Ah, Nosencrantz… luxuriating…
… and making sure I don’t make my bed.
With other cats, I would just make my bed on top of them, and they’d either stay under the covers and nap, or slink their way out. I don’t want to do that to the Anxiety Bear, though. She gets way too stressed out!
Yeah. She still refuses to leave my bedroom/office.
The Re-Farmer
Overnight, we got our first real snowfall. From what the live feed on the security camera showed, it looked like we had a storm, but it was just high winds blowing around a small amount of snow – just enough to cover the ground and stay.
Tomorrow, we’re supposed to reach a high around 5C/41F, so it should all by gone soon.
It made for a new adventure with the kittens! While I tried to do a head count, I found quite a few didn’t even bother coming out of the cats’ house, including the bitty baby. I do wish they wouldn’t knock the water bowl out of reach. I’d love to make it so that they could have water along with food in there.
I think I counted 29 in total, but I’m not completely sure.
When I was done my morning rounds, I checked on them again. I could see them balancing along the edges of the water bowls, and doing the cold toes dance at the food trays below. They don’t do that in the kibble house, thanks to the sheet of insulation under the floor.
The water levels were still low, so I heated up some more water to finish topping them up. I also raided the bin with scrap pieces of rigid insulation. There was one that just fit the length of the water shelter, and three water bowls could fit on that. Another piece went under the big heated water bowl that doesn’t work, next to the ramp. There’s an old crocheted blanket in the corner that used to be inside the cats’ house. I’d tossed it into there to get it out of the weather, then left it when I found the cats were using it. A couple more scrap pieces of insulation went against the walls in the corner, held in place by the blanket, for a bit more shelter. More pieces went under the kibble trays on the ground below. The trays will keep them from blowing away. I’d have added more, but at the time I didn’t have anything handy to weight them down without getting in the way of the cats.
Before I did all that, I had fixing to do. The tarp on the far side of the shed we’d covered had come completely loose from their nails, and some of the nails had even fallen out. No surprise, with the high winds we had last night. The only thing that kept the tarp from being blown off entirely was the weight from the length of PEX pipe that had been tied along the end! The only thing I had to improve the situation was a box of large cup hooks. After straightening out the tarp as best I could (it had bunched up along the pipe), I screwed in the hooks and tied the tarp down more thoroughly than before – I hope. It would be good to replace those with stronger eye hooks later but, to be honest, I don’t know how much good that would do. The cup hooks are not very strong and are likely to break if the winds are high enough, but the wood is so weakened with age that stronger hooks would get torn right out of the wood.
We really need new sheds to replace these old ones. Or one large building to replace them all, including the barn. One of those would probably cost less than multiple sheds.
Something else for the list, after we pick up our lotto winnings!
Oh. I suppose that would require buying a ticket, eh? 😉
It was about -5 or -6C (23 or 21F) at the time. Not particularly cold, but chilly to be in for as long as it took to get that tarp tied down again! Of course, I’m always fretting about the littlest kittens, so I made sure to check on them again.
Yeah… I think they’re good.
The Re-Farmer
Plushy wasn’t playing around, either!
For some reason, she decided my hand was food on this particular morning. And I’d just fed them all, too!
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!
The Re-Farmer
The bitty baby seems to have developed a bit of a routine. After I’ve put the kibble out, I check inside the entry to the cats’ house, and usually see the bitty at the kibble, with one or two other kittens. Then I do my rounds and when I come back, I’ve been finding the bitty here.
He’s come out for some water, and taking a break.
The poor thing’s eyes are so gooby right now. The inner eyelids no longer look red and inflamed, so they no longer look like they’re bleeding, but now the eyes tend to be more stuck shut. I’ll have to get the girls to go out later in the day and give the eyes a good cleaning.
I was able to pick it up for some cuddles. It definitely didn’t like being picked up, but doesn’t fight me off anymore, either. After some cuddles, I put it down inside the entry, where it’s warmer. We got a mix of snow and rain last night, and while doing my rounds I saw snow still on the ground in the more shaded areas.
He is so incredibly tiny for this time of year, but I had a reminder that this is not the first time we’ve had such tiny kittens so late in the year. In fact, we had one show up even later. I popped onto Facebook while uploading pictures, and got one of those “X years ago today” things. It was a video of Dah Boy, who moved out here with us from the city. We had two stray cats show up on our balcony, having climbed the fire escape stairs to peek at us through the living room window. They were starving, so we started putting food out. One of them had a collar, and both were very friendly, wanting human attention as much as food and water! Then one day, the collar was gone and we could see a sore around the neck; the cat had been on its own since a much younger age, and outgrown the collar. We were able to take them to a vet to check for microchips, but there were none – and the one with the collar turned out to be a pregnant female. We tried to make a nest for her using a carrier we had, but when she disappeared for a while, we figured she had her kittens somewhere else. Soon after, we were able to put a patio table on the balcony, over the carrier, with a vinyl table cloth covering the space. That turned out to be what she needed. Somehow, that mama managed to drag her one kitten from wherever she had her litter, up two flights of stairs and a landing in between, under the gate onto our balcony, and into the carrier.
