cats

Morning surprise, and checking things out

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My morning routine now includes checking on the mamas in the basement. I wanted to see how Butterscotch and her babies were doing inside the old radio she decided to give birth in.

Unfortunately, we never thought we’d need to clean the inside of it.

I’m glad one of the cat beds I crocheted fit in there, because the rest of it is really dirty and gross.

Also, this old radio also has a record player in it. I didn’t realize that until I noticed a piece of it sticking out like a drawer. Turns out there is a pullout turntable. Gutted, of course, but the drawer is still there.

While I was checking out Butterscotch, Beep Beep was in the cardboard box we’d made a cat cave out of that fits under a chair. She was curled up in the back, but I could still reach to pet her. Both of them were purring furiously, too. Then, since I was taking pictures of Butterscotch, I decided to take a picture of Beep Beep, too.

It wasn’t until I saw something odd in the picture preview that I realized, she was not alone!

Two little wormy babies!

I’m pretty sure she wasn’t done, either. I expect to find a couple more, the next time I head down to check on them. :-)

While doing my rounds outside, I have been making a point of checking various areas we haven’t been able to get to throughout the winter and assessing things.

The Potato Beetle assisted me in checking out the deer damage on one of the birch trees.

This huge lake of a puddle still had a sheet of ice on the surface. We’re supposed to reach 9C this afternoon; the warmest we’re expected to get for the next week or so. I expect this is going to either get bigger, or finally start to be absorbed into the ground. When it comes time for us to plant the fruit and nut trees we are planning on, we will have to take into account areas like this that flood every spring. This area may puddle in the spring, but in the summer, all of this area gets very dry. The north-east corner is the area that is the worst. Even grass and weeds have a hard time growing in that corner.

I also took the opportunity to extend my rounds into the outer yard. If we were to do a burn, this would be the perfect time for it, as the ground is still quite wet. It would be really good to get rid of the years of dried grass built up, as it becomes a major fire hazard by summer.

With future plans becoming more solidified, I have been looking at the stuff lying about with a new eye for salvage or other usefulness. There are, for example, two really good saw horses outside the storage shed. The ones I have currently in the garage are in much worse shape, so I want to bring these ones over to the house.

Once they are no longer frozen to the ground.

There are some other things, like metal… balcony rails? … that could be set up as temporary fencing around some garden areas. There are a lot of things that have been shoved under the storage shed itself that I’ll want to take a closer look at.

Inside the shed itself, there are things that we could definitely find uses for. If we can get at it. As we cleared out my parents’ stuff from the house, we’ve shoved so many things into here, it’s going to be hard to get at things. We will have to get into there and re-arrange things, though. Some of the stacks of boxes are collapsing, as bottom boxes have given out. This shed was my late brother’s workshop, and I’m sure there are all kinds of useful things hidden away in there. I’d love to be able to reclaim it as a workshop some day, but what do we do with all my parents’ stuff? My mother is adamant that we keep it all, though she has said I could sell some of it off, if I want. She keeps suggesting holding a garage sale, which I have no interest in doing. I’ve done these in the city with little success. What good is having a garage sale this far off the beaten path? I might try using eBay or something, but am in no position to sort through things and take pictures right now.

It would be a good way to try and raise money for a new roof, though. We’ve got to come up with some way to raise the money, because we sure as heck won’t be able to save up for it with our current fixed income. Not with so many other things making demands on every spare penny. I most definitely am not complaining; that fact that we have spare any pennies at all is something I am grateful for. The reality of it is, if we’re going to keep this place up just in the basics of maintenance and repair, we’re going to have to come up with other solutions.

Any suggestions?

The Re-Farmer

I see four

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Before heading into town, I paused to say hello to the mamas. Butterscotch was content to stay in her cave and just stick her head out every now and then to accept scritches, purring away. The opening is not that big, and it’s dark in that old radio, so I tried the technological method.

Sticking my phone in the opening and taking a picture.

Butterscotch was not too keen on that whole “flash” thing! :-D

I did, however, manage to get a picture of the kitties!

Unless there are others hidden somewhere, it looks like she’s had 4 kittens again; three orange tabbies and one grey and white tabby.

