new cat

Morning kitties, and a kitty surprise!

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I was a bit later going outside this morning, so there were lots of hungry kitties, waiting for breakfast. I managed to do a headcount.

Twenty eight, plus Sad Face, who I discouraged from coming around. I do wish he weren’t so aggressive, even with the female cats. Otherwise, I’d have no problem with him. But then, I guess a big ol’ tom like him doesn’t last this long without being a scrapper.

This was a rare combination.

You can just barely see Brussel on the far right, under the grapes. At the bowl is her sister, Sprout, and two older kittens that I’ve started to see more often. The one looking over the heads of the other two is a muted calico. I think the both of them are Sprout’s babies, but I don’t know for sure.

Then there’s this little fur ball; one of the litter of eight.

I totally understand, little one. I’m not a morning person, either!

Just a little while ago, my daughter and I headed outside for a bit (more on that in a separate post) and had to go into the old garden shed. My daughter spotted a kitten on the log pile that I completely missed!

We have never seen this kitten before!

What a face!

What a pancake cat! 😄😄

No idea which of the older litters this kitten is from. I’ve been expecting more kittens from the shyer moms to slowly come around and discover where the food is, even if their mothers aren’t quite willing to bring them over. With those litters, there’s no way of knowing how many have survived long enough to start coming here on their own.

I hope this one gets comfortable enough to start coming around for food in the mornings, and maybe even enjoy the shelter and safety of the cat house and sun room!

The Re-Farmer

New kits, new cats?

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Well now!

I just have a bit of time before I head to the city, but I just had to share this first!

While putting kibble out, I heard the distinctive sounds of cat asserting their dominance, somewhere in the outer yard. So as soon as I was done putting kibble in the tray under the shrine, which is nearest the gate to the outer yard, I went to look. A quick pause to check the box next I put near where Rosencrantz has her kittens showed it untouched, which did not surprise me – though she already surprised me by teleporting next to me while I was putting kibble in the tray near the kibble house! Which makes me think she may have moved them already, though I have no idea where.

Once in the outer yard, I could see The Distinguished Guest and Rolando Moon by the pump shack, looking very, very tense. Both had their fur all puffed out. I headed over to chase The Distinguished Guest away and realized…

That wasn’t Rolando Moon.

That’s a long haired ginger.

We don’t have any long haired gingers!

Well, I guess we do, now!

Given their behaviour, I’m just going to assume this is a male.

Then I went back to put warm water out for the cats and saw movement inside the cat’s house window they are under.

Much to my surprise, I saw little squirmy wormies in the sunlight, and a Junk Pile coming up to them.

Since I was already so close, when I was finished with the water, I tried to take a photo through the very dirty window. I didn’t want to step right in front of it or do anything to startle Junk Pile.

Coming back from the rest of my rounds, I tried again, because I could see them so clearly in the sun spot through the window. I stayed well away and zoomed in.

There is at least one, maybe two, tuxedos in there!

I’m amazed any cat would have her kittens in here. This is a large space and a lot of cats use it.

I notice she is about as close to directly under the ceramic heat bulb as possible in there. :-) With the sun shining in so brightly, it would be off right now, but as soon as the sensor on the timer is in shadow, it’ll turn back on again.

I do hope the other cats leave her alone! I saw several of them in there when I was doing my evening rounds. These babies are so new, they look like they’re still a bit damp!

This will be Junk Pile’s second litter. Agnoos and Tuxedo Mask, both her babies from last year, have not been seen in quite a while. Likely, they are out expanding their territory and finding themselves some lady cats. Two of the ‘iccuses are hers, but I’m not sure which ones, other than not Bradiccus (who is still around) or Chadiccus (who is also AWOL). Those two are Butterscotch’s. There is one ‘iccus that has more white on him and looks a lot like Junk Pile, and I think that one is hers. We have no way to know for sure, but I think at least one of them is Ghost Baby’s.

I know we’re about to have a population explosion that is going to make things a bit more crowded out there, but I can’t help but be excited for kittens. We’ve never been able to socialize Junk Pile, but with her kittens in there, we at least have a chance with them – as long as she doesn’t move them! If we can socialize them, there’s a better chance of adopting them out.

