I’ve been able to spend more time outside in the last few days. Aside from cleaning up the downed branches in the yard and burning them in the fire pit, this has mostly been assessing things and making decisions.
I was checking around the garden area and could clearly see where the deer were coming in at the corner.
Even with the snow gone, the path the deer made through the ditch and over the fence is clearly visible!
I was also noticing some changes. Like this.
Continue readingIt’s still hard to believe this is the same scrawny little bobble-headed kitten from months ago!
He’s all caught up with his siblings and cousins, and grown quite handsome, indeed!
This is what greeted me, as I was getting ready to head out with the cats’ food and water.
I find it so funny that Doom Guy will sit in the empty water bowl like that!
Note the little face peeking out from the cat cave set up (top right)!
We were able to stock up on deer feed yesterday, and I picked up a new mix of bird seed. I am hoping it is more to the liking of our local birds, plus it will be better for the hanging feeder. When I had just the black oil seeds in there, the grosbeaks would keep trying to get at it, but the base of the feeder is sized more for chickadees and nuthatches, not bigger birds like grosbeaks or blue jays. They could only land for a split second before they basically dropped off and flew away, not always able to get any seed, first. They like the deer feed, and eating on the ground or platform feeder, so between the two mixes, I figure we’ll have all bases covered!
I had company while doing my rounds, of course. This morning, it was just Rolando Moon.
She likes to follow along, keeping her distance, but she does let us pet her.
Though sometimes, she’ll attack our hands in the middle of a pet! She’s quite gentle about it; when she bites, she doesn’t use enough pressure to actually hurt, and even her claws are quickly retracted.
Then she’ll just as quickly go from biting to giving kisses!
Such a fickle girl! :-D
The Re-Farmer
Since re-arranging the set up for the outside cats, we’ve been checking out the bathroom window, to see how they’ll take to it.
In my case, that involves holding my phone up to take pictures, because I’m too short to actually see that area through the window. :-D
Looks like they have a new favourite cuddle spot! Continue reading
Played around with a set up for the outside cats, in the sun room. This is what I’ve come up with.
I had another crocheted blanket that we used as a car blanket hanging around. I decided to try draping it from the back of the swing bench to the back of the transfer bench. It’s incredibly heavy, so I knew it would need support.
I have some sheets of foam insulation among my craft supplies that I thought would work. Unfortunately, a sheet is just barely long enough to reach the backs of both benches – which means a stiff sneeze would have knocked it down, never mind rambunctious cats that are sure to jump on top of it.
After going through what was available in the room, I ended up putting one of the unused, home made plant stands on the transfer bench. That would support one end of the sheet of foam insulation.
After draping the blanket over, I folded up one corner for access, and it immediately drooped into where the cats like to sit. So I found another plant stand to hold that up.
As you can see by the photo, Doom Guy and The Outsider were quite ready to check out the new digs! In fact, Doom Guy surprised me by already being in there when I first picked up the corner to open it up. I never even saw him jump under while I was laying it out!
My husband was checking it out through the bathroom window just a little while ago, and he tells me Doom Guy was on top of the whole thing. The foam insulation is rather bendy, but it has enough support that it should hold. I’ll have to check it out, later, to adjust things, if needed. I can just see a cat trying to walk across a part that doesn’t have support and pulling things down. :-D
I don’t think there is going to be much hesitation for the cats to use it. Especially today. Though the temperatures have warmed up, there is a nasty, bitter wind out there. I think everyone, human and animal alike, will be staying indoors as much as possible today!
The Re-Farmer
This morning, my husband told me to look out the bathroom window – and to make sure I had the camera on my phone ready!
Too funny!
So once the water is gone, our set up does double duty as a butt warmer!
Big Jim was prowling around Doom Guy, trying to stick his face into the bowl.
That was my cue to head out!
Yeah. They were pretty thirsty.