They. Are. So. Cute!!!

Judging from how active Beep Beep is, she might not be due for another week or two. :-D But who knows? We might have more kittens sooner than that.

I’m glad we have the mamas inside. Today has been an odd day, weather wise. When I did my rounds, it was rather pleasant. After dropping my daughter off at work, it was a combination of rain and snow. By the time I got to the dump, it was snowing, then when I got home, it was raining one moment, snowing the next. Well. More snow than rain.

This turned out to be not very pleasant for my daughter at work. They’ve had to close down the staff lunch room, because it’s too small to maintain physical distancing. For most of the staff, that didn’t matter. They live close enough that they could just go home for lunch. My daughter picked up lunch at a nearby grocery store, then ate outside. Which meant she was sitting on a concrete sidewalk in the cold for almost an hour, because there is no indoor public place anyone can sit and eat anymore. :-( Thankfully, she’s one of those people with a built in furnace and isn’t as bothered by the cold.

Also, it’s a good thing we still have my husband’s disability income to live on during the current lock down, because she’s down to just one shift a week. Her employer is actually adding a bonus to people’s wages to make up for some of the loss of hours, but of course, it isn’t much. Who knows how long any of this can be sustained.

I headed into town very early, because as far as I knew, the hardware store closed at 4. As I was approaching the doors, I saw a staff member putting away the outside displays already, so I made sure to look for the hours. I found the sign saying they closed at 3. It was 2:55! I commented to the guy, apologetically, about how they were about to close and was about to leave. He stopped me and asked me to go ahead in, assuring me I they wouldn’t lock the doors on me! :-D Thankfully, I knew exactly where I needed to go to find the sandpaper I was looking for. Normally, I would have looked around for anything else I might need, but not today.

As I was paying for it, more people were coming into the store, and no one was telling them the store was about to close. Normally, this would be one of those times you’d read about in Not Always Right, and the rude customers forcing staff to stay long before their shifts have ended because they came in after closing. I did not get that impression today. I got the sense they would love to have stayed open longer, and wanted all the customers they can get right now! Even a large, national franchise like this one can only take so much loss. :-(

The grocery store nearby, however, had no such time restrictions. Happily, I was able to find a large box of cat litter (the last one, hidden way in the back of the shelf) and a large bag of cat food. If we’re careful (and keep the kibble bin in the house, instead of the sun room for the skunks to get into), we should be okay for the rest of the month.

So we are well stocked and, aside from a trip to the vet with another cat on Monday, and my daughter’s 1 shift a week, we can be homebodies for the rest of the month. If the weather co-operates, I hope that means I can start cleaning up all the fallen branches in the yard, now that the snow is almost all gone, and get some black plastic over some of the areas we are planning to garden in this year, to help the soil warm up faster. :-)

There is certainly no shortage of things that need to be done. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Settling in… almost

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One of the first things I made sure to do this morning was check on the mamas in the basement.

Beep Beep seems to be settling in just fine!

I disturbed her nap and caught her in a biiiiig yawn! :-D

Butterscotch is not quite so chill.

She is still hiding under the stairs – though she did at least meow a greeting.

Since that is where she wants to be, I moved out a motor that had been tucked into there, pushed aside the box of stuff we still need to go through, and put in a cat bed for her.

Of course, while I was doing that, she hid in another corner, but I hope she will accept a nice, soft bed to curl up on.

After this, I headed outside to do my rounds. The skunks had been back, going knocking a few things about. We didn’t refill the food bowls last night, so there wasn’t much there for them to steal.

With most of the snow gone, I was able to go further afield and start picking up some of the larger branches that have come down over the winter. It will be a while longer before we can do a proper clean up. The long range forecasts had been for consistently warmer weather, but they were wrong. We’ve been staying below freezing, with the odd snowfall, instead. We’re supposed to start warming up again in a couple of days, then some days with both snow and rain.

I checked the different areas we hope to plant in, and they are still frozen solid, though a few bits of greenery has been trying to poke through. I’m thinking of uncovering the old dog house shelter we made for the critters last fall, and laying the black cloth over where the old wood pile used to be, to help warm the soil up a bit faster. We’ll see how it goes over the next few days.

