Inside, Outside

It’s always interesting, looking out our bathroom window into the sun room.

You never know who might be looking back.

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Nicky the Nose kept starting at me, unmoving from that position, for quite some time!

What a face. :-D

The cat pile in the cuddle corner consists of Butterscotch and three of her babies; Bob, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Butterscotch is doing very well, with only the occasional cough/sneeze. Her eye was still leaking a bit, yesterday, and looked clear today.

Doom Guy, on the other hand, sounds terrible. His nose is plugged, and every now and then he starts making these weird coughing/sneezing/raspy noises when he breathes. I do think he’s actually getting better, but it’s hard to tell. Unfortunately, he wants lots of cuddles, at the least opportune times. The backs of my legs must be covered with scratches from him! His way of letting us know he wants up is by standing on his back legs and grabbing a leg. Which is rather painful! He also has not figured out that we can’t pick him up at all, if he’s attached himself to the back of our legs.

At least his energy levels are better. :-/

The Outsider, meanwhile, is quite enjoying being an inside cat.

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Her inside cat name is now Fenrir, and she has been expanding her explorations zones.

This is a problem.

She can fit behind the fish tank, which was quite a surprise. Yes, she’s tiny, but I didn’t think she was THAT tiny!

She has also managed to get up into the storage space above where the tank is, which was discovered by the sound of her landing in the tank lid, on the way down.

That space is jammed full of unknown stuff that we have not been able to get to; not very high on the priority list of things to clear away and pack up. There is at least one lamp up there, though. We can just see the top of it. It’s now tipped over and leaning against something we can’t see.

She is also determined to get up the shelf against the wall, next to my crafting table, as well as trying to get to the window on the wall. The side where the sill is narrower, of course, and too small for her to actually walk on. I have some stacking shelves on my work table, and several times now, I’ve come in to find it partly knocked down because she’s tried to use it to get to the top of the shelf against the wall. That top of that shelf has all sorts of breakable stuff on it, including two oil lamps and and antique electric lamp, among other things. I’ve been trying to position things to block the cats, but that doesn’t seem to stop them. DahBoy is also determined to get up there, but at least he hasn’t tried using my table shelves to do it. He was about 4 times what Fenrir does.

He and Fenrir are getting along better, but every now and then, he decides to chase her. I usually discover this by the sudden pain of being climbed as she runs up me to get away from him.

I am riddled with little cat scratches all over!

Fenrir has also been horrible about getting under our feet, and has been stepped on (though sometimes, just her long fur) a few times, now. Mostly by me. :-( Interestingly, when that happens and she howls and makes like she’s about to bat at the offending foot, our Mama cat goes on the attack and chases Fenrir. After this happened a few times, it seems like she’s defending me from Fenrir!

I’m really hoping to train her out of climbing my work table – and getting under our feet! – soon!

The Re-Farmer

Critter of the Day: those lovely eyes

The calico/torties are very shy, so it’s always nice to finally get a good photo of either of them.

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We call them Rosencrantz or Guildenstern, but I think I’ll settle on calling this one with more dark in her fur, Guildenstern.

Fire pit tester

I was thinking of things to do for the cookout we have planned on the weekend. Being such a warm day today (we’re hovering around 0C), I wanted to do some more to prepare the fire pit area. I figured we may as well try something new, while I was at it!

While looking for ideas, I found the idea of wrapping the wiener in bread dough and cooking it over the fire; hot dog and bun, all in one. This is something we’ve done before in the oven, but not over an open fire.

When I was at the grocery store earlier today, I spotted some frozen dinner rolls, uncooked, and decided to cheat.

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Let’s play…

I just wanted to share some pictures of the outside cats with you. :-)

First up, we found not-Slick in the sun room again.

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That is one beat up looking cat. The expression of tragedy on his face is just too much!

Coming back from a trip to the dump this morning, I found this waiting for me.

Can you spot the kitties?

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There are five cats in that picture.

When I got closer, I had to try and zoom in on Slick.

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That looks like a fresh wound on his nose, next to an old scar. The fresh wound closely matches a scar not-Slick has on his nose.

Poor things!

The Re-Farmer

Imprint

I had quite a laugh while doing my rounds this morning!

Butterscotch, I’m happy to say, is doing much better. She eagerly joined me after I put out all the critter food and water, and went to continue my rounds. She even wanted to be picked up and carried, right away, and was busily trying to rub her face all over me.

Which I still don’t want her doing. Her eye and nose may not be leaking much anymore, but they are still a bit on the damp side. ;-)

There is one spot on my path along the spruce grove that the cats tend to catch up with me, and today, Beep Beep was eager for some attention, too. So for a while, I hat two cats on my shoulders and in my arms, trying to rub on me. No surprise that they knocked off my hat. I couldn’t pick it up until after I changed the memory card on the trail came, then got them off my shoulders.

After putting it back on, I found this.

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Cat Routine

What a day it is turning out to be, today!

It’s supposed to be the last colder day, today (which has since been extended another day). Though it’s supposed to warm up to -9C this afternoon, high winds are expected to make things chillier. Which has translated to a day with sunny skies and calm one minute, blustering snow and low visibility the next, then back again!

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I just wanted to share this picture I took of Rolando Moon yesterday morning, before I took the video I posted yesterday. She was so funny, up on the bird feeder. She wouldn’t come down until I started adding more feed to the platform for the birds. :-D

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It didn’t take her long to get back up again, and she spent quite a bit of time up there, watching the birds, deer and other cats, from on high.

After seeing Butterscotch’s condition yesterday, we kept checking out the bathroom window to see how she was doing. She stayed in there for much of the day, sitting on my late father’s favorite swing bench. At one point, she had 5 other cats all bundled around her!

I managed to get a picture of this, through the window.

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Morning cats (videos)

The outside cats have been quite entertaining, the last couple of days.

Before heading out to do my rounds yesterday morning, I saw Beep Beep going up one of the trees outside my window – soon followed by Slick. I figured they were heading for the roof again.

When I got to the feeding station, I found Beep Beep, out on a limb. :-D

I think this was her way to get away from the boys!

Now I know why I’m finding small branches where the path I made around the house turns. She’s directly above that spot! :-)

Then, this morning, I went to the feeding station and found the platform feeder occupied.

Ah, Rolando Moon. So violent in her friendliness!

Not all in the morning rounds is fun stuff, though.

Normally, when I do my rounds, Butterscotch comes to join me. The last couple of days, I never saw her at all; not even curled up in the sun room. The last time I’d seen her was when I took her picture, in this post. When I didn’t see her at all for so long, I feared the worst.

This morning, while I was putting food and water out in the sun room, suddenly she was there! She is still not looking good. One eye had been leaking, and it was stuck shut. She seemed to be cough-sneezing a lot, too. But she was eating and drinking, and moving around more sprightly than the last time I saw her, so that’s encouraging. I do hope the warming weather we’re supposed to have is a help to her. According to the long term forecast, we’re supposed to be just below freezing in about a week, then actually go above freezing!

We’ll see if that actually happens.

The Re-Farmer