Critters

Morning happenings

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We had an almost quiet night with Decimus and the babies. At one point, I was awakened by scratching that I thought for sure was Nosencrantz at the window again… but Nosencrantz was curled up next to my head!

It turned out to be Decimus. She had gone up onto the bed above where her kittens are (the cat cage has four “rooms” on two levels along one side) and was scratching at the cardboard on the roof. The carboard is under some towels, as cats like to sit on top of the cage, but their feet were pushing the towels through the open squares.

When she heard me moving around, Decimus stopped clawing at her “ceiling”. Soon after, though, I heard more useful scratching – in her litter box! So she has most definitely figured out what to do with that.

Babies having breakfast!

Motherhood suits her. She’s absolutely blissful and content, and enjoying when we reach in to pet her. A complete switch from the cat that would run away any time we came close, unless we managed to start scritching her neck and ears while she was busy eating and didn’t notice us coming close.

Her entire back is one huge mat of fur. Like armour plating.

Last night, I briefly took the kittens out and lay them together on my bed. Decimus stayed in the cage and rolled around to let me pet her belly. I managed to get her out and put her on the bed with her babies, but she got nervous and tried to go back into the cage! She was a bit confused on how to get in, though, as the “door” is on the second level, and she didn’t realize she needed to jump it. I picked her up and put her in, and she immediately settled down.

Also, she is really, really enjoying wet cat food. While the other, fussier cats turned their noses up at the food bowls when I did the evening feeding, she not only finished off her own share, but when I switched bowls and gave her what other cats ignored, she ate that, too. In the end, she had almost an entire can, all to herself. Usually, they get split 3 or 4 ways, depending on how many cats I have in the room at the time.

In doing my morning rounds, I counted only 14 adult cats. One of them was The Distinguished Guest. Then I saw Sad Face coming across the outer yard. So there’s a recipe for cat fights starting. 🙁 The mama with her two kittens are still in the cat house, which is good.

Of course, I checked all the garden beds. The transplants seem to be doing all right. The raspberries we planted this spring are starting to bloom! We might actually get raspberries off of them. I would not have expected that until next year. The raspberries that predate us, growing around the old compost pile and among flowers near the main garden area, are also blooming. Looks like we’ll have quite a bit, this year. I even found one of the Sweet Chocolate peppers has started to bloom!

We have a bit of a mystery between the Sweet Chocolate peppers, and those last tiny shallots I stuck into the end of the bed. A squash has sprouted! I have no idea what kind it is, or where it came from. The soil topping up this bed was from the pile of garden soil we bought. I’m curious as to what it might turn out to be. I’ll probably transplant it, though, because a squash in that spot would end up covering the shallots and probably the peppers and nearby thyme, as well.

The down side is those horrible Chinese Elm seeds are starting to sprout. There are so many of them, I think they choked out the bok choy and lettuce we planted next to the peas. There’s just no way to brush or scoop away so many seeds. We’ll be pulling seedlings out of the garden beds all over the place for the next while.

I really look forward to when we can take down all those Chinese elms. I think I’ll start with the smaller ones on the north side of the main garden area. I’m okay with leaving the maples in there for now, but those elms have got to go!

The Re-Farmer

Doing fine.

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Well, Decimus and her babies had a very quiet first night indoors!

One thing that has always been distinctive about Decimus is her teeny, tiny quiet meow. Which really isn’t much louder than her kittens!

When I did the wet cat food last night, she absolutely devoured her share. She has been allowing head pets – we can’t reach much else in the cage – and enjoying them. We’ve been handling her babies, and she’s been okay with that, too. At one point, I even found her in another part of the baby cage, while her kittens were asleep in a pile, enjoying a bit of a break. I could tell that the litter had been used, as well. So she is settling in and figuring things out.

When I did the outside cat food this morning, I checked through the cat house window, and could just make out the two kittens sleeping inside. The mother was outside, eating, at the time. So far, so good, with them.

The only trouble I’ve been having lately is with Nosencrantz. The cat that refuses to leave my room has increasingly tried to claw her way out the window. This morning, I was awakened by the noise and found her somehow behind the box fan that blocks the window and the extra screen I’ve got to cover a gap on one side and the piece of cardboard to help keep the screen in place. Thank goodness we replaced the window screen with cat proof screen! So far, it seems to be holding up. My main concern right now is that she’ll simply pull the mesh right out of the frame.

