When I go outside in the mornings, Braveheart is usually the one to come running towards me. Then she stops and acts surprised that she’s so close to me and starts backing off. :-D This morning, however, she came up to me – and let me pet her! She even started purring! This is the first time she has allowed me to pet her, without her being at the food bowl and eating.
What a crowd!
I was very happy to see Butterscotch’s kittens hanging around – and to see a Creamsicle Jr. and the calico hanging out with the bigger ones! The two orange babies were with their mom at another kibble container, but I didn’t want to potentially scare them away from food, just to get a picture.
Rosencrantz and her baby, keeping their distance!
I got to pet both Braveheart and Nostrildamus while they were eating. Mystery kept running off and coming back before finally settling in to eat. The calico was doing much the same, but once she saw all the others staying to eat while I was so close, she finally joined them. I didn’t try to pet her; this was progress enough for now!
It was nice to see one of the little kittens sharing food with the bigger kittens this morning.
An interesting thought.
Butterscotch (in the back) is mother to Rosencrantz, who is mother to Junk Pile who is mother to the three big kittens here. Which makes Butterscotch their great-grandmother.
Butterscotch is mother to Creamsicle Jr. there, which makes him brother to Rosencrantz, uncle to Junk Pile and great uncle to the kittens that now tower over him.
The cat house we now have to provide the outside kitties shelter for the winter has power to it. There are two outlets inside, one of which has a light plugged into it. We’ve never been able to plug it in. The nearest source of power is in the old kitchen. We’ve got an extension cord going through the window that we use, but it wasn’t long enough to reach the cat house.
Yesterday, I was able to pick up a new outdoor 25ft extension cord.
It just barely reached!
But reach, it did!
The problem is, I’m not sure how much the cats will use it, all lit up like that. It’s a 100 watt bulb (under a protective, waterproof cover), so it will also help with warmth a little bit, but I am thinking we might want to find some way to create a shaded area more conducive to sleep.
As for warmth, we’ve been looking at different possibilities, but the biggest issue is one of safety. Most types of heaters would not do well enclosed in a small space full of flax straw and a bunch of cats that like to scratch and dig. My daughter, however, thought that maybe a terrarium heater might work. When clearing out the shelves in my mother’s old bedroom, I did find a red heat bulb for chicks, but it’s a 500 watt bulb. We could get a terrarium bulb in black or blue, that’s 100 or 150 watts – or a no-light ceramic heater that screws in like a light bulb. Like this. (not an affiliate link) I think that would be much safer than some of the warming mats we’ve been looking at.
In fact, I just interrupted writing this post to ask my husband to find a ceramic heater type on Amazon Prime to order. This is not something we would be able to find locally.
Solution found! :-) I think the cats will be much happier with that. Since the cat house has three windows in it, they will still have daylight, or even moonlight, rather than being blinded. We still have a couple of sheets of rigid insulation we can add to the walls or under the roof.
Maybe not the walls. They like to use it as scratching posts! :-D
Meanwhile, we still need to replace the skid under it. When we do, we can move the whole thing a little bit closer to the house, to give the new extension cord some slack. I’ll also be picking up one of those waterproof cord protector boxes, since it will definitely end up buried in snow at some point.
I left the cat house plugged in last night, to see if the cats would use it while lit up. When I came out this morning, I didn’t see any cats in it – though I did see cats on it! :-D Unfortunately, looking through the window, I did see that the cats have been pooping in a corner. *sigh* That didn’t take long! :-(
This little baby looks ready to help me with the yard work!
She was actually hunting leaves blown around by the wind. :-D
I was actually able to pet her, Rosencrantz AND her brother this morning, while feeding them!
I’ve been calling this one Little Braveheart, but the girls have named her Tissue, because she looks like tissue paper blowing in the wind as she runs across the yard.
What do you thing? Braveheart or Tissue?
I’ve been calling her brother the oh-so-original “Tabby”, but the girls have been calling him Nostril, because he had one black nostril. I was telling my husband this, and he immediately went to “Nostril-damus.”
The inside orange babies watching an outside orange baby!
This little buggers snuck into the sun room behind my back and got closed up in it! It wasn’t until I came out to give the cats some treats that I heard her plaintive meowing. She had jumped into a tall box we use to hold long-handled tools. She wasn’t too happy with my trying to help her out and went into an absolute panic. She did let me give her treats, and later on, I was even able to pet her while she was eating, so I think I am forgiven. :-D
I don’t know what’s more remarkable. The fascinatingly symmetrical pattern of holes on this leaf – or the fact that, of the thousands of leaves surrounding me at the time, I spotted this one immediately!
It’s the time of year for tree ‘shrooms!
