The inside kittens are starting to get very mobile!
This morning, I took them out to run around on the bed for a while.
David came over to investigate.
Then to groom!
David likes the babies. Also, in just a few minutes, he groomed them more than I’ve ever seen Decimus grooming them!
While doing my morning rounds, I remembered to go into the storage house *shudder* to see if I could find something to use as a litter pan for the kittens. I found a stack of broiler pan drip trays that I considered, but ended up choosing a very old, rectangular roasting pan. It has straight sides that are about 2 inches high. Low enough for the kittens to climb over, but high enough to keep the litter in. I hope!
I heard from the Cat Lady last night. They got back from their trip, but came home to a kitty that got hand, foot and mouth disease while they were gone, so they’ve already had to go to the vet. He might lose an eye to it, and he’s got sores all over inside his mouth. Poor thing!
Once they deal with stuff at home, they’ll need to go to their cottage to assess storm damage that happened while they were gone, too. That’s a lot closer to us, so she plans to come by to pick up Ghosty and her sibling (who got some eye washing this morning), and drop off stuff for the cats. She did a lot of couponing while in the US and found a metal pet cage for us. It’s a smaller one, she says, but big enough for cats, so we won’t have to use baby jail anymore.
Which would be very useful. The kittens are starting to climb a lot more, and reaching the second level. The metal wire squares that make up some of the walls, plus the door, have larger openings that the kittens can easily fit through. A new cage where they can’t climb through the walls will be much appreciated!
The outside kittens were also out and about. As I was finishing up and preparing to go back inside, I spotted this.
One of the mamas had brought the babies a present!
So I went in through the main doors instead of the sun room!
I’ve been seeing the mamas bringing mice for the babies more often. Last night, while I was checking on some banging noises outside (fire crackers, not gun shots), I came into the sun room for a moment. I heard a kitten making a very strange, deep sounding growling noise from behind the inner door. I tried to see what was going on and found two kittens. One, the younger tuxedo, ran off, but he was the source of the strange growl. After a bit of effort, I could finally see the front of him and why he was making such a strange noise. He was trying to growl while clutching a mouse in his teeth!
The yard cats are most definitely earning their keep!
Oh! I hear thunder coming closer. Time to shut down the computer!
First, though, I want to wish all my visitors from the US a Happy Independence Day!
When heading out into the sun room this afternoon, I disturbed Adam from out of a corner. Why is it that they insist on lying in the junkiest corner? 😄 When she ran off, I saw this.
She had been nursing all of the kittens, including Ghosty’s sibling.
When I came out with the kibble this morning, I found him at the food bowl we moved into the sun room, with his mom; the white and grey I can never keep track of. She ran off, but he just stayed at the bowl. Turned out his eyes were completely stuck shut. So I took him inside and got my husband to hold him while I washed his eyes. It didn’t take much at all, which is good, and he was soon returned to mama.
Later in the evening, I spotted his mama nursing all of the babies, too. So the two mamas have basically combined their litters into a single creche. I’m happy about that! I keep thinking it might be 3 litters, but today, at least, it appeared to be two litters; Adam’s 4 older kittens, plus the white and grey’s remaining kitten.
Ghosty, meanwhile, is doing quite well.
Decimus has accepted her, and allows her to nurse. They both enjoy the wet cat food and kitten kibble, too. I pre-dosed the kitten kibble with lysine when I transferred it into a resealable container. We have not needed to wash her eyes lately, which is excellent progress. She’s still a bit sticky, but nowhere near as bad as when we brought her in!
I’m quite late starting this, because I am so very tired. One of the main reasons why is, almost no sleep last night!
We had a storm blow over us. A few of them. While we had driving rains and high winds, thunger and lightning, we did not actually get the brunt of any of the storms. From photos I saw people sharing in local groups online, the town to the north of us got hit much harder than we did!
Because of the wind and rain, we ended up propping the sun room doors like we do in the winter, making sure there was something blocking the outer door to make sure it didn’t get slammed shut. This way, the kittens and cats would have a more secure shelter in there. With the doors open, as we’ve been leaving them lately, the wind was blowing the rain straight through, and half the floor was soaked in no time. After propping the doors, we left the shop lights on, so we could check the room from the bathroom window, too.
