Cats

Cat update for week ending May 18

I had 71 cat pictures this week, but pared it down to just 18. You’re welcome.

More dinner please? A couple of cats waiting for more food in the evening.

More dinner please?

The same cats a few minutes later, relaxing on the deck:

Two cats on the deck

Another arrives:

Three cats

A cat is startled by the sudden arrival of another, and rears up:

A cat is startled

Four cats at breakfast time:

Four cats

Waiting for more breakfast:

Waiting for more breakfast

I got a bale of straw for the duck house, which I put in the shop, and Pepper has been having fun playing with loose bits of straw. I think she’s been sitting on the bale, and scratching at it, too. I’m fine with that; she’s also guarding it to make sure no mice nest in it:

Pepper playing with straw

A scrub jay making poor life choices by eating cat food while a cat is in the house, as captured by a screenshot of my iPad cam app (it was fine; the cat was too comfy to move):

A bird making poor life choices

Still very comfy:

Comfy cat

Squirrel:

Squirrel

The orange cat paid a visit:

Orange cat

Followed by a possum 17 minutes later:

Possum

And a raccoon a couple of hours after that:

Raccoon

A couple of cats watch a couple of deer:

Deer & cats

The deer have been hanging around a lot recently, nibbling on our flowers (grrr):

Deer

A rare sighting of Pansy in the back of the shop:

Pansy

A cat at the bee water pool (that linked post included a couple of night-time cat sightings too):

Cat at bee water

Three cats:

Cats

Bee water pool

Like any creatures, bees get thirsty. So they have to get water from somewhere, for themselves and their hive. They also use water to control the humidity of the hive, as part of the process of making honey.

We have a big pond they can drink from, but it’s easy for bees to drown if they’re not careful. We also have a stream, and in summer a swimming pool, but those aren’t ideal water sources either (Jenn has rescued several bees from the pool when swimming).

So we also have a small kiddie pool that has rocks in it to act as safe landing zones for the bees. It is by the closest tap to the hives, near the greenhouse. Bees will fly for miles to find water, but if they have a ready source close to the hive, they don’t need to go to less ideal places.

The pool was immediately below the tap, but that made it hard to turn it on to top up the pool, when lots of bees are buzzing around. So I recently added a splitter and a couple of short hoses; one going into the pool, which can now be a bit further away, and another for use when working in the greenhouse (until I get around to adding taps in there):

Hoses and bee water pool

I also added a couple of bits of wood as additional landing pads for the bees:

Bee water pool

As a temporary thing, I set up the mobile cam above the pool, so I could watch the bees using it, just for fun. In the above picture, you can see the beehives and greenhouse in the background, to give a better idea of the location.

One interesting observation was that birds and cats also take advantage of the water source. Here’s a crow drinking from the bee pool:

Bird drinking from bee water pool

A cat drinking:

Cat drinking from bee water pool

Bees drinking from the pool; notice some on the wood, some around the edge, and a bunch on the rocks:

Bees drinking from bee water pool

If I zoom in on the pile of rocks, you can more clearly see lots of bees:

Zoom on bees

A crow drinking again; it doesn’t care about the bees:

Bird drinking from bee water pool

Another cat:

Cat drinking from bee water pool

The crow decided to walk across the platforms, somewhat unsuccessfully:

Bird walking in bee water pool

Cat update for week ending May 11

Welcome to another Caturday.

A good yawn:

Good yawn

Four cats:

Four cats

Big stretch:

Stretch

Dinner greetings:

Dinner greetings

An alien cat:

Alien cat

Three cats; eyes in the dark:

Three cats

Breakfast:

Breakfast

A scrub jay helping itself to cat food, several times:

Bird

Pepper contemplating her water dish in the shop:

Pepper in the shop

The scrub jay returns:

Bird

I currently have the mobile camera watching the small pond next to the cat house, as it recently had a leak where water was overflowing the liner of the stream, causing the water level to go down quickly. The camera was so I could see when it was low and top it up. I’ve since fixed the leak, but have left the camera there for now. It captured a cat drinking from that pond:

Cat drinking from pond

They have a water dispenser in the feeder area, but I’m sure pond water is tastier. Here’s the cat looking through the grasses:

Cat by pond

Cat update for week ending April 27

Welcome to another Caturday. Some new alien cat sightings this week!

But first, a relaxed cat inside the shelter:

Relaxed cat

Even more relaxed:

More relaxed cat

Perhaps too relaxed — almost fell off, but scrambled up:

Too relaxed cat

On to the parade of aliens.  Firstly, the alien gray cat (with a collar) we’ve seen before:

Alien gray cat

A new alien cat; at first glance looks like one of our ferals, but is a bit larger, and doesn’t have they ear-tip marking as a fixed feral:

New alien cat

A possum:

Possum

A raccoon:

Raccoon

The orange cat:

Orange cat

Speaking of, the orange cat went inside the shelter, and was followed by a possum. They had a bit of an encounter, and the orange cat chased off the possum:

Orange cat vs possum

Another new alien cat:

New alien cat

There certainly are a lot of cats in the area!  We keep our two pet cats (Pippin and Paladin) indoors, for their safety, but it seems many of our neighbors don’t.  Growing up in New Zealand, it was standard to have cat doors and let them go outside at will, but there are a lot more dangerous wildlife in the US. Not only the possums and raccoons, but coyotes and several others.

The outdoor ferals are a different case; they grew up outside; it is their home. But they have a much more dangerous life. I do what I can to make it more comfortable for them, by providing the heated shelter and feeder.

