kittens

Morning happenings

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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!

The Re-Farmer

Doing fine.

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Well, Decimus and her babies had a very quiet first night indoors!

One thing that has always been distinctive about Decimus is her teeny, tiny quiet meow. Which really isn’t much louder than her kittens!

When I did the wet cat food last night, she absolutely devoured her share. She has been allowing head pets – we can’t reach much else in the cage – and enjoying them. We’ve been handling her babies, and she’s been okay with that, too. At one point, I even found her in another part of the baby cage, while her kittens were asleep in a pile, enjoying a bit of a break. I could tell that the litter had been used, as well. So she is settling in and figuring things out.

When I did the outside cat food this morning, I checked through the cat house window, and could just make out the two kittens sleeping inside. The mother was outside, eating, at the time. So far, so good, with them.

The only trouble I’ve been having lately is with Nosencrantz. The cat that refuses to leave my room has increasingly tried to claw her way out the window. This morning, I was awakened by the noise and found her somehow behind the box fan that blocks the window and the extra screen I’ve got to cover a gap on one side and the piece of cardboard to help keep the screen in place. Thank goodness we replaced the window screen with cat proof screen! So far, it seems to be holding up. My main concern right now is that she’ll simply pull the mesh right out of the frame.

Things have really cooled down. Last night, it was almost chilly! We’re coming up on noon as I write this, and we’re still at only 15C/59F. It’s gorgeous! Now, if the wind could just die down a bit. I’ve actually moved all the transplants off the picnic table under the old market tent and put them back on the laundry platform set up. The tent sheltered them, but they weren’t getting enough sunlight for too long. Some of the Spoon tomatoes were so gangly that, when Gooby decided to be really, really friendly while I was setting the trays down, two of them ended up breaking off at the stems. I just replanted them. They’ll probably be fine. We have so many, though, and may not get enough space to plant them, so we can afford to loose a few, if it comes to that.

Yesterday’s transplants are looking good. No sign of transplant shock, so far.

Everything seems to be doing fine, today.

The Re-Farmer

More!

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It looks like Decimus was not the only yard cat to have babies today!

While putting kibble out this evening, I saw the white and grey cat with spots that are more black than grey, and she’s suddenly looking skinny compared to last night. I have no idea where she had her kittens.

Just out of curiosity, I peeked through the cat house window and spotted a wiggly worm on the pillow in a box at the back wall. Looking again later, I spotted a second kitten that looks completely black. By the time I came back to take a photo, the mama was with them.

The window is dirty on the inside, so I tried to clear the photo up as best I could. This mama is one we can’t get close to, but she’s been hanging out in the cat house for a while. She did not look pregnant at all. Seeing only two kittens, that would explain why. She just wasn’t very big.

I don’t know if we’ll be able to get this mama and her babies. Right now, I just want to make sure she doesn’t get spooked and move them.

Meanwhile, the oldest litter showed up this afternoon, and I saw them running around the yard. Later, I saw them at their kibble bowl by the grape vine, though not all at once.

Three litters in one day.

Wow.

The Re-Farmer

Our 2023 garden: starting on the squash patch

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Ah, but first, the important stuff!

How is the new mama and her grublings doing?

They have been transferred to baby jail and seem quite content. Decimous (or Decimus, as my daughter spells it) has been very quiet and attentive to her furry little worms.

My daughter has been staying in my room to supervise the family (the babies are so small, they could potentially squeeze through the openings of the cave) and keep an eye on how the other cats behave around them.

She fell asleep on my bed. I think she had a sleepless night last night, too!

Meanwhile, I headed outside and broke out the weed trimmer. I cleared around the pile of garden soil and then, since I had the trimmer out already, as much as I could reach around the burn barrel. I didn’t fell like adding another extension cord, so that area isn’t quite done, but close.

Then it was time to start hauling soil. I didn’t bother to sift it, though I did pause to pull out the biggest roots.

Where the sticks are, marks where we had squash growing last year. In each spot, we dug out the sod, then added fresh soil. Each squash got cardboard layers around them (we didn’t have enough to do the paths with cardboard, too), then mulched with straw, grass clippings, scythed hay – anything we could get our hands on. It took much of the summer to have enough material to mulch all the paths, too.

So now, each pot is getting more fresh garden soil and, now that we have so much of it, the rest of the area will be mulched with wood chips.

There are still two rows that I did not add soil to. They get a lot more shadow, so I won’t do those unless we really need the space. Instead, I will work on filling grow bags, next. Those will likely get peppers in them.

