Kittens have forts - who knew?

Rex in his fort. Written Feb 11, 2014 3:21 PM  Originally posted Aug 26 2016.

I was going to try to pick-up the floor, and get a cleaned-up staged photo of this, and never got it done. Luckily, though I didn't remember it, I had taken a pic of the real thing. This is Rex in his fort.

They made the forts by tipping over the (sorted) boxes, and dumping the contents out, all over the floor. (When I say randomizing the contents of my room, I'm not kidding...)

The short stairwell down to the door to downstairs makes a good fort too.

And of course, forts are for ambushing your sisters from - leaping out onto them from where you're crouched hiding behind the boxes. Crouch, wiggle, leap!

Sleeping Beauty's House? No, but Grandpa's blackberries. Summer 2016

Grandpa's blackberries have blockaded the house

When he was in his eighties, one evening on the beach at the cabin in Idaho, Grandpa told me the story of his life. This was a spontaneous event, I didn't have a tape recorder. And I wasn't smart enough to think of going inside afterwards and writing down everything I could remember.

But I was listening very carefully, and I remember some of it.

One of the stories he told, as a joke upon himself, was that he had planted some blackberries when he was a young man. Way down at the edge of the property, near the road. (Sold long ago). I haven't told this story locally, because I didn't want the neighbors to blame him.

These blackberries are called Himalayan. Definitely not native; they have taken over large areas of the West coast. (If they were native, there would be a natural control on them.) When I came here in 1981, they had at least 3 of the remaining 7 acres. And now they've surrounded his house. I and a friend have finally started cutting and digging them, a couple of hours a week.

So in his story, everybody told him not to plant the blackberries. And he told them he was young and strong, and he could "grub them out".

And now I'm not young and strong anymore, but I get to try to get them under control...