At about 2 in the morning, one of my daughters went into the sun room to check on things. When she untied and opened the inner door, she discovered the ghost kitten huddled on the threshold between the doors, completely alone. Both its eyes were completely stuck shut.
So she brought it in. They washed its eyes, and brought it to my room to baby jail, to see if Decimus would accept her. This kitten is older than hers but at least a few weeks, but more helpless.
At first, Decimus seemed to be okay with this. The kitten immediately tried to find nip, and she did not seem to object. I was still awake, so I stayed up and watched over them for a while. When Decimus started hissing and batting at the ghost baby, I let the girls know. They came with the cat carrier and took the baby upstairs with them. They also gave it wet cat food, with a dose of lysine. It took a while to figure out the dish of food, but when she did, she basically sprawled on top of it and devoured it. Then she curled up in my daughters arms (they took turns holding her) and went to sleep.
In the morning, they tried bringing her back to Decimus. Again, Decimus seemed okay with her at first, but she was so aggressive with trying to find nip and failing, pushing the other kittens aside, we finally took her out. I’d make a quick trip into town to get some cat milk and kitten kibble, and my daughter bottle fed it for a while. Ghosty didn’t seem to figure out the bottle, either, but my daughter just squeezed the bottle so she at least got drips of the milk. Then, she was put back with Decimus.
With a full belly, she didn’t try to nurse, and just snuggled, instead. Decimus seemed quite okay with that!
So, we now have another kitten in the house. At least this one is slated to be taken by the cat lady when she gets back. She’s out of the country right now, but I’ve been sending her pictures and keeping her updates. She will take both gooby babies. While she has had no luck adopting out bonded pairs, singletons get adopted quickly. She took in a pair of older kittens from a shelter that were slated for euthanasia before she left the country, and they were adopted out within 24 hours!
Since then, I’ve also been able to catch and bring Ghosty’s litter mate inside to get its eyes and nostrils washed. It isn’t anywhere near as bad as Ghosty, but still bad enough to be a problem. It looks like these two are the only ones of this litter. I still haven’t managed to count how many are in Adam’s litter, because they run and hide so quickly. Plus, I think there is a third litter visiting the sun room. The tuxedo that was here earlier seems to like having other kittens to play with, but he still tends to stay away, claiming the cat house as his own.
While we were up and about with kitten happenings, my daughter were in the dining room when they heard a whole lot of cracking and crunching noises. Either a tree fell down, or the one that was stuck fell further down.
When heading out for my morning rounds, I found more downed branches in the yard than usual. The biggest drop was a chunk of one of three big maples near the fire pit. The middle one has died, and one of the main branches finally broke. Thankfully, it fell into a part of the yard that is wide open.
I ended up finding quite a few downed branches, this time. We haven’t had a lot before now, since we’ve been cutting down as many dead branches as we can reach. Those winds last night, though, were really something. We had power flicker out for a few moments. Enough to shut down our computers (we weren’t fast enough in shutting them down first!), and wake my husband. His CPAP is quite high pressure, so he’s got a chin strap to keep his mouth closed while he sleeps. Rather than a face mask, he has nozzles that fit into his nostrils. If the CPAP shuts off, he suddenly has no air at all. As you can imagine, it’s a very stressful way to be awakened!
Still, I have no complaints. The garden is enjoying the rain, and while one potato bed had all its greenery blown to one side, there was no damage. In fact, the closest thing to damage I found was a hoof print, right next to a summer squash seedling! A deer had made its way through, and almost squished one of the squash we re-sowed.
Today was a slightly cooler day, with a high if “only” 25C/77F, so I took advantage of it to do work outside. Tomorrow is supposed to be even better, with a high of only 19C/66F. Alas, we will be going above 20C/68F again after that, but not quite like the heat we’ve been having for the past while.