If all goes well, I’ll be picking up a repaired van today. I’ll be calling the garage in a bit; hopefully, he’s had time to check it out by now. :-)

Beside that, I think I’m going to take a bit of a break today, as much as possible. Pain levels are creeping up, and I don’t want to overdo it. :-/

The Re-Farmer

I got you covered!

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Something very disorienting happened today.

There was a knock at the door.

Which is one of those things that is so unexpected, it takes a moment for my brain to clue in and say, “oh… there’s a person at the door.” :-D

Turns out, it was the guy delivering the straw bale we had ordered. He had to leave the tractor in the driveway, hop the locked gate, and come knocking.

There’s a reason I asked for a call first! :-D The guy delivering the bale was not the guy I bought it from, so he probably didn’t have my number. Not that he could have called us from his tractor, anyhow. ;-)

I was really happy to see him, that’s for sure! It’s been snowing off and on, and the temperatures are dropping, so I really wanted to get that septic tank covered!

This time, I asked him to drop it off in the old garden area. You can see that the bale has been sitting for a year! After unwrapping it, I started trying to pull the straw down near that dark area, and found it half frozen and very wet.

Which is great, because the wet straw that’s already starting to decompose went straight onto the garden area, and some of the compost, right away. I even found a worm in it. LOL

This is where our septic tank is. Our system is very different from what is usual; instead of a gravity based system, ours has a smaller tank and pumps. There are pipes leading from the basement to the left of the tank in this photo. The tank has two chambers. Everything goes into the first chamber, then when it fills with liquid, there is an overflow chamber. When that fills, the liquid is pumped to a field out by the barn. The pipe for the outflow runs under the old kitchen, which is behind the septic lid in the photo.

All of these pipes are buried deep and, theoretically, we could go without covering any of this at all, but it’s not something we want to take a chance with. An extreme winter could freeze the ground far enough that the pipes would freeze, and if that happened, it could get really nasty in our basement! It would also cost many thousands of dollars to get it fixed. So spending $25 on a bale and covering it is really cheap insurance! ;-)

Here is now it looks now! I added extra along the old kitchen foundation, just for a bit of extra insulation.

I’m leaving the tools with the bale for now, as we’ll be using it to insulate the old dog houses, probably in a couple of days.

While working on this, I had several very curious kitties checking things out. I expect the bale will also serve throughout the winter to keep little paws warm, and for burrowed nests, as well. :-) They were already quite keen on getting into it.

When I was done, I got a selfie with Susan.

She was not co-operative. LOL

Another thing off the list of things to get done before winter! :-)

The Re-Farmer

Nicky the Nose

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This guy is now quite the regular.

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The way that patch of colour is on his nose, it sometimes looks like it’s injured and swollen.  Nope.  Just a splotch of colour.

It’s kind of funny to see this guy in the pile of kittens.  They’re pretty much adult size now, but not quite there, yet.  Then there’s Nicky. :-D  Interesting that they’ve accepted him like that.

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 →

Morning Feeding

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Heading into the sun room this morning, on the way to putting food out for the cats, I discovered not one, but two of the dad cats, running out of the room with the kittens!  The black and white one was back on the dresser.  I just caught a flash of the grey and white one, as he ran out the door.

They quickly took off out of sight, but that still left 8 cats to crowd around the food bowls!

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Guildenstern (or Rosencrantz) had to push her way in – which she clearly didn’t want to do.  Neither of the calico-torties are very assertive, at all.

Jim is now called Big Jim!  He’s gotten so burly, I’ve been mistaking him for Rolando Moon more often!

Beep Beep was my escort this morning, though I was joined by Rolando Moon, later on, too. :-)

We had some blustery weather overnight, judging from the branches I was picking up this morning.

When finishing up my rounds, I got a chuckle at the many tiny paw prints in the fresh snow on the sidewalk to the main entry.

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From the size of some of them, I could see we got visited by my brother’s dog again, too! :-D

As I came around back to the feeding area, I saw the third dad cat, slink away.  I’d seen him earlier, going through the maple grove and then through the tall grass in the main garden area.  It was my presence that had him moving away from the house, so I was glad to see he’d come back, while I was doing my rounds.

