kittens

Morning kittens

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I hung out after putting kibble out for the outside cats, hoping to lure some kittens.

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No such luck.  Going past where I was sitting to get to the food bowls was the most two of them would allow.  Beep Beep came over for pets, as usual, and her tuxedo came with her, though he wouldn’t let me touch him.  The little bobble headed orange tabby came close enough to play with the end of a stick.  No sight of the calicos at all.

That grey tabby is getting to be a really big tom!  He’s definitely heftier than his mother (though that doesn’t take much, really), though still not fully grown.

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I can’t get over the size difference between the teeny tabby and all the others. It’s quite noticeable when he’s with his brother.  Hard to believe they’re from the same litter!  It’s good to see that he’s very active and playful, and has a very hearty appetite.  He just looks sickly and half starved. :-(

The Re-Farmer

Cats, kits and the things we find

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It was a hot one today, so no progress on pruning and clearing the spruce grove today.  My daughter was able to get some of what I cut away yesterday, hauled out, before it got too hot.   It’s 7:30pm as I write this, and we’re still at 30C, and we’re supposed to hit the 30s again, tomorrow.  So it was a good day to be inside!

It’s probably for the best.  After driving my younger daughter to work, I was thinking of getting more work done on the grove while it was still cooler.  In the end, I found I had to painkiller up and lie down for a while.  My body was reminding me not to overdo things again.

Getting old sucks, sometimes! :-D

This evening, Beep Beep and her kittens were out while I did a walk around the yard.  I did a bit of watering, including the grape vine, though I harvested most of the grapes, yesterday evening.  Some bunches weren’t ripe yet, but I could also see that something – likely a bird – has been eating them, so I want to leave some behind.  I don’t want to take away some creature’s food source.

The kittens wouldn’t let me come near them, even when the tuxedo deigned to play with the end of a stick I was wiggling for him.  When I headed towards the storage house, they ran ahead of me and hid in the lilacs.  When I got near the stairs, I could see a sparkly cat toy I’d brought out for them some time ago, and went to get it.

Which is when I noticed something in the dead leaves and grass.

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I wonder how many years it had been there? :-D

I sat on the stairs for a while, eating some of the grapes that had ripened since yesterday.  The tuxedo was watching me from the lilacs, so I tossed over the cat toy, which he immediately pounced on.

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He’s pretty much right on top of where I found the shot glass.

Then there was Beep Beep.

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No birds use this bird bath.  I wonder why?

If you look under the grape leaves, you can see the black fur of the tuxedo kitten, sitting on the tire planter.

You know, growing up here, I never imagined I would ever someday be sitting on the steps, eating fresh grapes off the vine.  I never imagined there would ever be grapes that could grow here!

The Re-Farmer

Kittens, kittens, all of the kittens!

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Butterscotch seems to have moved her kittens again, and from seeing her yesterday evening while I was clearing the bush, I am afraid she may have moved them off our property entirely, and to the neighbour’s across the road (no one lives there, as far as I can tell).

This evening, I brought food and refilled the water for Beep Beep and her kittens, by the garden shed.  There was no sign of them, and I went on my way around the yard.  As I made my way back, I found Butterscotch and all her kittens!

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I had to zoom in with my phone camera quite a bit, as they did not seem comfortable with me coming closer.

Eventually, I came around again and saw Beep Beep at the food.

Except it wasn’t Beep Beep!  It was her grey tabby!

I sat at the picnic table and, before I knew it, I had all 6 kittens around!  Butterscotch was still around, some of the time, too.

Here is some video I got while I was there.

Just before I was ready to leave, I did finally see Beep Beep.  She was carrying a bird in her mouth that was almost as big as her head!  She didn’t come close, though.  Her tuxedo saw her and ran after her, wanting that bird, but she continued carrying it through the garden.

It looks like she may have moved her kittens across the road, too. :-(  This concerns me.  While we are pretty isolated, that road is a main artery West from the highway, and is quite busy for a gravel road.

At least they know to come back here for assured food and water!

The Re-Farmer

Evening antics

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Yesterday evening, I went out to rake out the leaves and twigs where I had cleared away earlier.  There are too many twigs and pieces of wood to use to layer onto the garden by the house, so I got the fire pit going.

I also discovered the Butterscotch has moved her babies to the log shed by the fire pit.

I was watched, but none came near!

Later on, I did a walk around the yard and noticed the setting sun was an incredible red colour.  I wasn’t able to capture it adequately in this photo.

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Imagine the deepest red you can see was the entire ball of the sun.

The redness was because of the smoke of fires burning.  There are none burning near us.  The smoke may well be from another province!

That pile of wood in the foreground is part of what I’d cleared away earlier.

As I headed back into the yard, I discovered one of Butterscotch’s kittens in the area I had raked, dancing around.

I don’t think it ever did catch the moth. :-D

I raked up 3 wheelbarrows full out of that area.  I’m going to have to clear the ashes out of the fire pit again!

The Re-Farmer

Bribery will get you everywhere

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We have had little success in getting the kittens more comfortable with us, though we have been able to touch the odd one.

This evening, we resorted to outright bribery.

Wet cat food.

It worked.  Kinda.

Beep Beep and her kittens were out, and we started off with a can of paté.  They quickly finished it off.

So I brought out a second can of chunks in gravy cat food.

I even found a broiler pan in the old garden shed to put the food on.

Why there was a broiler pan in the garden shed, I have no idea.  But I will leave it there to put the cat kibble on, instead of in the dirt, until the kittens start regularly coming around the other side of the house to the food bowls there.

My daughter was able to pet BOTH of Beep Beep’s babies!

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Once their bellies were full enough, they were no longer willing to let my daughter pet them.  The tuxedo is a little more willing, but it will step back and hiss when touched.  The tabby just runs off.

They are getting so big. :-D

We won’t be able to keep this up, since canned cat food is so much more expensive, but I hope we’ll eventually get them associating us humans with good things, and that they will become more socialized.

The Re-Farmer