This is what I have to wade through, in the mornings!
The one using the empty heated water bowl as a butt warmer is hilarious!
Also, they’ve done quite a job of knocking things out of the shelves and off the counter. We’ll have to wait until the ground is dry before we can move things out to pick it all up. Until then, we need to watch our step for all little stuff that got knocked out of their various containers!
The Re-Farmer
Nosencrantz may turn into a ball of anxiety around the other cats, but she’s completely different, with me!
She has completely adopted me as her own, personal human. Incredibly affectionate. This is her napping after a hard session of “pet my face! Now!” 😄
She has the softest fur of all the cats.
Does it make up for her habit of crapping in all the wrong places? I gotta admit, when I had crawl on my hands and busted up knees to clean up another mess in the shelf behind my night stand at 2am, I certainly didn’t think so!
I’ve blocked off the space now. She has lost one of her hidey holes for when she runs away from the other cats.
After I cleaned everything up, blocked it off, and went back to bed, the little bugger came over and began snuggling me.
*sigh*
I’m such a sucker for the cats.
The Re-Farmer
We’ve got ourselves a Potato Beetle for your daily cuteness!
Yes, it looks like the Potato has become one of the elect few that the ladies will allow in my office/bedroom without much issue. Which is good, since Butterscotch is his mother! Not that she wants anything to do with him, any more than she wants anything to do with any other cat!
Potato Beetle has had a couple of battles. He doesn’t start them. Leyendecker went after him hard recently, and Potato stood his ground. Not sure if they worked out their pecking order issues, but I haven’t seen them go at it, since.
The Potato, however, is perfectly content to just wander around the house, eat, sleep, and commandeer my husband for love and naps. If all the other cats left him be, as most of them do, he’d leave them be, too!
Pretty easy transition for an outside cat, that’s for sure!
The Re-Farmer
Oh, look! I got a picture of Ginger!
Ginger has become accepted as one of the few cats Nosencrantz, Butterscotch and Marlee, will accept in the room with them. Almost. Nosencrantz will still hiss and run off. Butterscotch ignores him and keeps her distance. Marlee will sometimes hiss at him and block his way when he tried to go for the door. He’s more intimidated by her, than she is of him! Overall, though, we’re able to let him into the room to enjoy a nice soft bed to nap on – and an extra feeding of wet cat food in the evenings. Better than having him trying to hop down the stairs to join the other cats at feeding time in the basement! Even if he’s not in my office, the girls will make sure to bring up some wet cat food for him, after feeding the cats downstairs, so he doesn’t have to push his way through other cats to get some.
I think he’s quite appreciating the special privileges he’s getting!
Yeah. We love spoiling him!
The Re-Farmer
Where the warm spot is?
There were actually four cats squeezed onto the warm spot above the heat bulb, but two of them were Pointy Baby and Gooby, who decided to climb me when I stopped to take a picture.
Do you know how hard it is to line up a shot while a cat is manically trying to lick your nose?
The Re-Farmer
Would you look at this lady!
I caught her, mid stretch!
Marlee has been doing quite well. I’m starting to find her sleeping in my bed more often – even with other cats on the bed! When I took this photo, there were four other cats sleeping on the bed.
She’s been hissing and growling at the other cats less often, and showing more interest in actually leaving the room – though she is very nervous about it! At some point, she snuck out of the room while I was sleepily making my way to the bathroom. I had no idea she was gone until one of my daughters messaged me to let me know her sister had found Marlee, sitting in a loaf, on the bath mat. Being half asleep herself at the time, and without glasses, she was thoroughly confused by the sight of a “strange” cat in the bathroom. She returned Marlee to my room, and I never heard a thing!
Usually, though, she’ll sit politely by the door, looking at me, but when I go to open it, she starts spinning around. There is usually at least one cat outside the door when I open it, and that’s often enough for her to change her mind about going out. Sometimes, she’ll run out, do a quick explore, see too many other cats, and run back in.
Still, that’s more than Butterscotch and Nosencrantz have been doing!
