Nikki the Nose, trying to stay out of the deep snow…
snow
My new view, and warmed up – for a bit
Since switching up rooms, I have come to appreciate the view in my new office space. I’ve got my desk against the north wall, which means I can see out the window with my peripheral vision.
Turns out, it’s pretty active out there!
Every now and then, some motion catches my eye, and I look up to see a cat – or several of them – making their way through the trees, to and from the roof, or just… sitting there.
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Winter “fun”
You know, I’m really looking forward to being able to just pop outside at a whim. Although temperatures have become relatively mild lately (we’re at -7C right now, with a wind chill of -12C), when you have to spend several minutes just to bundle up in layers and heave on the snow boots, going in tends to involve more planning for efficiency. ;-D
Yesterday was not particularly efficient.
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Winter says hello!
So we went from a deep freeze to above freezing, and now the snow is back. We started getting weather alerts yesterday for snowfall. Locally, the snow started in the late afternoon, but to the south and east of us, I’m hearing there was a lot more. We have a bright, sunny day right now, but we’re still getting weather alerts, this time for blowing snow. Interestingly, it’s supposed to start snowing about mid-afternoon – when we’re also supposed to be reaching temperatures of 0C!
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Had a snow-down – and I won!
Happy 6th day of Christmas!
Things have not gone as planned, thanks to some rather unfortunate weather. We were supposed to go into the city for a family gathering yesterday. We drove maybe 5 minutes on the highway, before turning around and coming home. Blowing snow, icy roads, poor visibility… and knowing it would be worse when we were driving home in the dark. Too risky. Maybe if we had a 4 wheel drive and winter tires, but not with our van.
We didn’t have a lot of snow, but it did get to the point that we needed to clear the driveway. Which meant time to break out the snow blower for the first time! :-D
Except, of course, it wouldn’t start…
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Things that make me smile
Fresh snow on the spruces.
And cats watching us through the kitchen window!
Why, hello there, Butterscotch! :-D
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Tracks and Trails
It snowed most of the night, which means that when I did my outside stuff this morning, the only tracks in the snow were those of animals. It was interesting to follow them along, and try and figure out what story they were telling. Continue reading
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Morning Feeding
Heading into the sun room this morning, on the way to putting food out for the cats, I discovered not one, but two of the dad cats, running out of the room with the kittens! The black and white one was back on the dresser. I just caught a flash of the grey and white one, as he ran out the door.
They quickly took off out of sight, but that still left 8 cats to crowd around the food bowls!
Guildenstern (or Rosencrantz) had to push her way in – which she clearly didn’t want to do. Neither of the calico-torties are very assertive, at all.
Jim is now called Big Jim! He’s gotten so burly, I’ve been mistaking him for Rolando Moon more often!
Beep Beep was my escort this morning, though I was joined by Rolando Moon, later on, too. :-)
We had some blustery weather overnight, judging from the branches I was picking up this morning.
When finishing up my rounds, I got a chuckle at the many tiny paw prints in the fresh snow on the sidewalk to the main entry.
From the size of some of them, I could see we got visited by my brother’s dog again, too! :-D
As I came around back to the feeding area, I saw the third dad cat, slink away. I’d seen him earlier, going through the maple grove and then through the tall grass in the main garden area. It was my presence that had him moving away from the house, so I was glad to see he’d come back, while I was doing my rounds.
He let me get within about 8 feet of him, as I made my way back to the sun room doors to go inside, before finally slinking away.
Of the three dad cats, this one looks the most like a house cat. He’s in good shape and, while certainly not willing to go near us, doesn’t demonstrate actual fear or anxiety in the process. I wonder if he belongs to one of the neighbouring farms, and is just coming to visit?
Inside the sun room, I found Bob, already back on the swing bench.
Just look at that beauty! No longer the skinny, scrawny little kitten with a head too big for his body!
He even let me touch him, though he wasn’t too happy with me coming close. Even Doom Guy was more jumpy around me than usual. I think it was because of the heavier coat I was wearing today. The fabric of the outer shell makes a lot more noise. *L*
Bob, however, not only let me sidle up to him and touch him, he let me scritch his ears and cheeks! Not only that, but even as tense as he was, he started to purr and relax a bit. Until Doom Guy came over and disturbed him. :-D
Then I saw a bit of movement out the window, so I snuck over to the door to take a peek.
Look who peeked back!
He moved away after I took the photo, but I went inside the house after this, so I hope he came back for food soon after.
I like my cat-filled morning routine. :-D
The Re-Farmer
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Snow bird
The birds were quite undeterred by the snow we had recently.
Even when a lilac branch ended up on the platform feeder, they just used it to perch on. :-D
The Re-Farmer
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A Deer Returns!
Note: I’m trying something different with my photos this time. We’re close to our storage limit on our free WordPress account. I don’t want to reduce the number of photos we post, and we’re not in a position to upgrade yet, so we now have a Flickr account and I am going to try embedding the images. Please let us know in the comments, if you are having any problems with the images loading, etc. Thanks!
My darling husband has taken on the morning feeding of the critters. With the bird feeder, this includes scattering seed on the ground for those birds that prefer feeding that way, and for any deer that happen by. We’ve seen the odd deer, but they haven’t really hung around.
Well, this morning, one did!!!
He’s a young one, and I’m sure he is one of the little ones that visited us in the winter. There’s something about that swoopy snout that I recognize.
Just look at those little antlers! :-D
Getting the photos was a bit of a challenge for two reasons. One, we keep the telephoto lens on the camera (for those new to this blog, we keep a Nikon D80 on a tripod in our living room window permanently, to photograph the wildlife out our living room window). The deer was almost too close to the house for the lens!
He looks like he’s laughing at us, in this next one!
The other challenge is reflections on the window from inside. At the time I was taking these photos, I had to contend with reflections of my avocado on the glass. :-D
If it seems like he’s looking at something specific in some of these photos, that’s because he is …
Sometimes, it was us in the window.
Most of the time, it was…
… Doom Guy!
I wasn’t able to get a photo of it, but at one point, they were nose to nose! So adorable!!
He was quite attentive to all the noises around him, but not at all skittish. Which is good, because it’s warming up today, and after all the snow yesterday, it’s falling off the trees with clumps. We are hearing “phwomph” noises all over.
Also; avocado tree reflections. :-D
Then we got another curious kitten!
In this photo, the deer had moved to the far side of the bird feeder, and The Outsider was on this side, watching him, while Doom Guy was on the other side of the feeder base, though he had left by the time this photo was taken.
I’m so happy to see deer back again!
I also managed to get some really fantastic pictures of The Outsider after the deer left. Those will get their own post, next. :-D
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 