Things have really cooled down. Last night, it was almost chilly! We’re coming up on noon as I write this, and we’re still at only 15C/59F. It’s gorgeous! Now, if the wind could just die down a bit. I’ve actually moved all the transplants off the picnic table under the old market tent and put them back on the laundry platform set up. The tent sheltered them, but they weren’t getting enough sunlight for too long. Some of the Spoon tomatoes were so gangly that, when Gooby decided to be really, really friendly while I was setting the trays down, two of them ended up breaking off at the stems. I just replanted them. They’ll probably be fine. We have so many, though, and may not get enough space to plant them, so we can afford to loose a few, if it comes to that.

Yesterday’s transplants are looking good. No sign of transplant shock, so far.

Everything seems to be doing fine, today.

The Re-Farmer

More!

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It looks like Decimus was not the only yard cat to have babies today!

While putting kibble out this evening, I saw the white and grey cat with spots that are more black than grey, and she’s suddenly looking skinny compared to last night. I have no idea where she had her kittens.

Just out of curiosity, I peeked through the cat house window and spotted a wiggly worm on the pillow in a box at the back wall. Looking again later, I spotted a second kitten that looks completely black. By the time I came back to take a photo, the mama was with them.

The window is dirty on the inside, so I tried to clear the photo up as best I could. This mama is one we can’t get close to, but she’s been hanging out in the cat house for a while. She did not look pregnant at all. Seeing only two kittens, that would explain why. She just wasn’t very big.

I don’t know if we’ll be able to get this mama and her babies. Right now, I just want to make sure she doesn’t get spooked and move them.

Meanwhile, the oldest litter showed up this afternoon, and I saw them running around the yard. Later, I saw them at their kibble bowl by the grape vine, though not all at once.

Three litters in one day.

Wow.

The Re-Farmer

We have babies!

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I had a sleepless night, so the girls took care of feeding the outside cats for me this morning. It wasn’t until much later that I headed out to try and get some work done. Before I did, I paused to top of the water bowls, when I heard a little squeak.

Decimous had a litter in the shelf shelter!

I wasn’t even sure she was pregnant, with her long and matted fur.

We always put some kibble in the shelf shelter, and it’s her favourite place to eat, so I’m not too surprised she had her kittens there. I’m so glad she didn’t have them in some secret place, like the other cats do.

My daughter brought out the cat carrier and, between the two of us, we got the four kittens in. They are just hours old! Decimous, who normally runs off, was definitely feeling maternal and enjoying scritches. She wasn’t too keen on being pulled out of the corner of the shelf, even though her kittens were already in the carrier. It took both of us to gently get her out and lift her into the carrier. There was a moment of struggle until we got the top closed, and she basically just stopped.

We got the carrier into the house, and it’s now sitting next to the baby cage. Marlee is going to have to give up her favourite place! For now, though, my daughter put a food bowl into the carrier. Decimous ate a bit and, then settled down to nurse.

What a cutie she is!

We finally got her.

Now that she’s got her kittens, it should be easier to socialize her, then finally get those mats cut out of her fur!!!

We’ve set up the baby cage a bit better. There’s a bin in there with litter pellets already, that the other cats ignored. A water bowl is set up, and the food bowl will be moved over once we’re ready to transfer the little family. For now, though, we will leave them in the carrier to calm down. Other cats have come over to sniff at them and moved on.

I’ve messaged the cat lady about them. Hopefully, she will be able to find a foster for them and get them adopted out.

For now, my daughter will be hanging out in my room to supervise, and I’m heading outside to get some work done.

An adorable start to the day!

The Re-Farmer

So many!

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Horse flies on a window frame.

I just got back from picking up packages, and it is just insane out there. Insane with horse flies! I don’t remember ever seeing so many of them before.

When I go outside, they start flying around me in clouds. This morning, I had them getting stuck on my hat somehow, and when I took my hat off to wave them away, they got stuck in my hair!