I look forward to the work, but am now concerned I might not be able to do it. As I was writing this, I got up to go to the washroom, and my left knee tried to give out. Not with pain. It just decided it wanted to dislocate. Then when I got back and tried to sit down, I started getting a Charlie horse in my left leg! Thankfully, it didn’t get bad, and I was able to stretch it and relax it before it could do that.
I’ll share just what I did to cause all this, in my next post!
I got about 3 hours of sleep last night. First, I was awakened by Turmeric going after Nosencrantz. Then I had Fenrir climb on top of my stomach, demanding pets. Then Butterscotch came over for attention which, for some reason, requires that she get her claws caught in my sheets, repeatedly, before Potato Beetle came over and wanted pets, too. It’s rather hard to pet three cats at the same time!
After a few more aggressive incidents with Turmeric, I finally gave up and headed outside to do my morning rounds, early.
I spotted a couple of kittens in the sun room as I went through from the kitchen, but they quickly hid. Later, while checking on the garden beds, I spotted a very wet Adam crossing the garden from the road. The morning dew was really excessive, and I was getting soaked half way to my knees, and I wasn’t even walking in the tall grass!
Adam appreciated breakfast, but would not let me come any closer.
Nor could I get close to Not-Junkpile. It might be a while before we can giver her that ear mite medication! But we have to do it quickly, considering how madly she’s injuring herself with scratching.
Decimus and her babies are doing quite well. My daughter and I headed to the city and stopped at the clinic to drop off the extra medication we got by mistake. They were very happy I did that! 😄 While there, I mentioned being able to grab a yard cat right after she had her babies and bring her in, and that she likely has ear mites, too. She agreed. Since I was there anyhow, I bought a second dose for Decimus. She, at least, will be easier to get ahold of!
We did our errands in the city, then picked up gas at Costco, for both the car and the lawn mowers. While in town yesterday, I was shocked to find that gas prices had dropped from 158.9 cents/litre to 149.9/litre. We usually see prices jump by that much, but never drop by that much. Costco was still at 145.9/L, and the gas station was insanely busy. We saw other people filling their jerry cans, too. For the lawnmowers, we only use Premium, which was 165.9/L
Before we left, my daughter and I looked into the sun room from outside, and saw at least 5 kittens playing in a group, with several others ducking in and out of view.
After we got home, I looked again from the inside of the house, and spotted Adam with a white and grey. They are both mamas, but it seems to me there are actually three litters combined.
One of Adam’s kittens looks almost exactly like her! It looks like there is a second tuxedo, or something very close to a tuxedo pattern, among her brood as well. The younger ones seem to belong to the white and grey mama. The tuxedo that has been handing around for a while seems very happy to have other kittens to keep him company, now! I get the impression he is older than all the other kittens.
While running our errands today, we were able to pick up more bell collars. They are a lot cheaper in the city! The two boys that spray are now belled. Next, we wanted to bell the more aggressive females. We got a black one with white skulls and crossbones for Turmeric, as it suits her catonality! Tissue got a pink one, to stand out on her white fur. The third went to Fenrir, as she tends to harass Nosencrantz, too. That one is pale green and glows in the dark.
Turmeric didn’t like the colour, but seemed to get used to it quickly. My daughter got Tissue upstairs, and I think she slept through ti! Fenrir, on the other hand, was not a happy camper!
The main thing is, we should be able to hear them before they get into trouble!
Decimus contentedly nursing one of her babies. The other three put themselves in the cat cave.
Bringing Decimus and her babies indoors has had an unexpected benefit.
I can now open my door, and leave it open. Not overnight, and I prefer it closed if there isn’t anyone up and about to hear if there are problems, but open nonetheless.
Before bringing her in, if I was in my room, I was constantly opening and closing the door to let a stream of “safe” cats in and out. The cats that Marlee, Butterscotch and Nosencrantz were okay with, and that generally did not try to attack Nosencrantz. It basically came down to Turmeric being the only one that could not be allowed in the room, because she would go straight for Nosencrantz, and Tissue was touch and go. It took her a bit longer, but she would start stalking Nosencrantz and was generally really high strung.
