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Meet Slick and the Post Cats

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First off, a great big thank you to 53old for identifying our little squeaker.  It is neither vole nor mole, but a pygmy shrew!  No wonder I didn’t find it in my searches.  I was looking up moles, voles and rodents.  It’s not a rodent, either, so nothing like it came up.  In fact, seeing what it eats, this is a critter we want to keep around!  Which means, if we ever had the chance to rescue others, we certainly will.

While feeding the cats this morning, one of the dad cats was around.  He seems to be getting more comfortable with us – and the other cats with him (though, to be honest, for all I know, he’s really a she).  As I was going in and out of the sun room to get deer and bird feed, I found him eating with our own cats, and he didn’t try to run away.  Which is more than even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern will do.

Meet Slick. Continue reading →

Little Squeak!

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Cats, being cats, will hunt things.

The outside cats do a great job of keeping the rodent population down.  Every now and then, we’ll see signs of their successes.  All part of that whole “circle of life” thing.

On the way out this afternoon, I took the time to get another pitcher of warm water for the cats before we left.  I saw The Outsider by the entryway steps.

He looked at me, paused to bat something around, then ignored it for a bit, then batted it around some more.

A quick glance and I could see a tiny little fur ball and realized he had caught a vole.  Something I’ve seen quite a few times.

Then he batted it again until it was upside down…

… and I saw the little legs wiggle.

Then I heard the tiniest of squeaks.

The vole righted itself, only to have The Outsider bat at it again, and pounce a bit.  No claws.  No actual biting.

Yeah.  He was playing with it.

The poor thing would get tossed a bit, would right itself and sit there, but as soon as it moved, it would get batted or pounced on again.

While squeaking the tiniest of squeaks.

Normally, I wouldn’t do anything about this.  Rodent population control is one of the reasons farm cats are so good to have around.  But I could also see that this little guy was completely uninjured.  Plus, The Outsider was interested only in keeping it from running away.  He was much more interested in the pitcher I was holding.

Then he batted it again, the vole righted itself and just sat there.

I couldn’t help it.

I picked it up.

It made no effort to run away.

The Outsider seemed to be wondering what I was doing, until I put the pitcher of water down, when he immediately lost interest in the vole and went for the water, along with three other cats.

The vole stayed in my hand, no longer squeaking, but trembling mightily.

My daughter came out, and I handed it to her, so I could distract the cats away with the warm water – the bowls of water outside were already frozen.

It made no effort to run from her, either.

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Of course, I got a picture, first.

He was so velvety soft!

Looking at that long snoot, I find myself thinking it might be a mole, not a vole, but when I try to look it up, I’m not any clearer on this.  It’s like it has a vole body with a mole snoot.

I’m still thinking it’s a vole.

While the cats were distracted, my daughter went to where there were leaves piled up as a mulch in the flower garden on the south side of the house.  She made a little nest in the leaves and dropped it in.  It snuffled around in a circle for a bit, then she loosely covered it with more leaves, so the cats wouldn’t see it.

We are such sucks. :-D

The Re-Farmer

My escort

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While doing the morning routine today, I had quite the escort, following me along!

During the night, we noticed (by the glowing light in the bathroom window!) that the cats had knocked the water bowl off the concrete block again.  This set up might work for chickens, but not so much for cats.  I was thinking it was time to take it out and figure something else out.

Until I looked through the window and saw The Outsider, sitting on the edge of the block, leaning over the warmth of the light!

Well, at least there’s that!

After putting food and water out for the cats, then topping up the deer feed and bird seed (I can see that the deer have been coming in during the night), I did my usual rounds.

I had quite the following, in the process!

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We have two trees with crab apples still on them.  One has larger apples, some of which you can see have basically exploded as they froze.  I was able to shake a few down for the deer, but they’re very stubborn.

Beep Beep climbed up into the other tree with apples on it, so I didn’t try to shake that one. :-D

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By the time I was half way through my rounds, I had Butterscotch,  Rolando Moon, Beep Beep and Doom Guy following me along!

Beep Beep insisted on up, so I carried her for a while.  When I needed two hands, though, I tried to put her down.

She would NOT go down.

Eventually, after several tries, I got her to go onto the top of a fence post.

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There she stayed, until I was done and could pick her up again!

Too cute!

By then, Doom Guy was climbing up my leg, for for a while I had him on one shoulder, and her on the other.

Yeah.  I’m a suck. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Furry Visitors

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We had a couple of deer come visit us yesterday, and this time, we had some feed waiting for them. :-)

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They are just starting to get their thicker winter coats.

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This one has lost his antlers fairly recently.

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Mmmm.  Tasty!

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Butt kisser!

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I stick my tongue out at thee!!

I am so happy the deer are coming by more often again. I love catching photos of them with silly faces! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Cat water heater – let’s see if this works!

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A set up to keep the cats’ water from freezing is now set up in the sun room.

We will know by tomorrow, if not tonight, if it will work.

Here is the set up.

First, the heat source: an incandescent light bulb.

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This is what my brother had used under the kitchen sink, to keep the pipes from freezing while the house was empty.  The first potential problem I saw was the fixture holding the bulb.  While the opening in the concrete block I had would fit the bulb, no problem, the fixture looked too wide.  So I had a terracotta plant pot as a back up.

There was already a 60 watt bulb in the fixture.  The various instructions I’d read called for a maximum 40 watt bulb, but these were all on sites in US states that don’t get as cold as we do!  So I kept the 60 watt bulb.