While backing the car out of the garage, they are bouncing off the windows. As I drove up the road to the intersection, I could see clouds of them outside my window, keeping up – they can fly really fast – and still bouncing off the window! When I got out of the car to open or close the gate, in the few moments the door was open, there were several stuck inside, bouncing against the inside of the windshield.

The sun room, though. Oh, my goodness! This is the down side to leaving the doors open. There are hundreds of them in there, bouncing off all the windows and crawling around the frames. The buzzing noise is so loud! There was one butterfly stuck in there and bouncing off a window, but I was able to get it out. The horse flies? Some might rediscover the open door, but most will most likely bounce themselves off the windows until they drop dead.

Usually, it’s mosquitoes we have problems with. Especially with the wet spring we had, and how moist things still are, even without rain. We do have them, but not especially high numbers of them. It’s all horse flies this year, instead!

Photo by Erik Karits on Pexels.com

We always have horse flies in the summer, but I wonder why we have so many of them this year? The poor cattle and other farm animals around us. Not to mention the wildlife. Horse flies like to be around bodies of water, but much prefer livestock – or anything else they can get blood from! They seem to be leaving the cats alone, thank goodness. They certainly had an extra level of discomfort when trying to work outside!

The Re-Farmer

Damp morning

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I headed out to do the morning rounds a bit earlier than usual. We’ve finally been able to arrange for our septic tank to be emptied (usually we try to get it done in April or May, or as soon as the snow is gone). The truck is coming some time this morning, so I wanted to make sure the gate was open.

While continuing my rounds, I checked out the Crespo squash, and they are looking great! They are all getting increasingly robust, and I’m seeing roots forming all along the main vines. Two of the vines have started blooming already!

I’m quite happy with how these are doing.

This early in the morning, everything was feeling wonderfully cool, and everything was still very wet! For all the rain we got, it did reduce the humidity, but not by all that much, really.

Which might explain this.

I don’t know where Gooby was when I first came out with the kibble, but he was there when I got back to the house, and completely soaked! Only Decimous had wet fur like him, but only on her lower half, not all over, like he was. All the other cats managed to stay almost completely dry!

We really, really need to get ahold of Decimous. She is so badly matted, I can see burrs stuck in her fur, there are some mats starting to dangle, I see bald patches and I’ve even found some of them in the yard. I’m guessing she’s been scratching at them. While I’ve managed to give her neck and ear scritches a few times, she mostly moves away before I can get close. Aside from trapping her (which is more likely to get other cats, first), if we even had a trap, trying to socialize her is the most we can do. It would be easier if we could offer her wet cat food, but if we did that, we’d have all the friendly cats crowding in for a treat.

Oh, and either she’s got a whole lot of mats around her belly, or she’s pregnant.

*sigh*

Well, we do what we can.

I now await the arrival of the septic truck. I want to be around when the septic guy gets here, mostly to make sure the cats stay away from the open tank while it is being worked on, and at some point I’m going to have to go out to pick up some packages. It seems that for one of them, Purolator decided not to leave the package at the store our post office is in, as they have been lately, but at the depot in the down my mother lives in. We’ve got two packages that are supposed to be in right now. When I check the tracking, it says that Canada Post had issues with delivery. Neither says they were to be shipped by Purolator, so I don’t know what’s going on there. What I really want to do is go back to bed. I got almost no sleep last night. It was finally a relatively cool and pleasant night, but I didn’t get to bed until late, and then got hit with busy brain. It wouldn’t be any better to get my daughter to drive, because I think she had an even worse night than I did.

We’ll see how it works out.

The Re-Farmer

A garden tour

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I ended up not being able to get to doing outside work today.

It was actually cooler, but things are still too wet. I just got back from outside. It has cooled down to 23C/73F, and with the breeze, it’s gorgeous out there, but too dark to start anything.

I did, however, get to see a hole bunch of kitten out by the spirea and grape vines. So when I went out to feed the cats, I moved one of the kibble bowls over for them to discover. I’m guessing they must have already been hiding in the spirea, because just minutes later, I saw all six of them at the bowl, enthusiastically eating!

I did get some productivity in, and finally finished putting together video I took on June 1. Here is a tour of our garden, taking one day before our average last frost date.

Of course, a whole bunch has been done since then. I’ll aim to do another garden tour video on July 1 or so, to compare.