Once Decimus came in, some of the usual cats would come into the room, see her and the babies and suddenly leave! After awhile, they stopped wanting to come in at all. Cheddar was pretty much the only one that was calm about it, but even he doesn’t want to come in as often anymore. Leyendecker still acts like he wants to come in, but as soon as he sees Decimus and the babies, he might sniff a bit, but usually wants out again, right away. Especially if Decimus is out of the cage and lounging on the carpet nearby.
Decimus actually wants out of the room. She wants to wander around the house and explore. I don’t think she has discovered the upstairs, yet. Since we want her to be able to go back to her babies quickly, the door gets left open.
The other cats still aren’t sure about her, but she so obliviously ignores any hissing or growling, sniffing and stalking, they tend to back off. Or get really startled when she walks past them and rubs her body against them on the way by. It’s like “I’m threatening you! Why are you hugging me?!?”
With the kittens in my room, pretty much none of the cats try to come in when the door is open. They might go through the doorway for a moment, look around, then leave. Even Turmeric won’t go much past the door. There was one time she’d come in and was under a stool, so we didn’t notice her when we closed the door. I discovered her when I heard a sudden cat altercation (I can’t really call it a fight) between Turmeric and, I think, Marlee. I dashed over (as much as this broken body can “dash” anywhere) to open the door and Turmeric ran out with her tail puffed out like a bottle brush! She hasn’t tried to come in, since.
Which means that now, after months of having to keep my door closed to prevent cats from going after Nosencrantz, I can now keep my door open again. All thanks to a tiny little mama that is completely oblivious to the curiosity and/or aggressive behaviour of other cats.
It also means that Marlee, Nosencrantz and Butterscotch can leave the room on their own, if they want.
None of them have bothered. Even Marlee, who sometimes does decide she wants out, has shown no interest in going out that door.
Hopefully, that will change and I can start leaving my door open when I’m asleep, too!
In other things, I was up way too late last night, after finally being able to recover my original, personal Facebook account. It was stolen on May 2, and I’ve been going through it to look for damage done. My total friend’s list count had gone down, which was no surprise. I knew that quite a few of my friends that joined me on my new account had either unfriended or blocked my original account after the thief had DM’d them to try and scam them, or they had interactions with the thief when sketchy posts were being made from my account. I also saw a lot of new names I’ve never seen before. So far, I’ve been leaving public posts to let people know that my account was recovered, and that anyone who got a friend request or message from my account after May 2, it was not me, but the thief. This morning, I found the blocked list and unblocked a lot of my friends and family, but saw a whole bunch of unfamiliar names, too. I suspect these are people the thief had successfully scammed, or people who called them out as a scammer. I don’t know what to do about these new names, yet, but once I unblocked the people I knew, I posted another public message that they would finally be able to see, too, explaining the situation.
It’s Messenger that is really going to take time to deal with. The thief was very busy there! From the looks of it, a lot of the thief’s attempts to contact people simply got ignored, which likely means they had already clued in that my account was stolen. It’s the ones that I see had actual conversations that I will have to go through and assess the damage done under my name.
I’m glad I didn’t give up trying to recover my account, but I can sure see why so many people do. So many people were reporting my original account and scam posts being made from there, it really should have been shut down long ago. Since I couldn’t see any posts being made from my original account, due to privacy settings, all I could do was report the profile as imitating me, until the thief changed the public name and profile picture. Then I kept reporting it as a fake account with a fake name. I was reporting it as close to every day as I could, as well as repeatedly going through the recovery process. Then I would use every feedback option I encountered to explain the problems I was having. I would also post updates on my new account, tagging Facebook, telling people on my friends list what was going on, as well as the occasional public post, in case people who knew me were trying to look my up to see what was going on. As frustrating as it was, I fully intended to keep it up as long as I possibly could. I simply was not willing to accept that someone out there was scamming people under my name, without doing something about it.
I don’t have a lot of time to spend on this, and I want to be thorough about it. If that means directly contacting people to let them know that they had been dealing with a stolen account and not me, I want to take time to do it right. So that means I’ll still be using my new account a lot, still. Especially for direct messages.