The Re-Farmer

Who is this?

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I glanced out the bathroom window to see what cats were in the sun room, and …

…

Who is this??

The photo does not do justice to this massive brick of a cat.

I didn’t recognize him, but when the girls came down to see, they did. Apparently, he used to show up around the time Nicky the Nose used to, and would sometimes appear at their window. They remembered him partly because of he’s got the saddest expression ever.

I think we may be looking at Tissue’s daddy. :-D

Rolando Moon was in her spot in the window, while Potato Beetle was at the food bowls, and they were all quite chill with each other.

Huh.

I wonder if he will stick around?

The Re-Farmer

Still here!

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I wasn’t able to get pictures of the cats when I first came out, as it was still dark at the time. I’ve already had a long morning, but I will post about that later. It wasn’t until the job was done that I could get a picture of…

… out new addition! He’s still here! When I was working in the old kitchen garden yesterday, he was prowling around along with the other cats.

The other cats have no issues with him at all. They act like he’s always been around! Even with the adult cats, there is no aggression towards the new cat. They’re nastier to each other, than to this guy!

Hopefully, the peace will continue, and we’ll be able to keep another cat safe and well fed!

The Re-Farmer

More fall clean up, prowlers, and there’s a stranger in town!

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While it was a warm day today, it wasn’t quite warm enough to work on garden beds, so once the outhouse floor was done, I focused on doing a number of small jobs around the yard.

One of them was to replace the grass mulch on the garlic beds with a thick layer of straw. The grass mulch went into the newly framed bed, which has a trench in the soil for now. We’ll toss our kitchen scraps for the compost into the trench as well, before it all gets buried in fresh garden soil.

While I was getting ready to roll up the garden hoses at the back of the house, the cats were prowling all around me! It seems like, everywhere I turned, there was a cat, circling around me.

Except for Tuxedo Mask. The cheeky bugger planted his butt in a plant pot! The flowers in there are one of things my mother planted that turned out to be invasive. After telling me there was nothing in the old kitchen garden she wanted me to save, and I cleaned out and covered it all with layers of cardboard and mulch, she changed her mind and wanted me to keep them. They pushed their way through the layers of mulch, anyhow, so I transplanted some into this pot while preparing beds to plant in this spring. They’ve still managed to take over a section of the old kitchen garden, but it’s an area that is overshadowed by lilacs, honeysuckle and roses, so it’s not likely we’ll ever plant anything else in there. We’ll just have to keep them out of where we have built new beds, which looks like it’s going to be a challenge!

These flowers, which look a lot like periwinkle, are very hardy. They won’t have any problem recovering from a cat sitting on them, so I didn’t bother chasing Tuxedo Mask off!

I probably should have waited for a warmer day to put away the hoses, but it’s done now, except for one hose in the front of the house that I left for a bit longer. From the long range forecast, this weekend will be the last warm days, then the day time highs will slowly drop. Even so, we’re not expected to have highs at or just below freezing until past the middle of November.

I’m good with that!

After doing some other clean up around the yard, I got the burn barrel going for a while, then headed inside before the light failed. At the last minute, I decided to top up the cat kibble, which had been gotten into by that big skunk again. Of course, as soon as I came out of the sun room with the container of kibble, I had cats prowling all around me, crying like they were starving to death.

Including… hold on…

That wasn’t Tuxedo Mask over on the sidewalk. He’s busy trying to trip me on the way to the kibble house.

We had a stranger in our midst!!

After refilling the kibble trays, I was able to try and get photos.

What a handsome stranger!

The other cats didn’t seem the least bit bothered by his presence, either. I saw the kittens act more skittish around Creamsicle Baby than this guy!

He moved away from the food while I was trying to get a photo, prowling around the cat’s house and kibble shelter, and making his way back to the sidewalk, but he never ran away.

Even when my older daughter came out to see him, he stuck around. I went inside to let my younger daughter know. She was in between batches of bread baking, so she was able to come out, too. He did eventually start eating while my daughter was just a few feet away.