After I took this photo, I removed all the sticks marking the spots. Then I went around with the spade and flattened each hill and spread them a bit. Finally, I went around with the hose and used a higher pressure setting to drill water into the middle of each mound of soil.

I’ve left them to absorb the water while taking a break from the heat and the sun. Later today, I’ll go back out and start transplanting what winter squash we have that’s ready. We’ve got some melons to transplant, too, but they’re still pretty small, so they can wait. With what space I have left, if there is any, I want to sow summer squash.

We seem to have reached our high for the day – we’re at 25C/77F and pretty windy – and things are supposed to cool down slightly from now on. Tonight, we’re supposed to have a low of 12C/54F. That is going to feel glorious! My goal is to get as many of the transplants in that we can right now, so we can start dragging out those trees my brother cut down for me and begin working on the permanent trellis beds. If we can manage to get those done over the next while, we might still have time to direct sow things into them, as long as they have a short enough growing season.

This gardening year isn’t quite working out as planned, but it’s getting done, little by little!

The Re-Farmer

We have babies!

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I had a sleepless night, so the girls took care of feeding the outside cats for me this morning. It wasn’t until much later that I headed out to try and get some work done. Before I did, I paused to top of the water bowls, when I heard a little squeak.

Decimous had a litter in the shelf shelter!

I wasn’t even sure she was pregnant, with her long and matted fur.

We always put some kibble in the shelf shelter, and it’s her favourite place to eat, so I’m not too surprised she had her kittens there. I’m so glad she didn’t have them in some secret place, like the other cats do.

My daughter brought out the cat carrier and, between the two of us, we got the four kittens in. They are just hours old! Decimous, who normally runs off, was definitely feeling maternal and enjoying scritches. She wasn’t too keen on being pulled out of the corner of the shelf, even though her kittens were already in the carrier. It took both of us to gently get her out and lift her into the carrier. There was a moment of struggle until we got the top closed, and she basically just stopped.

We got the carrier into the house, and it’s now sitting next to the baby cage. Marlee is going to have to give up her favourite place! For now, though, my daughter put a food bowl into the carrier. Decimous ate a bit and, then settled down to nurse.

What a cutie she is!

We finally got her.

Now that she’s got her kittens, it should be easier to socialize her, then finally get those mats cut out of her fur!!!

We’ve set up the baby cage a bit better. There’s a bin in there with litter pellets already, that the other cats ignored. A water bowl is set up, and the food bowl will be moved over once we’re ready to transfer the little family. For now, though, we will leave them in the carrier to calm down. Other cats have come over to sniff at them and moved on.

I’ve messaged the cat lady about them. Hopefully, she will be able to find a foster for them and get them adopted out.

For now, my daughter will be hanging out in my room to supervise, and I’m heading outside to get some work done.

An adorable start to the day!

The Re-Farmer

A garden tour

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I ended up not being able to get to doing outside work today.

It was actually cooler, but things are still too wet. I just got back from outside. It has cooled down to 23C/73F, and with the breeze, it’s gorgeous out there, but too dark to start anything.

I did, however, get to see a hole bunch of kitten out by the spirea and grape vines. So when I went out to feed the cats, I moved one of the kibble bowls over for them to discover. I’m guessing they must have already been hiding in the spirea, because just minutes later, I saw all six of them at the bowl, enthusiastically eating!

I did get some productivity in, and finally finished putting together video I took on June 1. Here is a tour of our garden, taking one day before our average last frost date.

Of course, a whole bunch has been done since then. I’ll aim to do another garden tour video on July 1 or so, to compare.

Well, the cat videos I took earlier were much shorter and quick to upload to YouTube, so here they are!

First, the kittens.

Gooby, meanwhile, decided he really loved my boot.

Enjoy!

The Re-Farmer

Peek!

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Look what I found peeking at me, while I fed the outside cats this evening?

It was completely alone in there. I tried to leave it a handful of kibble in the cat bed, but it ended up running off. I got too close.

It’s possible it’s one of not-Junk Pile’s pair.

What a cutie!

The Re-Farmer

First sighting!

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I was out again this evening, when it cooled down a bit (as I write this, it’s past 10pm, and we’ve finally cooled down to 26C/79F, from a high of 31C/88F), to do more transplanting. I was able to fit 13 Black Beauty tomatoes into one row in a second bed, which leaves another 13 extras I can give away.