It’s a pain in the butt, but I really want to repair as much damage done under my name as possible.
Here we have the first kitten whose eyes are fully open!
I’ve been noticing one kitten with eyes that seemed to be slowly opening more and more, and now they are completely open! It seems quite okay with being held, too. Unlike one of the other tabbies I picked up and cuddled yesterday, that was making spitting noises at me. Eyes very much still closed.
Mom is still looking decidedly scruffy! It’ll be awhile before all that clipped fur grows back.
Decimus is actually wanting to leave the room. Last night, I opened the door for her, and she went wandering. She even went into the basement, but the floor there is so damp, she didn’t stay long. She really likes the water fountain!
The other cats were very curious about her. Tissue was the one I kept the closest eye on, because she seemed to be actually stalking Decimus. Much to my surprise, Turmeric wasn’t very aggressive. She didn’t like seeing a new cat around, but didn’t do much of anything other than look startled, when Decimus walked past her and basically body slammed her as she want by, rubbing up against her. Decimus almost ignored the other cats as she explored. If another cat came up to sniff at her face, she would sniff back and keep going. Others would follow her along, sometimes close enough to sniff at her. Curious, but not aggressive.
Which is really something. Decimus has been in the house for less than 2 weeks, yet she’s doing better with the other cats in this one exposure to them than Marlee or Nosencrantz, after being here for months! Marlee, at least, does want to leave the room every now and then, but backs off when she sees other cats. Nosencrantz won’t go near the door, never mind out of it.
The outside cats, meanwhile, are doing just fine. That’s Caramel on the other side of Adam’s big fuzzy tale. I’m actually kinda glad she moved her kittens. We got quite a bit of rain last night, then more rain this morning. The ground under the cat house is no longer dry, even though no water actually runs under there.
Oh, and Adam has been letting me pet her! Not all the time, but when she does, I’ve been able to get some really good, friendly response.
I joked with the girls that we should rename Adam, Eve, now that we know that he is a she – and a mom, now, too! Unlikely, but I thought it was funny. 😉
We had the tax assessor lady come in this morning. I remembered to ask her if she were allergic to cats. She hesitated before saying, as long as she doesn’t touch any, she’s okay.
So, of course, Gooby came over and started rubbing on her bare lower legs! At one point, I had to distract him because I could see he was building up to jump up and climb her!
Gooby would be an excellent cat to adopt out. Talk about friendly!
The assessor took pictures of all the buildings, and took external measurements of the house and garage. Since other buildings are basically used for storage (or have collapsed), she didn’t need anything more from those. She did have to go through all the rooms of the house and take pictures to show the structure. Things like the new roof – and the removal of the chimney for the wood furnace – were things she took note of. The status of the sun room and old kitchen, which are not heated or insulated, were details she needed. When she saw the old wood cookstove, we talked a bit about how it was what we cooked on when I was a kid, but it can’t be used anymore, even if I were able to repair it. She even commented on how a lot of the old houses were like what we have; wood burning stoves close to the wall, and heat shields non-existent.
Then she made some notes. I think knowing that the stove can’t be used was an important detail. She even made note of things like the new hot water tank, and took pictures of the electrical panel for the electric furnace, as well as the main panel.
So that’s over and done with. I hope this assessment will mean lower tax bills for my brother!
Then, this afternoon, we finally had our Father’s Day/birthday pizza night! With cake and ice cream still to come.
It has worked out to be a beautiful day, today. Much cooler (22C/72F feels cool, after the heat we’ve been having!), with lovely rain this morning, and now finishing up with a much delayed celebratory meal, that someone else cooked.
Early this morning, we were already at 20C/68F, and I don’t think we got any cooler overnight. We did have a series of thunderstorms pass us by during the night. Plenty of lightning visible. Here, we got some rain, thankfully! Enough to noticeably change the level of water in the rain barrel, at least.
By the time I headed outside, it was already 25C/77F. With the heat yesterday, and today expected to be even hotter, I mowed the inner yard last night, starting quite late. By the time I was done, there was barely any light left. This morning, I could see the parts I missed in the dark! 😄 No matter. At least the main areas got done. Around the main garden area and the rest of the outer yard still need to be done.
