The grey and white I spotted before has shown up again! It ran away as soon as it saw me, but I was able to get some shots through the storm door window, just a little while ago.
It does have tabby stripes in the grey, though they are much more muted than some of the others.
I wonder which cat is the mama? So far, I’ve only seen it on its own.
The Re-Farmer
Can he get any cuter?
Too funny!
There is also, most definitely, a second grey and white tabby. I spotted it running around in the sun room. Unlike this guy, who will now come up to me for attention, this one ran away. It seems to be a bit bigger, has more white, and the tabby colours are more defined and grey, without any of the brownish fur this one has on his face.
I had to make a run into town this morning to pick up more dry cat food. If I’d had more to pick up, I would have gone to the city for the much better prices, but it wasn’t worth the cost of gas. As it was, when I got to the grocery store, there was only one large bag – 8.5kg – left on the shelf. The guy stocking the shelf nearby saw me looking and told me they simply have not been getting dry cat food. They had been getting them weekly (finally, after more than a year of shortages), but now, nothing. He added that he didn’t know if the other grocery store had any. I’m glad he did, because I forgot that store existed. Where we usually go is on the edge of town, while the other is in the middle of “downtown”. I bought their last big bag of cat food, then went to the other store and was able to get another 7kg bag. We should be good for the rest of the month, I hope!
Yesterday, I tried making a video with the before and after pictures of the day’s wood chipping, using my new Movavi software. There was a new update when I opened it up, which I downloaded, so it was a while before I could start. I was able to record voice over within the software, though the only microphone I have is on my headset, so the sound quality was not the best, but it’s handy not having to open other software to do it.
Then I tried to save the finished video in a format that I could upload, and kept getting an error message.
The new update has a serious bug!
So I tried again, using the default photo/video viewer that came with my computer. It’s little more than a slide show, quickly put together, but this way it doesn’t take up more space in my WordPress media.
They got the job done just in time! Not long after, a thunderstorm rolled in and actually hit us (unlike all the other storms and rain that passed us by). Heavy rain continued through the night. The garden is just loving it!
We’re bright and sunny and hot right now, so I’ll be waiting for things to cool down before I start mulching the highbush cranberry and silver buffalo berry. It’ll be good to do that after such a heavy rainfall.
The Re-Farmer
I’d say we’ve got this kitten good and socialized!
I spent some time in the sun room yesterday evening, and this little guy was ALL OVER me! He just could not get enough attention.
Then, apparently he discovered that the inside of my ears are tasty. Even my yelping wasn’t enough for him to stop! But I got all sorts of kisses, too, so he is forgiven.
The black and white kitten with the black splotch by its nose was also loving attention, but didn’t hang around enough for me to get a picture.
I did get the other black and white, though.
I’ve managed to pick this one up once or twice, but most of the time, it just runs away. While I was sitting and not moving much, though, it was willing to also sit and just watch.
The brown tabby also doesn’t let us near it, but was accepting enough to curl up nearby, and even snooze for a bit.
I just love seeing all the babies!
The Re-Farmer
Feeding the kitties has developed an unexpected challenge. The one kitten that has decided he really likes people after all, has also decided he likes to get underfoot.
Literally.
I tried to be careful, but still ended up bopping him once.
I got to see Broccoli and Broccoli Baby sharing a food tray. That kitten is looking like it may end up with much longer fur than its mama.
I think this is the first good picture I’ve managed to get of this guy! He’s one of Junk Pile’s kittens. He, the black and white and the tuxedo, have been hanging out around the house and old kitchen garden a lot more lately. As you can see, they don’t run off quite so much anymore, either.
What a handsome boye.
If he’s a boy. No chance to see, one way or the other!
Then I saw someone different…
I guess this one would be considered a tortie?
I’ve actually seen glimpses of this one before. Just flashes of “is that a new kitten?” running by. This is the first real sighting.
