Cat update for week ending March 14

While you could all use cute pictures of ducks and chickens this week, everyone knows that cats rule the internet for cuteness. On to Caturday!

Three cats in front of the cat house:

Three cats

Poppy face:

Poppy

Three cats in the breezeway:

Three cats

Porcini and Pumpkin in the cabins:

Porcini and Pumpkin

An animated GIF of a bird landing:

GIF of bird landing

A new alien cat visited a few times, and menaced Pumpkin (giving him a taste of his own medicine):

Alien cat and Pumpkin

Alien cat and Pumpkin

He looks like one of our ferals, though larger, but doesn’t have the ear tip:

Alien cat and Pumpkin

Alien cat and Pumpkin

He went after Pumpkin in the shelter; Pumpkin stood his ground:

Alien cat and Pumpkin

Pumpkin was none the worse from that encounter:

Pumpkin

Porcini:

Porcini

A GIF of Pumpkin arriving, and pausing while another cat departed:

GIF of Pumpkin and another cat

GIF of Poppy slowly walking towards the feeder, only to be overtaken by two of her kits:

GIF of Poppy with two other cats

GIF of cats playing:

GIF of cats playing

Four cats outside; two in front of the bench, one only visible as a shadow behind the bench, and one by a rock:

Four cats

At the same instant as that photo, another cat in the feeder. I always enjoy seeing all five cats at the same time; a rather rare occurrence:

Cat in feeder

Pepper on her perch in the shop, watching me collapsing cardboard boxes:

Pepper in the shop

Porcini:

Porcini

Porcini under the deck, looking startled when I was refilling the bird feeders:

Porcini

Snow on a cat in the feeder:

Snow on cat

Two cats inside their house, taking advantage of the heating pads:

Two cats inside

Flock Friday for March 13

This week, I bet you could use pictures of cute chickens and ducks, eh?

The chickens going after treats; notice Camilla on top of Merida:

Chickens

Chickens

The ducks coming over the lawn to greet me:

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

Following me down the path to the duck house:

Ducks

Ducks

Eating mealworm treats on the bank by the duck house:

Ducks

Two chickens in a nesting box:

Two chickens in a nesting box

I feel like she’s giving me a disapproving look:

Chicken in nesting box

A bunch of chickens in the old coop:

Chickens

I’ve got a couple months of chicken feed stacked up:

Chicken feed

The ducks again:

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

A stroll through the woods

The east side of our property is a slope down to a valley, mostly covered in trees, about an acre in size. Yesterday I hiked down the hill, and took a bunch of pictures of the trees. I typically only go down there around this time of year, as it gets a bit overgrown in the summer, plus there are a lot of blackberry brambles, which aren’t much fun when wearing shorts in the warm weather.

This first picture gives a pretty good indication of the slope; not super-steep, but fairly significant:

Trees

A bunch more pictures of trees, with occasional comments; won’t you join me for a stroll?  You’ll just have to imagine the birdsong:

Trees

Trees

Looking across the valley at the bottom of the property:

Valley

Trees

Trees

Looking up towards the potting shelter near the beehives:

Trees

Trees

Trees

Trees

Trees

Trees

Trees

Private property sign:

Private property sign

Trees

Base of the tallest tree on our property:

Tree

Looking up at that tree, which forks to two trunks. I haven’t measured how tall it is, but I’d estimate somewhere around 100 feet — certainly not the tallest tree near us, but the tallest on our property:

Tallest tree

Trees

Blackberry brambles, which cover a sizable portion of the hill; quite the menace:

Blackberries

Trees

Trees

Trees

Trees

A moss-covered fallen tree branch:

Fallen tree

There are lots of ferns enjoying the shade, too:

Trees

Trees

A somewhat recently fallen tree:

Fallen tree

It landed on the boundary fence:

Fallen tree

Looking along the length of the fallen tree:

Fallen tree

Trees

Trees

Trees

Part of the slope is covered with grass, which we used to mow, but in recent years have left wild. Looking up the hill to seedlings I transplanted a few years ago; the pond is beyond the top of the hill:

Transplanted trees

On the edge of the trees is a nursery of seedlings:

Tree nursery

Tree nursery

Which is slowly spreading up the hill, including a pine tree seedling:

Pine tree seedling

And a bunch of fir tree seedlings:

Fir tree seedlings

I hope you enjoyed joining me on this small hike.

