kittens

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

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

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.

20181111.water.heater1

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.

20181111.water.heater2

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.

20181111.water.heater3

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

Bird Feeder – mighty hunter!

/ Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

Doom Guy entertained us on the bird feeder again, not long ago.

2018-11.doomguy2

He was trying to watch all of the birds, all at once! :-D

2018-11.doomguy1

They all seem to try for the hanging feeder.  Like they refuse to accept that it will move, every time. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Wait a minute… who are you?

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

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!

20181108.morningcats1

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

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

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!

20181107.morning.feeding

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.

20181107.evidence.of.visitors

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.

20181107.mostlygrey.dadcat

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.

20181107.bob

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.

20181107.greyandwhite.dadcat

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

Belated Canadian Thanksgiving dinner

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

The Thanksgiving family dinner we had planned last month got rescheduled to today.  Since moving here, we did have one large family dinner, before Christmas or so, so it’s been almost a year.

I think it turned out rather well.

I think Doom Guy agrees. Continue reading →

Bird feeder

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

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.

2018-11-01.birdbutt

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!

2018-11-02.theoutsider1

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

2018-11-02.theoutsider2

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

Plans? What are those?

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

The hard part about making plans is, they get disrupted so quickly! :-D  Even scheduled appointments and the like often get changed at the last minute.  Even the medical appointment we had for my husband this morning was one that had been rescheduled twice before – and that turned out unusual. Continue reading →

The dangers of kitties!

/ Re-Farmer / 6 Comments

From when the kittens tried to kill my husband. !!!

Oh, those kits!

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

The outside cats are certainly entertaining.

First, they tried to kill my husband this morning.  !!!  As he went out to feed them this morning, they were all at the door.  The usual tripping hazard!  As he started to step down from the concrete stairs at the door, Doom Guy dashed under his foot.  He moved to avoid stepping on him, and ended up stepping on one of the glazed bricks that are along the side of the entryway.

It was slippery.

Down he went! Continue reading →