I’m going to have to make sure to top that up again earlier than usual, considering how much was gone by the time I was heading back into the house. The water outside isn’t going to stay liquid for long.
As usual, I had escorts while doing my rounds this morning. By about half way through, I had Butterscotch in my arms, licking my fingers. Beep Beep climbed up my back again, and was perched on my shoulder. Both were purring up a storm. Rolando Moon was following along, Doom Guy was trying to climb the back of my leg, and even Big Jim came by to see what was going on!
They make my morning chores outside both fun and difficult. :-D
The Re-Farmer
Once again, when going out to give the cats their food and warm water, the water bowl in the sun room was NOT knocked off the warmer.
It was also bone dry!
This morning, the cats were far more interested in the water than the food! When I go into the sun room through the Old Kitchen, I have to put down the bowl of food and the pitcher of water so I can open up the outer door. Usually, the kittens are all over the bowl of food. Except Doom Guy, who goes for the pitcher of water.
Today, not only did he go for the pitcher right away, but when I refilled the water bowl, the other cats left the food for the warm water!
Nice to see that the kneeler and the terracotta pot are both being used to reach the water.
By the time I finished putting the food outside and adding more water to the bowls out there, I had to refill the water bowl in the sun room!
Thirsty kitties!
After I finished putting the food out for the birds and deer, I decided to try and knock more apples off the trees that still have some left. I’d managed to shake some down the other day, and a few hours later, there was a deer eating them. Shaking isn’t working very well, so I went digging through the junk pile by the garden shed and found an old mop or broom handle. I used that to knock some apples off the first tree (it worked much better than shaking the tree, though I still got konked in the face by an apply in the process. Not the first time that’s happened!).
Then I tried to get some off the second tree with apples still left. This one, the apples are really small; almost as small as the ornamental apples. So I didn’t try too hard with that one. The grosbeaks, at least, seem to be eating them.
Then I went back to the first tree to leave the broom handle there, and found that someone else was interested in the grosbeak that was hanging around while I knocked the apples off.
He didn’t have much luck with the birds, so he escorted me as I continued my rounds. :-D
So did his mother.
She insisted on a ride. :-D
These guys are almost enough to make me a morning person. :-)
Almost.
The Re-Farmer
Okay, so this is where we left off last night.
When I checked on it last night, however, I found that the aluminum foil did not prevent water from dripping down. After looking around for something that might work, I decided to commandeer one of the containers we have been using for the cat kibble. A heavy bottomed frying pan that the handle had broken off, long ago.
Some time during the night, however, it got knocked over. We could see the light glowing through the drainage holes in the terracotta pot through the bathroom window. When I went out to do their food and water in the morning, I found a small ice patch where the water had spilled.
I am guessing that, when it got to hardly any water left, the cats knocked it over while trying to reach it.
I decided to go with the concrete block.
I am hoping the weight of the block will make up for it resting on the edges of the light fixture. It seemed high, though, so I moved it closer to the kneeler, and put the pot and tin upside down near it, so the cats could sit on them, if the wished.
Which promptly got ignored. :-D
At least with the block, though, he can put his paws on the corners to stabilize himself.
When we checked it again, hours later, it had been knocked off again, but it was also completely dry. There was no new ice. Again, it seems that they knocked it over only when the water was almost gone.
So I’ve put it back, and filled it with more water than I had before.
As for the heat; it is clearly working, in that the water is kept from freezing, but neither the pot nor the block seemed to warm up at all on the sides. There is no radiant heat coming off. The heat of the bulb is enough to keep the water from freezing directly above, but not enough to fight off the cold on the sides. I had hoped it would provide at least a little bit of warmth that way, but it I’d probably have to go up to a 100 watt bulb to accomplish that, at which point I think it would be too hot at the base of the pan. That cats, at least, know how to use their own body heat to keep them warm! :-)
The Re-Farmer
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.
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.
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.
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
The Re-Farmer 