RIP RIR

The last of our Rhode Island Red chickens, hatched in April 2015, died last night. Rest in peace, Red.

Here are some pictures of the RIRs from 2015:

Chickens

Chickens

Chicken

Info from the feed store:

RIR info

Ironically, Apple killed the Chicken GIFs iMessage sticker pack today, too, which featured animated GIFs of the RIRs and Leghorns. It’s like they could tell.

Cat update for week ending March 7

This week, one GIF, some pictures with Pumpkin, a glimpse of my drone, etc.

Porcini and Pommie in the cabins:

Porcini and Pommie

Pumpkin arriving in the breezeway:

Pumpkin in the breezeway

The two cats in the cabin were not pleased to see him:

Pumpkin in the breezeway

“And stay away!”

Pumpkin in the breezeway

Pumpkin:

Pumpkin

A GIF of cats (and briefly a raccoon) in the cabins and house. Pumpkin just wants to hang out with them:

GIF of cats

A cat arriving at the feeder while Pumpkin was eating:

Arriving while Pumpkin was eating

Porcini:

Porcini

Two cats inside their house:

Two cats inside

Pansy on a chair in the back of the shop:

Pansy

Pumpkin looking very relaxed:

Pumpkin

Pumpkin and Poppy both arrive for breakfast at the same time:

Pumpkin and Poppy

Pumpkin went to drink some water, and Poppy was able to go in to eat:

Pumpkin and Poppy

Pumpkin peeking:

Pumpkin peeking

Two cats in the feeder:

Two cats

Pommie arrived at the cabins while Pumpkin was there:

Pommie and Pumpkin

A glimpse of my drone on the left of the picture, practicing low flying, when a couple of cats were eating:

Drone

Drone

Poppy asleep in the house:

Poppy

Another cat joined her:

Two cats inside

Three cats:

Three cats

Flock Friday for March 6

A couple of times this week, the ducks walked across the back lawn to visit me by the chicken coop.

Firstly, you probably saw a couple of posts with aerial shots from my new drone; here’s one more of the pond and ducks:

Aerial shot of pond and ducks

On Monday morning, while I was doing my usual rounds to give the chickens and ducks treats, and refill the bird feeders, the ducks crossed the back lawn to come see me by the chicken coop:

Ducks on back lawn

The ducks by the chicken run:

Ducks by chicken run

Ducks by chicken run

Ducks by chicken run

After I left, they followed me onto the driveway, which is the furthest I’ve seen them from the pond:

Ducks on driveway

Ducks on driveway

Ducks on driveway

I encouraged them to go back to the pond:

Ducks heading back to pond

Ducks heading back to pond

A couple of days later, they joined me on the back lawn again:

Ducks on back lawn again

Ducks on back lawn

Ducks on back lawn

Did you see the YouTube video of them? Make sure you turn on the sound; fun to hear them quacking at me.

Once again, I encouraged them back to the pond, for their safety:

Ducks in pond

A view from the hidden path:

Ducks in pond

Flying high and low

As was foretold, some more photos of and from my new drone, as I practice flying it. Gotta put in that flight time to become proficient!

Firstly, a shot of the drone on the (rather mossy) driveway, with a bee on the nose (I didn’t take off until she left):

Drone with bee

(I probably shouldn’t attempt beekeeper humor by saying it’s not that kind of drone.)

A shot from higher up of the pond and landscaping; beehives in the upper-left, greenhouse, hoop house, veggie garden, chicken runs, etc:

Pond and landscaping

From another angle:

Pond and landscaping

Looking straight down:

Pond and landscaping

The pond, from lower down (with a duck in the middle):

Pond

The main deck, with Rory sprawled out:

Deck with Rory

The chicken runs, veggie garden, and greenhouse:

Veggie garden and chicken runs

Miles of trees:

Trees

Trees and a glimpse of Mount Hood in the distance:

Trees and Mount Hood

I then flew around at a lower level, practicing my flying precision. Here’s the drone flying through the breezeway, as seen by the cat cam there (I did check that there weren’t any cats present before flying though):

Breezeway

And inside the brown gazebo:

Brown gazebo

Those pictures were from yesterday. I did a little practice today, but it was too windy to go very high, so I just did more low-level flying. Here’s a shot of the flag from flagpole height, showing the breeze:

Flag