Aside from having to cut the part that was around the one cable, I was able to remove this abandoned wasp nest completely intact. It’s now sealed in a bucket in the sun room. There is no sign of any wasps in it. Where the cable went through, I could see empty egg cases. Even the dead wasp I’d seen in the opening seems to be gone; likely fallen in between layers of paper below the opening. In fact, the only living thing I saw while taking it down was the big !#%$! spider the crawled out the top when I cut it loose from the box!
I’m not bothered by spiders, but I admit, that did make me jump a bit! :-D
Creamsicle decided to come and play this morning. I think it’s pretty clear he’s a daddy! :-D
I suppose it also explains why Butterscotch lets him hang around, but will chase Potato Beetle away. I don’t know where she found the other daddies, but none of them were tabbies! :-D
While going through the trail cam files this morning, I was reminded of something I found hooked onto the chain of our gate when I got home, yesterday. A little card like would normally have been slipped over a door knob by a delivery person. The trail cam recorded the guy that left it. I’m pretty sure I saw the same car leaving my brother’s place as I was coming up the road. :-)
It was a notice, with contact information and a file number, that an aerial photo was taken of the property, if we were interested in buying it.
I intend to check it out!
We currently have an aerial photo of farm, framed and hanging in our entry for as long as I can remember. Some guy had flown around, taking pictures, then visited the farms and offering to sell them. This guy basically did the same thing.
The photo we currently have may well be older than me. Things have change quite a lot over the decades!
As you can imagine, I am very interested in getting a photo that was taken almost 2 generations later!
Last night, I came out of the house to find I had an audience, watching me. :-)
Very attentively!
When I came out this morning to refill their food containers, Braveheart came running right up to me – but not enough to let me pet her! :-D
Her brother, on the other hand, actually let me pet him!
His fur is soooo soft. :-D
Now, it would be because I had the scoop of food in my hands, and had just added some to the container – he was far more interested in the food than in me! When he did finally seem to notice I was petting him, he sort of moved away, but then went right back and let me pet him some more.
I honestly expected this level of progress with Braveheart, not Tabby!
Beep Beep seems to enjoy her retirement to indoor life. This is how I found her this morning.
She just loves this corner of the couch, so my husband has been making nests for her.
Because we’re not sucks when it comes to the cats. Not at all!
/sarcasm…
The kittens were out and about this morning, so I made sure to get some photos. These are for you, Silk! A bit of virtual kitten therapy. :-)
Rosencrantz sharing breakfast with a grandbaby!
I was going through some old photos last night and found photos of a cat I had forgotten about completely. They were taken last October. We were getting sudden visits from a white and grey tom. He didn’t hang around long, but I think he must still be around somewhere. He and Little Braveheart look very much alike!
Rosencratnz with… another grandbaby (or baby?)
I wasn’t able to get good pictures of Rosencrantz’s baby with the orange spots, but she was out this morning, too. :-)
I had to zoom in to take this photo, with the cherry tree between us, so as not to startle Butterscotch’s babies away from the food.
Seeing Susan watching them from the window is just too funny!
Gosh, these guys look so small compared to the other kittens!
Little balls of fluff is all they are! I was eventually able to sit on a step near them, without them running away, but the calico and and the orange and white one stayed hidden in the mock orange beside me.
This little guy seems very suspicious of me!
What a cutie!
I’m curious abut Tabby’s mark on her nose. I thought it was a scar, but there is no sign of an actual wound. It’s an unbroken line of white fur.
I just love the patterns or grey in her fur.
Kittens are always a great way to start the day. :-)
While I was working in the yard during the day, I saw Butterscotch, but not her kittens. So it was a lovely surprise when I was doing my rounds in the evening, and saw what turned out to be the little calico.
On the landing in front of the main entrance!
Unfortunately, I startled her away, but this is the first time I’ve seen the little kittens on that side of the house. Of course, I had to go and check, making sure to quietly go around the other side, and sure enough, Butterscotch had finally brought her kittens to the food and water bowls by the sun room!
Two of them hung around while I was there, including Creamsicle Jr. who made his way up one of the ornamental apple trees.
Best of all was seeing this…
The little kittens, playing with the big kittens!
This is very encouraging. I hope they discover the cat house and find it a nice, warm, soft place to spend the nights in. They were already playing around and under it! :-)
I was able to spend some time, yesterday evening, working on socializing Junk Pile’s kittens.
Well. Two of them.
The mystery kitten watched from a distance, clearly curious, but would not come anywhere near us.
Little Braveheart – my daughters call her Tissue, because when she runs across the yard, she looks like a tissue blowing in the wind! – even snuffled and batted at my fingers a bit.
I wasn’t able to get photos, since my hands were occupied, but Tabby not only snuffled my fingers, but tried to eat them! I did wash my hands after being in the kitchen, but I guess they still smelled of food. :-D
I so want to snuggle these two!
Okay. Let’s be honest. I want to snuggle all of the kittens. :-D
The Re-Farmer 