What a mama!
We already had two cats – the limit for where we were living – but we got permission to bring the mama and baby in. It was November, after all, and there was no way that baby would survive the winter without help. He was even younger than our bitty baby is right now! Once he was old enough to wean, we were able to adopt the mother out. A year later, she showed up on our balcony again! Pregnant again, but that’s another story. In the end, we found ourselves with Mom and Son (over time, our other two cats passed away), and they moved out here with us.
Dah Boy is now eleven years old.
Wow.
Which gives me hope for the bitty baby.
The bitty might be just tolerating attention so far, but the fully socialized cats are something else. Especially Plushy! Once she decided humans were good for something, now she won’t leave us alone.
Also, apparently I’m a tree.
The three of them were fighting for real estate when Plushy decided to take that open spot on the top of my head! This is a first!
Also, apparently my face is delicious. All three of them kept trying to like my face. Especially my nose! It is a rather large nose, so I guess it’s just easy to reach. 😉
Well, it looks like we’ve reached our high of the day already. 3C/37F. I’d better head outside and get some of the more temperature dependant stuff done!
The Re-Farmer
Usually, I have one or two kittens follow me for my entire rounds.
Some mornings, however…
While you can see four in the photo, there were eight of them that followed me to the sign cams on this particular morning! I think that’s a record.
The Re-Farmer
I tried to do another headcount while feeding the yard cats this morning, and got 29.
Then more adults showed up!
Speaking of adults…
Guess which one is the adult, and which is the teenager?
The smaller one on the left, caught in an adorable tongue blep, is the adult, Caramel – an obvious descendant of Beep Beep! The black and white is from the oldest litter that we discovered in the cats’ house, in late April!
They’re hard to tell apart, but here’s a photo taken on April 29.
These were Junk Pile’s first litter of the year, and she moved them out not long after. Thankfully, they all survived. These are Plushy, the tuxedo, the black and white, plus a grey tabby that will not let us near it.
Now these babies are almost adult size, and bigger than most of the adults! The black and white and the tuxedo are the burliest. They let us pet them every once in a while, too. Junk Pile went on to have a second litter of white and grey Shop Towel babies, younger than the ones Rosencrantz had.
Caramel was born just last year, and she had the latest litter of the year until the bitties showed up. It looks like there’s just two, or two that survived. They are very shy ones, but I do see them regularly now. One is a dark grey tabby, while the other looks even more like Beep Beep than her mother, with that distinctive orange splotch on her forehead. The truth is, I’ve never seen those two kittens with an adult, but I know Caramel had kittens somewhere around the collapsing log cabin and the old threshing machine, and that’s where those two kittens started showing up from. Now, they seem to have mostly moved in under the cats’ house. It must be pretty cozy under there, considering how many of the smaller cats I see under there. I’m hoping the scrap pieces of rigid insulation I slipped under there have helped make it even better. 😊
It was decidedly chilly out this morning, so of course I’m worried about the smaller kittens. Especially the bitty baby. I put kibble in the tray just inside the cat house entry and later saw it eating there – a long with two other kittens! When I was coming back from finishing my rounds, I saw it using the ramp to leave the water shelter, and I was able to pick it up for cuddles. It was shivering, the poor thing! I made sure to put it down inside the entry of the cat house. Just sticking my hand in to do that, I could feel a substantial difference in temperature!
I was glad to see it had come out for water but, at the same time, frustrated. I got one of those no-spill water bowls for inside the cat house, setting it on the tray just inside the entry. The tray may be jammed in nice and tight and isn’t moving, but the water bowl ended up knocked about and further into the cat house. That’s the second one that got knocked out of reach. I’d have to lift the roof to be able to get at it, and that’s just not something I want to do unless I have to. It’s very disruptive, and the shelter is old enough that there’s risk of breaking something. Which means the bitty has to leave the warmth of the shelter to get to water. Being the tiniest of the kittens, it’s far more at risk from the dropping temperatures.
I’m still holding out for a mild winter. The Farmer’s Almanac predicts that some areas will be bitterly cold this winter, while others will be much milder. Looking at their winter forecast map, we are – as usual! – basically at the border between the two areas, so if their forecast is accurate, we could go either way.
If it weren’t for the destruction caused by the racoons, I’d be leaving the doors to the sun room propped open overnight, so they’ve have even more shelter available to them!