After putting the rest of the Black Beauties in the sun room, I started to get the rest of the transplants from the picnic table, when I spotted not-Junkpile sitting rather strangely beside the storage house.

Then parts of her moved and turned out to be…

… bitty bebbehs!!

It was getting dark and I zoomed in so as not to disturb them because, of course, they ran away as I skirted around them to get the trays of plants. My daughters came out to help, and we saw them dashing about, hiding in the lilacs.

Later, I saw the mama up on the cat house roof, looking for kibble and growling at me. I’d already given them their evening feeding – early, so avoid feeding the skunks and racoons – but she wasn’t the only hungry mama around. I set out about half what I usually do, putting most of it on the cat house roof, where the skunks can’t get it. The racoons can get up there, of course, but they’ll go for the trays in the kibble house, first.

There are more very round cats wandering around. Junk Pile, who lost her first litter that she had so incredibly early in the year, looks like she’s about to explode. Caramel and one of the grey tabbies that we can’t get near are looking round, too.

And I can now confirm that least one, maybe two, of the white and greys are female. One of them, simply because I’ve seen her getting some action with the males. The other – the one with the distinctive almost black spots – is starting to look round.

*sigh*

Hopefully, they will all have small litters like this one, instead of the usual four or five.

Tomorrow, we’re supposed to hit 28C/82F, but by the time that happens, I should be on the way back from my eye exam. My daughter is coming along as a back up driver, in case they do that eye dilation test. I haven’t had my eyes tested since several years before we moved out here, so… 8 years? Nine?

If all goes well, though, I’ll be able to get some work done outside during the cooler hours.

Assuming my body is up to it. I just had to get my daughter to clean the litter boxes in my room for me, when I could barely bend over to put my inside shoes on – and I was sitting down! 😄

Getting old sucks.

The Re-Farmer

Well… the first ones are here (sad update)

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There was quite a crowd when I came out this morning. I think I actually counted 26 cats, though it’s possible I double counted one of the white and greys.

It was while I was by the cat house that I heard it.

The tiniest of squeaky noises.

It took a moment of standing completely still to listen, but the noise was definitely there, and definitely repeating itself.

After going around the other side of the cat house with the kibble, I was able to peek into the small window facing south. The window is half covered with frost, but there was enough visibility that I could see across the inside of the cat house, were we put a box with an old pillow inside for the cats.

Yes. There it most definitely was.

Movement.

Our first litter of kittens of the year have been born.

I was pretty sure it would be soon, as when I saw the pregnant mama yesterday, she looked rather damp in the back. She is actually in the photo above; the tabby at the very top of the picture.

Alas, she apparently did not have her kittens in the cat house. At least not to start. We have the shelf shelter up against the shelf shelter, and the bottom two shelves have rigid insulation inside, and in front, along with extras like a cardboard box and cat beds inside. I always put a handful of kibble into the openings of each. The bottom one isn’t as open anymore, as the cats have slowly broken the insulation forming the front “walls”, making the opening larger and larger, and the top one has been used as a scratching post in one corner so much, the insulation is torn away with only the cardboard box inside keeping the weather out from the hole!

Going past the shelf shelter later on, I saw one of the white and greys in the bottom shelf, batting at something and looking very startled and confused.

It turned out to be a dead, newborn kitten.

It must have been further back in the shelf when I put the kibble in, because I couldn’t see it at all at the time. Other cats came around to check it out, also looking rather confused over the poor thing.

As the ground is too frozen to bury it, I wrapped it in some paper towel, and we were cremate it later. Poor baby.

I can say for sure there is at least one surviving kitten that I could hear and see moving, and one that didn’t make it. If there are any other survivors, I have no way of knowing. We’re not going to pop open the roof of the cat house to see, because the last thing I want is for the mama to get spooked and move them away. For a litter born this early in the year, their chances of survival are very low, but their best chance of survival is right where they are now. It’s unfortunate the mama is one of the more feral cats, or we’d find a way to bring her and the babies inside.

I suppose I ought to let the cat lady know about it, but she’s recovering from surgery right now and has enough on her plate. There’s nothing more we can do about them right now, anyhow.

One a completely different note, I found this interesting, while doing my rounds.

When we had that wind storm blowing snow two days ago, there was no new snow. Just what the winds picked up off the ground. Yesterday we actually reached 0C/32F, so things started to melt a bit. Now, you can really see that, along with snow, the winds picked up all sorts of dirt, too. Since most of the fields are still covered with snow, that would consist mostly of sand picked up from the roads. The blown in snow is incredibly hard packed, too. Part of my path to the sign cam was filled in, and the blown in snow is so hard packed, it actually holds my weight when I walk on it, just like the packed snow on the bottom of path!