Well, the cat videos I took earlier were much shorter and quick to upload to YouTube, so here they are!

First, the kittens.

Gooby, meanwhile, decided he really loved my boot.

Enjoy!

The Re-Farmer

We got rain!

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Working in the heat must have been really getting to me. I went to be early last night, and ended up sleeping for about 10 hours.

I did wake up briefly at about 4am and could hear the rain and see lighting out my windows, as I tried to convince myself to get out of bed and go to the washroom, only to fall asleep for several more hours.

So I was late heading outside for my morning rounds. The cats were waiting for me.

They do love having access to the sun room again! Especially when it’s really hot out. That concrete floor stays pretty cool.

Of course, there’s a cat in the bin.

The cats that weren’t in the sun room were very wet, just from walking across the grass! It was even still, almost, barely, just a tiny bit, raining.

The rain barrel by the sun room was completely full, though! Which means I slept through quite a lot of rain.

I also spotted this guy through the sun room window.

He was tucked into the bin we keep under the laundry platform bench, where the bucket of clothes pins can be kept dry – and for extra shelter for the cats. The folding closet doors we used to put transplants on for hardening off is still there, and the cats are enjoying the shade it provides on the bench, too.

To be honest, when I first spotted Sad Face in there through the window, with his chin on one of the bricks, I wondered if he were dead, he looks so rough. Then he lifted his head.

His behaviour has definitely changed over the past few days that I’ve seen him. Could be the heat. Could be injuries. Could just be getting old, on top of everything else. He’s hanging out on the laundry platform a lot more, and not running away as quickly. Aside from the wounds on his face, he does not appear to be injured. No limping or anything like that.

This morning, I left some kibble for him on the platform, as much to keep him from chasing the other cats away from the food bowls as to let him have food without moving too far. I did need to get the diverter for the rain barrel, though, and it’s kept on the laundry platform between uses. I tried to be slow and careful in moving it, but he did move out of the bin and disappear. Not long after, I found him under one end of the bench, curled up against the bin – and another cat was eating the food I left for him. He seemed totally uninterested in food, or even moving very much at all.

As for my morning rounds, everything seems to have really enjoyed last night’s rain. I was messaging with my SIL while outside, and they were in the middle of a downpour at the time. From the looks of the weather radar, they were being hit by the same system that passed over us last night. They really needed the rain, too! So that was good news.

The newest transplants all seem to be doing well. While checking the pots of transplants under the market tent, however, I discovered that the trays at one end of the picnic table were just barely outside the tent roof, and full of water. Among those were the small Jiffy Pellet trays that had zero germination rates. The rain had actually uncovered some of the seeds. They don’t look like they’ve been rotting away, but show no signs of germinating, either! I was able to drain the excess water, push the seeds back into the pellets and top them up with a bit of soil. It’s still possible for them to germinate.

Some of the squash and gourd transplants are getting big enough that they need to get into the ground, but it’s too wet to work on that right now. We’re not expecting more rain for possibly a few days, so we should be able to get started once things dry off later today.

Which is fine. I’ve got some indoor projects that need to get finished, too!

The Re-Farmer

Peek!

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Look what I found peeking at me, while I fed the outside cats this evening?

It was completely alone in there. I tried to leave it a handful of kibble in the cat bed, but it ended up running off. I got too close.

It’s possible it’s one of not-Junk Pile’s pair.

What a cutie!

The Re-Farmer

Sadface

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My daughters call him Shop Towel (father of Tissue, Drier Sheet and all the other white and greys…), but I still call him Sadface.

This is why.

You know it’s hot and muggy out when this guy just watches me suspiciously as I take his picture, instead of running away. I was about 10 feet or so away from him when I took this photo, and that’s the closest I’ve ever been to him. He stayed there, even as I went passed him several times while I was working.

Gosh, he looks rough. That wound on his forehead looks pretty fresh. The problem is, he’s usually the one starting the fights! I really wish he weren’t so … well.. feral, and aggressive about claiming his territory (and his harem!). Of all the toms that had been visiting us in our early years here, he’s the only one left.

I want to hug him, and chase him away, at the same time. Our baby boys from last year are reaching full maturity, which means competition, and he’s probably going to start going after them, too.

*sigh*