I am such a suck, when it comes to the cats! 😂
The Re-Farmer
By a snuggly Rolando Moon.
Rolando Moon seems to be hanging around more often, lately. I think she’s getting ready to stay with us for the winter again. She sometimes still likes to follow me around when I’m going my morning rounds.
What a sweet, badass old lady!
The Re-Farmer
I did a head count while feeding the yard cats this morning. It is, of course, always hard to keep track while counting, because they move around so much, but they were more cooperative than usual this morning.
Thirty two.
Thirty. Two.
Including the bitty baby and a buddy inside the cats’ house.
Among the adults, there was Rosencrantz, Rolando Moon, Junk Pile, Broccoli and Caramel. Later on, I saw Shop Towel (formerly known as Sad Face), the obvious father of all the white and grey kittens. We’ve also seen The Distinguished Guest in the last couple of weeks, though I haven’t seen him yet, today. I do wish our own adult males would show up, instead of the visiting toms. Anyhow. When it was feeding time, I had 32 of them, all at once.
They were also very happy with a top up of warm water!
Not only was there no kibble left in the trays when I came out this morning, but three of the water bowls were empty, and the fourth one had ice. Things are still mild enough that I could use the hose to fill them, but I think they are really appreciating the warm water.
I’m really hoping the lysine starts to help soon. The powder that came in yesterday coats the kibble a lot better than the crushed tablets did. I was able to catch and cuddle the bitty baby this morning – he (she?) made only a half hearted attempt to run away, and once I was holding him, settled right into my hands. His inner eyelids are so very red right now. His eyes actually look fairly clear, but the redness and swelling looks just awful! Some of the other cats are pretty much clear of gooby eyes, while others are still looking icky. A few are still coughing and sneezing, but for the most part, they are all improving. The bitty baby is the only one that’s been getting worse, but he didn’t start showing signs of problems until very recently.
Today is supposed to be a chilly day, then a bit warmer tomorrow, so I’ve decided I’ll be staying inside. Aside from the chill, my pain levels are high this morning. The fridge freezer is getting too full of chicken and turkey bones, so I will free up some space and make some stock out of them. That’s going to take a while, so I’d better get started!
The Re-Farmer
… now that I’m getting big!
The girls have named this one Pinky. The unusual mix if orange and grey fur gives it a pinkish cast at times.
The Re-Farmer
What a crowd while feeding the yard cats this morning!
There’s a bunch of them that really prefer having breakfast on the roof! 😁
I counted 29 of them this morning! Unfortunately, I found the ramp board into the cats’ house was knocked down. I fixed it, but I think the bitty baby ended up spending the night under the cat house instead of in it. You can just see his head poking out near the counterweight, where I leave some kibble. Quite a few of the smaller kittens prefer to be under there.
Last night, my husband let me know that a couple of my orders were in at the post office, so once I finished my morning rounds, I headed out. One of the packages was the lysine powder!
I’ve got two of these, so they should last a while. Depending on how things work, I might order these every month or two. They came in almost a week early, so we still have tablets left, too. I think I’ll switch to the powder right away, though. I think it’ll coat the kibble better than what I get after using a mortar and pestle on the tablets. I’ll test it out when we do their evening feeding. I really hope this stuff works. Even the bitty baby is starting to get gooby eyes. 😟
A couple of days ago, I’d asked my mother if she needed any help with errands today. Especially for a grocery trip. She didn’t think so, but was supposed to call yesterday to confirm. She didn’t, but I did get a call this morning, telling me that she was good and didn’t need anything.
Several hours later, she called back. Was I still available? She figured we might get snow soon, and decided it was a good idea to stock up.
I think she got the flier in the mail and saw some good sales, which made her think of it, too.
Which as no problem at all. I had just finished lunch and hadn’t started anything outside yet, so nothing was interrupted. With having me available to help carry things, and her car to bring them home, she stocked up quite a bit. It’s just for herself, so she doesn’t really need much. Plus, we got to visit for a bit, and neither of us were in any hurry!
Once I got home, I had an adorable sight greeting me. A whole pile of kittens mashed into the cat bed by the east facing window of the cat shelter. I took a peek in the south facing window, and there were even more of them!
I’m not sure if there are 7 or 8 in here. The picture I took of the kittens in the other window had too many reflections on the plexiglass to see well, but I think there was another 4 or 5 on that bed.
You can see the bitty baby right by the window above, next to Colin. Most of the white and grey cats are hard to tell apart, but Colin (Mochrie) has a distinctive “hairline” on his forehead. He’s also the only one of the grey and whites that is mostly socialized. There is one other that we can sometimes, almost, sortof, pet, but that’s it!
I think we need more cat beds for inside their shelter. 😄
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 