleepingfoxfarms@gmail.com.  

To Be or Not To Be

Sad day today. Hamlet, my 19-20 year old cockatiel, passed away. He was born in this house, raised several clutches of wonderful offspring and was an all around fabulous friend. His mate Violet is missing him too (she's the whiteface on the end and their daughter Mustardseed is in the center).

His mama Dante was my first bird, acquired in 1995 in Massachusetts.  She was wonderful, he was wonderful, his babies have all been wonderful.  Little Mustardseed is the last one I have at home, maybe it's time to start her thinking about raising a family.  His son Jack is with my friend in the next town and has a wonderful life with her family.  

New Soap Friday!

New soap scents this week!

Lime (sharp and tangy)
Birchwood Oud (very earthy and musky)
Oatmeal, Milk and Honey (light and warm with a hint of sweet)

Try a variety pack (2 each of all three)! $50 includes priority shipping anywhere in the US.

New Product! Introducing Cat Mats!

Hello my lovelies!  I have a new product for the store: hand crocheted cat mats!  They are extremely soft and squishy, lightweight, machine wash & dry and cat approved.  They have a diameter of about 22.5-23". Your pet will love a microfiber mat on your desk, by your chair, on their lookout shelf or at the foot of the bed.

Try one today! Cat not included.  $20 plus shipping.

Soapy Wednesday!

I've been hard at work and I have inventory ready for all your soapy needs!   In stock for shipping Thursday 1/31.  More fancy pictures on the "Fine Handmade Soaps" page.

Bar soaps - $7 
Lavender - 5
Gardenia - 3
Natural - 3 (unscented)
Plumeria - 2
Cherry-Almond - 2
Vanilla - 2
Arabian Spice - 1
Ginger Lime - 1
Orange - Vanilla - 1

Sheep soaps - $5
Lavender - 6
Pumpkin Spice - 3
Vanilla - 1
Natural - 1

Cat soaps - $5
Pumpkin Spice - 3
Cherry Almond - 1
Natural - 1

New Beginnings... again

I'm tossing around the idea of a 2019 spent working only on works-in-progress.  I don't think I have the dedication, but I would like to get some things finished so I can enjoy looking at them instead of working on them.

Yesterday I fluffed the cross stitch stash and was flabbergasted at the amount of patterns I have in progress or standing by.  Almost all are from 1987-2001 or so.

A Sad Day

My sweet Beaker passed away today.  He was the best birdy ever. 

I'm going to miss you so much, buddy.

Keeping on, Kitten on

I meant to blog every day this year, ooops.  Currently I am listening for the cat trap to go off, I really need to get the pregnant garage cat safely into the house.  I am also organizing what Ember needs for her big trip: first a 8 hour drive to Tucson then a long plane flight to Michigan.  Today I picked up her harness. Pretty sure it will be unpopular. 

Holly stuffed herself on dog food and is napping contentedly by the desk.

I am drinking some delicious wine and just generally relaxing after a day of being at work.  It's really slow right now but somehow that doesn't make it more fun. 

I have been knitting on a sock, number two of the pair, in fact.  No progress on my real projects but it's nice to have wool in my hands again.

Made of Fire

My little Ember girl is moving closer to her new home.  Her travel crate came yesterday and she has a vet appointment next week for shots & things.  She's a jerk but I love her.

Flying Along

We've had some short days at work so I am turning my surprise free time into WoW progress.  At long, miserable last I finished the Suramar quests and Broken Shore rep to get flying in Legion. Then I turned my attention to the class mount project and that only took a half dozen very quick quests.  Now I am the proud owner of a lovely flying horsey. 

Somehow it turns out that when you play, you make progress. I also wrapped up a raid quest I've had forever and got a cute new outfit.  Now it's time to get my 110 hunter her flying mount.

No new progress on the white blanket but I am cranking out some purple / gray socks during phone calls at work.  The yarn was for a shawl but I wasn't making progress and it wasn't that attractive so I ripped it back a few months ago.  I like the new project much better and I might be able to make some matching accessories.

Achiever

It's been a good few days for making progress on things.  I finished the yellow socks, I worked on the white blanket, I started some purple / gray striped socks and today I finally finished the last of the achievements to unlock flying in Legion in World of Warcraft.  It's been a long row to hoe on that last one.  Next goal is getting my class hall mount, don't let me forget.

Little Stilton Cheesewright wasn't feeling so hot last week but we dropped some money at the vet and he is right as rain now.  Sleeping on my lap under the desk, in fact. I think he was trying to tell me it's bedtime. He is right.

Proper Planning

Somehow I planned so well that I left all my knitting projects in the car but I am in the house for the night. Whatever shall I do? 

Oh, right, the baby blanket for the baby born last September.  It's cool and rainy again today, it will only take a few weeks to finish and I *think* I know right where it is.