I wonder where he came from? This is the first time we’ve had a long haired cat come by, and the first time we’ve seen another tuxedo.

As long as the cats get along, he is more than welcome!

The Re-Farmer

New Addition?

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It was my turn to do the evening cat routine last night. This includes going into the sun room to top up the food and water for the outside cats, as well as cleaning out the two litter pans we have out there.

As usual, once they heard me in there, cats started streaming in. Two-Face was already there, and I was soon joined by Keith. Then Big Jim and Keith came in and…

… wait

…what?

Continue reading →

Newcomer

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We just got visited by a new cat today, outside our living room window, so of course we went a little overboard with the pictures! :-D

My daughter spotted him and got the first few photos through the lilac bushes.

He was lurking where we leave food for Junk Pile kitten still, even though he now regularly goes to the house, and even into the sun room, for food. Because I usually have 3 or 4 cats following me as I put food out, I spread it out, including on this log I brought over for a seat. I don’t know how much food was left around there, but it looks like our visitor found at least a little to eat!

The number of cats lurking around the house has dropped quite a bit over the last while. Of the visiting toms, only Nicky the Nose has been showing up once in a while, and he quickly leaves. I haven’t seen Slick or Not-Slick in a month or two. Even of our own adult cats, most seem to have moved on; I haven’t seen Guildenstern, Jim, Bob or Rolando Moon in a long time. Rosencrantz comes by, but not often; Beep Beep and Butterscotch both tend to chase her off! Doom Guy is the only adult male still hanging around, and he hasn’t been well. We did get medication for him and he has gotten better, but he still prefers to spend most of his time in the sun room or near the house.

We shall see who starts showing up again in the winter, when food and shelter will be more reliable.

We will be keeping an eye out for our newcomer, too!

The Re-Farmer

Critter of the Day: Dave status

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Our new indoor addition is settling in fairly well. He’s so tiny, we’ve had to supervise him rather closely, in case he got stuck somewhere. Plus, the other cats aren’t too keen on the new addition.

This is him next to my wireless phone charger. He can just barely clamber over it, when he wants to walk down the window sill. :-D

He looks almost regal and majestic, here.

This is more typical.

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You’re not Slick!

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One of my daughters let me know that the water bowl in the sun room was no longer on its heater, so when I had a moment, I went out with a pitcher of fresh warm water, heading through the Old Kitchen to fix it.

On opening the inner door, I noticed the food bowl in the sun room was empty, so I paused to grab some kibble to top it up.

Of course, as soon as I opened the door, there was a flurry of cats running out of the sun room, while others were running towards the Old Kitchen door.  I saw Ferdinand run out, and then Slick headed for the door.

Except…

Wait a minute.

Is that Slick?

Thanks to Ferdinand staying in the doorway, preventing the other cat from getting out, I was able to grab a few quick pictures.  I had to show it to my daughters to confirm.

This is not Slick.

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What I did not see until my daughter pointed it out to me, not only is Ferdinand in the doorway, but Nicky the Nose is outside, looking through the window. 

The new cat finally ran past Ferdinand when I opened the door.  I never saw Nicky the Nose at all, but Ferdinand did not run off like he usually does.  He actually hung around, watching me from just a few feet away, as I knocked the ice out of the outside water bowl and refilled it, as well as topping up one of the outside food bowls.

The water bowl was indeed knocked off the concrete block, but there was no spill.  It was completely dry!  With the outside bowl frozen over, they were very happy to have fresh water.

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He has the saddest expression on his face!

My older daughter had been seeing a strange cat that was more grey than Slick, off and on, but this is the first time I’ve finally seen him.  So he’s actually been around for a little while.

This brings us to 14 outside cats in total.  The 6 kittens.  Beep Beep, Butterscotch, Rolando Moon and The Hand are all cats we were feeding when we first moved out here.  Slick, Nicky the Nose, Ferdinand, and now this guy.  That’s basically twice as many as we were regularly feeding last winter.

No wonder we’re going through the cat kibble so fast!  ;-)

The Re-Farmer