I usually post photos of the outdoor feral cats (and will this time, too), but let’s start off in the shop. We have a 2,400 square foot workshop building, that is divided into two halves. The front half has storage shelving, workbenches, garden equipment, lots of junk, and where we park the car in winter. The back half at one time was a bit more finished, and includes a bathroom, but is somewhat torn apart now; it’s where we store outdoor furniture in winter.

We have two feral cats that live in the shop: Pepper and Pansy (sticking with our “P” name theme). They are both female. Pepper is a long-haired black cat, who sleeps in the front of the shop, and Pansy is a short-haired stripy cat, who sleeps in the back. Unlike the outdoor ferals, they don’t snuggle, and actively avoid each other.

We got these two a few years ago via a shop cat program at a nearby county, where they place feral or otherwise unsocial cats in barns and shops like ours, where they can be safe, fed, and comfortable, and earn their keep by providing rodent control services.

Here is Pansy:

You can see a bit more of the back of the shop in this picture, including their food dispenser on the right, with the water dispenser behind it, bee supplies beyond that, and furniture storage on the left:

And Pepper; hard to find a good picture of her, since she’s so dark, and only visits the back to eat:

This is where Pepper sleeps, on top of shelving in the front. She has a foam nest on the left for summer, and a large padded bed with a heating pad on the right for winter (Pansy also has a heating pad):

Pepper is somewhat used to me; she often supervises from her high perch when I’m building things at the workbench. I pretty much never see Pansy, other than via the camera.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled cuteness; the outdoor ferals.

Too bright:

Snuggles:

Cute head tilt:

All five cats… though you can only see a tiny bit of the back of the one eating:

Lick:

Poppy didn’t appreciate being sat on:

Did you see the YouTube video of that?

More snuggles; I like how Porcini has her paw on Poppy’s leg:

Queue for water:

Poppy expresses her displeasure at an empty food dish (an hour before breakfast time):

Up close and personal (you can see the ring of infrared lights around the camera in her eye):

Poppy again. She always looks mildly annoyed:

The twins:

One of the twins by the heated water dish:

That’s it for the penultimate cat post of 2018!