Anyway, enough seriousness; let’s have some cuteness. A peeking cat:

Peeking cat

Porcini was early for breakfast:

Porcini

Four cats at breakfast time (one is mostly hidden behind the others):

Four cats

A cat nose from above the camera housing:

Cat nose

Four cats:

Four cats

Mirror images:

Mirror images

Three cats outside. Can’t see the third? look in the field to the left of the cat house:

Three cats

Cat update for week ending April 20

It’s that time of the week again!

Three cats arrive for dinner:

Three cats arrive

They often travel in groups, though can be independent too. I sometimes see one run ahead, then wait for another to catch up. Cats get a reputation for being solitary creatures, but they are really social ones, on their own terms.

Porcini waiting for breakfast, with a smile on her face:

Waiting for breakfast

Four cats inside, enjoying the heating pads:

Four cats inside

A couple of cats looking out the back door (which they only use as an emergency exit):

Looking out the back door

Snuggles:

Snuggles

The alien orange cat arrives, with a cat peeking out the door of the shelter:

Orange cat

They exchange words at the entrance of the shelter, before the orange cat departs:

Orange cat encounter

Hey look, more snuggles:

Snuggles

Pansy in the back of the shop, reaching for food:

Pansy reaching for food

A cat watches as a deer walks past; there were several in the field, too:

Deer

One cat eating, looking back at another cat arriving:

Arriving cat

Me mowing the field near the cat house. No cats home at the time, unsurprisingly:

Mowing

Pepper walking over floor joists of the duck house (I did leave a clear path next to it, which she usually uses):

Pepper walking over floor joists

Can we have too many snuggles? I think not:

Snuggles

Scratching; I did recently give the cats a flea treatment in their food, though only one or two of them ate it; it’s hard to ensure they all get a dose, so all I can do is put it out and hope it helps:

Scratching

Cat update for week ending April 13

Happy Caturday. Read on for the usual cat cuteness, plus a fun GIF.

Here’s Porcini looking at the camera in the feeder:

Porcini

And Portabella (and another behind her) waiting for breakfast:

Portabella

The alien orange cat:

Orange cat

A different alien cat:

Different cat

A good stretch:

Stretch

Cats looking out the window & door, and another on the deck:

Looking out window & door, and on deck

Four inside:

Four inside

Four outside:

Four outside

A screenshot of my camera app, showing all five cats (two on the deck, one in the shelter, two in the feeder):

Screenshot of all five cats

The front shop cat, Pepper, looking at the camera (plus a sneak peek of some progress on the duck house; an update on that probably tomorrow):

Pepper in the shop

It’s hard to see, but all five cats are in this picture; can you spot them all?

All five cats

Porcini:

Porcini

Poppy:

Poppy

Finally, a fun GIF of a cat scratching a tree:

GIF of cat scratching tree

Cat update for week ending April 6

10 seems like a nice number of photos for this Caturday.

Breakfast time:

Breakfast time

Looking out the window, I saw one of the feral cats sitting below a hummingbird feeder on our deck, watching the birds:

Cat watching hummingbirds

Cat watching hummingbirds

Pepper in the shop:

Pepper in the shop

Snuggles:

Snuggles

Cats outside:

Cats outside

Four for breakfast:

Four for breakfast

Breakfast kisses:

Breakfast kisses

Outside:

Four for breakfast

Two cats; notice the cat behind the shelter?

Two cats

Close up:

Close up

Snuggles & kisses:

Snuggles & kisses

Cat update for week ending March 30

About half as many photos this week.

A cute cat:

Cute cat

Scratching the wall carpeting. That’s fine, that’s one reason it’s there (also for more comfort & warmth). It is glued and screwed in place, so should be pretty resistant to their attentions:

Scratching cat

A possum & raccoon encounter on the deck (no cats home at the time):

Possum & raccoon encounter

A pile of three cats, when another arrives:

Four cats

Five cats inside:

Five cats

Five cats downstairs. I love how they lay on top of each other:

Five cats

A couple of cats waiting for more breakfast to be dispensed:

Cats waiting for more breakfast

Cat hugs:

Cats

The alien gray cat now has a collar with a bell; definitely owned by someone:

Alien gray cat

The twins arrive together for dinner:

Twins arrive

The twin cats:

Twin cats

Cat update for week ending March 23

There have been regular visits by raccoons and possums, but nothing too dramatic, so I’m not including any pictures of them this time.

Four cats inside the shelter:

Four cats inside shelter

A queue waiting for more breakfast to be dispensed:

Waiting for breakfast

A brave/stupid jay in the cat feeder:

Bird in cat feeder

Three cats:

Three cats

The front shop cat, Pepper, sitting by the duck house:

Shop cat

Two cats in the shelter:

Two cats

Very relaxed cats:

Two cats

Another joins them:

Three cats

A very Poppy face at the water dish, with Porcini relaxing on the ground:

Three cats

Poppy is the mother of the kittens, but she can still be kitten-like at times:

Psycho cat

Too close!

Up close

Cat snuggles:

Cat snuggles

Two cats climbing the tree next to the cat house.  I removed the heated water dish, now that it’s getting warmer; we probably won’t be below freezing again:

Climbing tree

A sequence of three images of jumping down from the roof:

Jumping down

Jumping down

Jumping down

Poppy greets her kids:

Three cats

I saw a new alien cat when reviewing the footage this morning; I don’t think I’ve seen this one before:

New alien cat

Finally, Spud came and stared at me in the office, from the front steps:

Cat on steps