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He let me get within about 8 feet of him, as I made my way back to the sun room doors to go inside, before finally slinking away.

Of the three dad cats, this one looks the most like a house cat.  He’s in good shape and, while certainly not willing to go near us, doesn’t demonstrate actual fear or anxiety in the process.  I wonder if he belongs to one of the neighbouring farms, and is just coming to visit?

Inside the sun room, I found Bob, already back on the swing bench.

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Just look at that beauty!  No longer the skinny, scrawny little kitten with a head too big for his body!

He even let me touch him, though he wasn’t too happy with me coming close.  Even Doom Guy was more jumpy around me than usual.  I think it was because of the heavier coat I was wearing today.  The fabric of the outer shell makes a lot more noise. *L*

Bob, however, not only let me sidle up to him and touch him, he let me scritch his ears and cheeks!  Not only that, but even as tense as he was, he started to purr and relax a bit.  Until Doom Guy came over and disturbed him. :-D

Then I saw a bit of movement out the window, so I snuck over to the door to take a peek.

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Look who peeked back!

He moved away after I took the photo, but I went inside the house after this, so I hope he came back for food soon after.

I like my cat-filled morning routine. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Collecting Cats

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We are now up to three, regularly visiting, adult cats that we collectively refer to as the “dad cats.”

Not sure that’s what they actually are, but it works. :-D

It has been a chilly, blustery day today – as I write this, the temperature is at a not-to-bad -3C, but the windchill puts it at -12C! – so it was a good day to stay indoors as much as possible.

No surprise, of course, that when I went through the Old Kitchen to feed the outside cats this morning, the kittens were in a big pile on the swing bench they love so much.  They started to scatter as soon as I opened the second door, which is when I noticed an extra cat, sitting on the dresser I use as a tool chest!  He ran off as soon as he saw me, as he usually does.  It was the black and white “dad cat.”

I’m glad we found a way to prop the doors into the sun room, just enough for the cats to get in and use it.  There’s no insulation or heat in there, but it’s still better than outside!

After putting out the food and fresh water, I started heading towards the garage and noticed another cat, sitting in an area where I’d cleared a path to some Saskatoon bushes over the summer, watching me.  It was the grey tabby with a bit of white we’ve started to see more often these days.

As I went by the feeding area later, I saw him again at a food bowl.  He ran off, but just around the corner of the house.

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I couldn’t get close enough for a decent picture.  The kittens and their moms don’t seem to mind him at all – even Rolando Moon went by without hissing at him at all!

Then later this evening, after it was full dark, I glanced out my office window to see the grey and white cat peeking in at me!

He took off before I could try for a picture of him.  When I looked out, I saw the food bowls were empty.  I was thinking the grey and white cat might not have had any food at all, yet. I had some leftovers set aside for the outside cats and, since it’s so chilly out there, I decided to warm it up and bring it out for them.

I didn’t see him around when I got outside, but Doom Guy and The Outsider immediately came over, then both went at the warm food as soon as I put some into the first container.  The Outsider even let me pet him!  Though it may be he was just too interested in food to notice that I’d touched him. :-D

There was snow in their food bowls, so after I put some food into the second one, I moved it under the little shelter over the basement window (which is what the dad cat climbs on, to be able to look into my office).  Then I took the bowl the kittens were eating from and moved it under, too – after prying it loose from the ground it had frozen to.  Doom Guy moved over to sniff at the bowl I’d used to carry the food out, but The Outsider just stayed there, staring at the circle of snow-free grass that was under the food bowl.  Like he was trying to figure out where the bowl went! :-D

So I reached over, picked him up, and moved him to where I’d put the bowl of food.

And he let me!!!  Didn’t flinch or try to get away or anything.  He just started eating, right away.  Yay!!

Then I picked up Doom Guy and moved him over, because he was still snuffling around.

With Corvo still gone who-knows-where, we currently have 5 kittens, plus The Outsider, the two moms and Rolando Moon, here pretty much all the time.  Add in the three dad cats that now visit regularly, we are up to a dozen outside cats.

It should get very interesting, if more of the cats we were feeding all last winter start showing up again!

The Re-Farmer