Potato Beetle, meanwhile, has settled right in like he’s been in the house forever. He has especially taken to my husband, and will often settle on his chest and go for a nap. Keith used to do that, to the point that when a cat did that, we’d say “I’ve just been Keith’d!” My husband misses Keith, and is quite enjoying being Keith’d by Potato Beetle. 💛
The Re-Farmer
I counted 18 cats while doing their kibble and warm water this morning.
Look who was amendable to pets today!
While resizing the picture before uploading it, for a moment, I thought there was some sort of digital goof at his back end.
Nope.
The black fur with the white snow behind it is giving an excellent view of both his undercoat and overcoat of fur! It’s really quite remarkable how thick that undercoat gets in winter.
And look! There’s a tiny little face peeking up at me through the window!
Have I mentioned, I’m a suck for the cats?
Pretty sure I have. 😉
The Re-Farmer
I ended up doing my morning rounds later than usual today, but I sure had some beautiful views!
We got another frost last night, and the trees look just stunning!
I had a pretty frosted morning, myself – frosted at Nosencrantz, mostly! Way too early in the morning, I heard a strange scratching sound in the shelf behind my night stand; there is a wall of shelves behind my bed that can’t be taken out of the room without somehow dismantling it, so I have my bed frame up against in, blocking some of the shelves. The one behind my nightstand is only half blocked, and it usually the place Nosencrantz hides in when some of the other cats decide to go after her.
The scratching I was hearing?
Yeah. She decided to poop in the shelf, rather than one of the freshly cleaned litter boxes. In the farthest corner, of course.
Then, after I cleaned it up and went back to bed, Nosencrantz started scratching again.
In a litter box.
She wasn’t using it. Just scratching in it.
And on it.
And the floor around it.
And the baby jail walls next to it (yeah, we still have that set up; Butterscotch loves to nap in it!)
She eventually stopped, but then Butterscotch tried to make a jump onto the window ledge, failed and somehow managed to knock over the small food bowl I’ve got tucked in the corner, partially blocked by a shelf specifically to prevent that from happening!
After cleaning that up, I tried to get a bit more sleep, but then Leyendecker and Cheddar started scratching at the door, wanting in.
I finally gave up and got up, heading to the kitchen to start the kettle going to heat water for the outside cats. It was still kinda dark, and I didn’t have my glasses, so I was perplexed by a glowing blue box in the wrong spot. The Cat Lady had given us their older water fountain for the cats, and it’s plugged in and set up in front of a shelf in the dining room. It has a blue light that makes the base glow, and you can see the water level. Well, the base was several feet away, in front of the entry to the kitchen – and the top part, with the fountain, was gone! I found it pushed up against another shelf.
I’m blaming Susan for this. She has a thing for digging in water bowls and splashing all over. I’m guessing she must have pulled the top right off – then kept splashing in the water, from the looks of the floor!
Still better than having to crawl on the floor to reach and clean up poop, though!
Nosencrantz just climbed onto my chest as I write this, and is getting all cuddly.
As if I could forgive her that easily!
Awww… she’s curling up and settling down now, purring like crazy.
…
I am such a suck for the cats.
The Re-Farmer
Why are you so smol???
Would you believe this kitten is about 7 or 8 months old? It’s from the same litter as Walnut (who is now named Peanut!) At this age, it would be at pretty much adult size. That second litter of white and greys are all much smaller cats, but this little boy is the tiniest!
With the warmer temperatures, we’re seeing a lot less of the cats. When checking the sunroom through the bathroom window, we no longer see the swing bench covered in kittens. Now, we are seeing only two are three at a time, and none wandering around. I am seeing them inside the cat house more often, when I come out with the kibble. Head counts have been as low as “only” 14 cats at a time, and they are eating so much less kibbled, I’ve started to feed them only once a day instead of twice, and there’s still lots of kibble left in the trays and bowls in the morning.
On the one hand, this is a good thing. The milder temperatures are less dangerous for them, and we’re going through less kibble. On the other hand, if they’re wandering around more, they’re more at risk from predators, and the females are more likely to go into heat earlier. With the Cat Lady going through major health issues right now, trapping the more feral females for spaying might not happen as originally planned. 🙁 Ah, well. We’ll deal!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 