We’re expecting more winds today, from the northeast instead of south/southeast, as it was during the wind storm. Nothing as severe as before, thankfully. We’ll still be taking the van instead of my mother’s car to my daughters eye exam this afternoon, though, just to be on the safe side!

The Re-Farmer

Update: Well, my daughter and I are back from her eye exam (and saying hello to some goats while picking up more eggs on the way home). As I was walking up to the house, I saw Rolando Moon start to go into the bottom of the shelf shelter, then back off strangely. I went to check but couldn’t really see anything, but I was able to reach in and pull out a cat bed we have in there. Sure enough, there was another dead kitten in there. Crud. I wrapped it up with its sibling for later cremation. Poor baby.

I topped up the kibble for the evening and tried to see through the small window of the cat house again, but no luck. The window is just too dirty on the inside. Wherever the surviving kitten is in there (however many there may be), it was no longer anywhere I could see. I was not about to keep mucking about, though. I saw the mama in there, then she went into the sun room to eat. The last thing I want to do is spook her into moving her surviving babies away.

More yard cats is the last thing we need, but we adore them anyway, and it’s always sad when the little ones don’t make it.

Pretty Poser, and this is $171

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We had another lovely day today! Nice and sunny, with a high of -9C/16F, and almost no wind chill at all. The cats are quite loving it, romping around in the sun and the snow.

I had the hardest time getting this picture of Pointy Baby! He kept trying to reach out to me, or my phone. I managed to catch a shot during one split second he gave me a pretty pose! I counted 24 cats outside this morning.

With my last trip to the city, where were very few things on my list that I didn’t get, and I wasn’t intending to make another trip so soon. However, I’m going to be helping my mother with errands tomorrow, and I don’t want to shop on the weekend, so I figured I’d better head out today, before some things start running too low. I went to the closer Walmart, with the possible extra trip to Canadian Tire to get more stove pellet litter. I ended up not needing the extra trip.

This is $171.11

They had hardwood pellets in stock this time, and the price has actually gone down! They were $5 each. At Canadian Tire, the hardwood pellets have gone up in price from $6.99 to almost $8, while their softwood pellets stayed the same price. The Walmart price had been comparable to the Canadian Tire price, but I’d only ever seen softwood pellets. These hardwood pellets are the same brand that Canadian Tire carries. So I got two, and I would have gotten two more, if I weren’t also getting kibble.

Their inventory of large kibble bags was low again, except for the super cheap no-name brand, which come in 7kg/15lb bags. There were no 11kg/24lb bags, so I picked up a couple of 9kg/20lb bags, plus their largest size case of canned cat food. They all cost just under $30 each.

I wasn’t able to find the usual shampoo and conditioner we use, in the big bottles with pumps. I haven’t seen those in quite a while, so I got smaller bottles of the same brand – two types with different oils in them – to try. They were on sale, at under $5 each.

The only thing on my list that was groceries was the icing sugar, but I also grabbed some red rooibos tea. My husband requested nacho fixings, so I got the giant jar of olives (which was cheaper than at the wholesale place!) and no-name brand tortilla chips. I got a couple of loaves of rye bread. I saw some bakery cookies for sale and got some salted caramel chip cookies as a treat, plus a variety pack of gum to keep in the van. One last extra was a couple of packages of biodegradable pots. All of these were between $3 and $5.

They didn’t have the larger size pots that I would prefer to use for certain seeds, but these ones will do for others. Eventually, when we’re planting seeds that aren’t as much of an issue for size or potting up, we’ll just use the red solo cups we have so much of. I expect we’ll need at least a couple more bags of seed starting mix, but not for quite a while.

Everything except the big bags and the canned cat food fit into just one of my hard sided grocery bags.

With this done, anything else we need for the month can be picked up locally, as needed. We will be making one more trip to the city, though, to get the materials we need to build a cat barrier to the living room. This is a project the girls are planning out and paying for, so they get to tell me when that’s going to happen! 😄

After the shopping was unloaded, we loaded the van up again for a trip to the dump and I headed out again. That’s a quick trip, at least.

Then, more running around tomorrow, this time with my mother’s car. After that, I should be able to play hermit again for a little while! 😄

The Re-Farmer