I’m pretty sure this is another Broccoli baby, but there is just no way to know.
Then there was this sighting.
My first thought had been, “Oh, look – Junk Pile has joined Broccoli Baby for breakfast.”
Then I realized, this is a kitten, about the same size as Junk Pile’s “teenagers”.
This picture was taken on May 6. These are Junk Pile’s kittens. You can see the tuxedo in the back, the tabby and the black and white in the foreground. Those three are here often.
There are two other kittens in here that are just “dark”.
No Junk Pile Mini Me.
The above picture may actually be two litters, being co-parented, as we did see one one of the ‘iccuses in with here, too, before they moved their babies away from the commotion of human activity.
Either way, though this new kitten looks old enough to have been born at the start of May, like these ones, it isn’t from one of the litters we knew about. The only other cat that I can think might have had a litter around the same time is Ghost Baby, and she’s such a ghost, it would take her kittens to be big enough to be on their own before we’d see them show up by the house. So that’s a possibility.
So this would put the number of sighted kittens at about 14. Plus I know Rosencrantz had a second litter after loosing her first one (she rolled on the ground earlier today and, from the looks of her belly, she is nursing at least 4 kittens), and now Junk Pile no longer looks pregnant.
Which means we can expect to see more new faces over the next few months, still.
The Re-Farmer
This little baby has started to actually come up to me, wanting attention!
Such a cutie!
The Re-Farmer
The kittens were out in full force, this morning! I had a chance to sit on the scrap wood bench for a while, just watching them. And those I couldn’t see, I could hear!
The tuxedo from the oldest litter was doing the Spiderman thing. So were many of the kittens; I could hear scrambling all around and above me! Even the bitty babies were climbing all over. 😊
Broccoli Baby was the only other one I could get a picture of, though.
Doesn’t she look so mean and angry! Too funny!
I’ll bet she’s a total softy. 💖
The Re-Farmer
I spotted this mama, engulfed by nursing babies.
Two of these kittens are hers. The other two are from an older litter.
The mamas are pretty laid back about mixing and matching each other’s kittens!
The Re-Farmer
My daughter and I made a quick morning trip into town, and came back to kittens all over the place.
Which makes backing the vehicle up to the house a bit nerve wracking. I was more than happy when we unloaded and I could park the car.
While putting around afterwards, I could hear one of the mamas growling, so I took a look at what was going on.
There were three kittens trying to nurse, and she was not happy about that!
They were very insistent. Especially this one…
Poor mama just can’t catch a break! Not even to eat!
I know how she feels. There was a time… 😜 🤣
The Re-Farmer
My husband took the compost bucket our for me last night, leaving the sun room door open behind him. When he got back, the sun room was full of kittens, so he left the door open.
I went out last night to close it, and there was at least half a dozen kittens on the swing bench, and others running around, freaking out because I’d walked into the room.
The kibble was out, so I topped up all the trays, including the one in the sun room. I didn’t want to risk trapping kittens in there overnight, so I left the inner and outer doors slightly open, so they could go in and out still.
Before heading out this morning, I looked out the bathroom window and there were so many kittens on the swing bench, I could hardly see the seat.
Of course, the more feral ones ran off as soon as they heard the old kitchen doors as I started heading out, but not all of them disappeared.
The calico ran off a moment after I got the shot, then the black and white one ran into the mini greenhouse shelf. The third one is one of the two that are the most socialized. I was able to pick it up and cuddle it. The other black and white that lets us hold it was nearby, and for a while, I was sitting on the bench holding both of them.
So it looks like we won’t be able to close the sun room door for a while! I’ll have to put the rope/knob system back. Basically, the knobs for the two doors are tied to each other, with the rope going through the arm bar in the door frame. This allows me to have the doors almost closed, and the wind (or rough housing critters) can’t open them all the way.
Hopefully, their curiosity about the sun room will also have them getting more used to our presence, and help with socialization.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 