I am so appreciating the loan of that riding mower!!!
No mowing today, though. We’re supposed to reach 33 or 34C/91 – 93F today. More storms are supposed to come through, so hopefully we’ll get more rain. My younger daughter and I will be going to the city today, and they are supposed to reach 36C/97F today. Thankfully, the AC in my mother’s car works!
I just got interrupted by some alarmed squeaking.
From these guys.
We put the cat cave into the cat cage, but the kittens don’t want to be in there. They can crawl out, but can’t get back in, anyhow. Last night, I heard alarmed squeaking, and when I checked, Decimus had moved two of them into the cat cave, so I quickly put the other two with her.
Just now, I checked the cage and saw three squeakers, but heard another squeak from somewhere else.
My closet.
I have boxes at the bottom of one end to protect the floor, because Nosencrantz kept pooping there. Decimus discovered she could get into one of them and had moved a kitten into it! This is not a good place for them, so I took it out and put it back in the cat cage. Decimus was in the cave again, with one of her kittens, so I put the remaining three in with her.
One cat has not moved her kittens, though.
So far, Caramel is keeping her babies under the cat house.
I have no idea what Adam is trying to do to her in the photo, but it’s funny looking, and I’m glad I caught the moment!
There are at least three kittens under there. Looks like an orange and white, a tortie or muted calico, and a grey tabby. There’s a leg on the orange and white’s head that I can’t figure out, so there is probably a fourth kitten in there, somewhere.
They are so close to the opening, I’m seriously considering pulling them out and putting them in the cat carrier. Caramel would likely go in with them – I’ve actually been able to pet her when she’s on the cat house roof! – but then what would we do with them? We can’t put them in baby jail with Decimus. There’s not enough room. We have no other space for them. The Cat Lady isn’t able to take in more cats or kittens, either.
So, they stay where they are, for now. At least they’re still close to the house, nice and dry, and protected from the heat.
Snarly Marlee, taking a break from snarling at Decimus!
She’s doing quite well, actually. She’s been sleeping with me more often, and has even been making like she wants to leave the room, though when I open the door for her, she tends to back off.
As for Decimus, the other cats are getting used to her. I’ve seen her and Nosencrantz, both on top of the cat cage, next to each other. They were eyeing each other, but not being aggressive in any way. Even Butterscotch seems to have accepted her presence.
When other cats try to come into the room, though, they are not sure what to make of the new family! Leyendecker has come over to the cat cave, sniffing at Decimus, only to leap in astonishment and run away when the kittens started mewing. Other cats dash in ahead of me, see Decimus, freeze, then run out of the room again.
Very strange!
Meanwhile, today we continue to catch up on house stuff. One of my daughter’s goals is to mop the kitchen floor (a difficult thing, since the lino is worn down to the subfloor in places) before we put the interlocking foam mats down in front of the sink and the stove.
Last night, I came into the dining room to find this.
*sigh*
It’s not even out of the packaging yet, and already it’s being torn up by the cats! I’m hoping it will at least last until the next Costco trip. I believe they still have the heavy duty shop mats in stock. The cats shouldn’t be able to claw those up. At least, not right away. If Costco doesn’t have them in stock anymore, I did see them at a local hardware store, though that was months ago, and I don’t know if they regularly stock them.
There is just something about these mats that the cats can’t resist!
I stepped out for a moment, and came back to find Decimus had left baby jail, and was exploring my office/bedroom.
Which gave me a chance to get this photo.
Just look at that adorable little tongue blep!
Decimus was willing to sniff at my fingers when I held out my hand, but was very nervous and skittish.
Then she found the other food bowls that still had wet cat food in them, and cleaned them all up!
I left the room again for a while, and when I came back, she was curled up with her kittens again.
While she may not have been willing to let me touch her while she was out and about, if we reach in to give her ear and neck scritches while she’s with her kittens, then pull our hands away, she will actually reach out and grab our hands to pull them back for more pets!
She seems to be coming around to this whole “humans might be okay after all” thing.
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!