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The plant pot is what I ended up using.  The cement block was not stable.  I could have removed the fixture, but it’s what was holding the bulb upright.

The narrower bottom (now top) of the pot meant I could not use any of the containers we are currently using for water.  So I dug around in the Old Kitchen and found a cookie tin.

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The tin is not completely water tight; there’s a slight drip at the seam.  So I used aluminum foil around the base, which will also serve to stabilize it.

That left an issue of height.  The cats were immediately curious (and Doom Guy was drinking the water in the tin as soon as I had it on the floor, before I put the foil on), and I could see that there were potential issues for them to reach the water if it gets low.

To solve that, I put the concrete block near it, for them to sit on.  Between that and the kneeler, they should be able to reach the water.

The terracotta pot should absorb and radiate a gentle heat as well.  I would not be surprised to find cats huddling up to it at some point.

For now, though, they are very curious about the whole set up, and even having fun playing around it!

Which means on of the things we have to watch out for is them knocking the water right off the pot.  We’ll be keeping an eye on them!

The Re-Farmer

Wait a minute… who are you?

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After our deer visitor left this morning, I went out to feed the cats.  Once again, I saw the black and white dad-cat on the dresser in the sun room – and once again, he ran off as soon as he saw me.  The rest of the cats were milling about as if they were starving.  The girls had put food out for them last night, but the bowls were completely empty by morning.  The braver of the cats were eating the food before I even finished filling the bowls!

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Then I stepped back to let the shier ones get to the bowls, and watched them for a bit.  There’s Rosencrantz (or Guildenstern) at the top; Butterscotch and The Outsider on either side.  Big Jim and Bob next to Beep Beep and Doom Guy, then Rosencrantz and Guilden… wait…

What?

Three of them?  Continue reading →

Well, hello, young one!

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We got ourselves a deer visitor this morning!  A lovely young buck that has been visiting off and on.

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When I got to the window to take pictures, he was right under the bird feeder and looked like he was going to jump up to try and get at the seed!  I didn’t get the camera ready before he started to walk away, but he was so close, it would have been hard to get a photo of him with the telephoto lens, anyhow.

Just look at that icicle beard!

Unfortunately, we are out of deer feed right now, and getting low on bird seed, too.  I won’t be able to get more until tomorrow, at the earliest. :-(

The buck was clearly looking for food, and even settled for some spruce needles!

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Interesting that he has no interest in grassing on the “hay” in the main garden area.  I’ve seen them go for elm and maple leaves before, but this is the firs time I’ve seen them go for spruce.

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He was really yanking on that branch, too!  He even pawed at the ground under there, too, looking for something to nibble on, before heading towards the crab apples.

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There are still frozen apples on this tree, but they aren’t falling down, even when I try and shake the tree.  Ah, well.  Perhaps they will fall over the winter and become a nice deer treat.

I had to wait before I could take photos as he was walking away.  He was walking with his tail up, and I really didn’t want to take photos of a big butt hole and dangly bits. :-D

After this, he slowly wandered away.

It was good to see him again.  :-)

The Re-Farmer

Spruce tips

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That spindly little spruce tree I was able to leave, while clearing the spruce grove, seems to be looking healthier – now that it’s getting more light after the bigger trees were removed from the fence line, and it is no longer crowded by underbrush.

I think it’s got a very good chance of surviving.

The Re-Farmer

A fine morning!

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Such a lovely morning!  Doing the morning check around the yard does have its benefits. :-D

With the chillier conditions, I’ll be taking on the feeding of the cats again.  The temperature change between indoors and out is not good on my husband’s back.  So I get to add putting out food and warm water to the morning routine.

I’m just not going to be doing it at first light.  The cats are going to have to put up with that! :-D

The nice thing is that, while I’m putting the food out, I’m actually able to pet almost all of them.  Even Rosencrantz or Guildenstern (but not both) will let me touch, for a brief moment, before moving away.  I don’t want to keep the shy ones from food, though, so I leave them alone and move on to the water.  Which now includes knocking the ice out, first!  It was while I was doing that, when all the cats suddenly exploded in all directions!

We got another visitor this morning.

Continue reading →

Bird feeder

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I recently picked up some more mixed bird seed and added it to our feeder.

I find it interesting, which seeds get eaten right away, and which get left behind.

And the lengths some birds will go to, to get their preferred seed, while ignoring other seeds that are easier to get to.

Like this nuthatch.

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All the birds seem to prefer the same seeds.  Which is weird, as the seed blend is designed to appeal to a variety of birds.  Our visiting birds don’t seem to want variety in their food!

The above photo was taken yesterday, before the snow fell.  (I got some others, I will post over the next few days.)  Today, they were digging through the snow to get at the seeds.

They were being watched, as they did so!

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The Outsider was very interesting in what they were doing up there!

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Gosh, he’s an adorable cat.

When it gets dark out, we can still see the white of the hanging bird feeder, but the rest of the platform and stand is barely visible.

Last night, while sitting in my crochet corner, I noticed the hanging feeder swinging away and thought it was getting quite windy!  Then I saw some movement, as the stand itself seemed to move.  We’ve had wind gusts strong enough to knock it over, so that got my attention.

Which is when I saw the black shadow, moving around on the platform feeder.  A splash of white came into view, and I found Doom Guy, looking back at me though the window!

Too funny!

That makes three of the kittens that we’ve seen up on the platform feeder!  Makes me wonder how often it happens, when we’re not there to see it. :-)

The Re-Farmer