Cats

Cat update for week ending March 16

Daylight savings has started (unfortunately… maybe one day we’ll abolish it). But the cats don’t care, other than my tweaking the feeding time slightly.

We had lots of unwelcome visitors this past week, starting with a possum, that visited pretty much every day, and even hung out inside the shelter for about an hour one night:

Possum

The alien orange cat also invaded the shelter:

Orange cat

The orange cat:

Orange cat

But there was plenty of cuteness, as always. Here’s a sideways cat:

Sideways cat

Five cats at breakfast time:

Five cats

A relaxed cat inside:

Cat inside

Cat silhouettes:

Cat silhouettes

Back to the invaders. A raccoon turned up, and a cat left the shelter:

Cat & raccoon

The raccoon came back about an hour later, and was met with disapproval:

Cats and raccoon

Not to be left out, the alien gray cat also turned up:

Gray cat

And the possum again (or another one; who can tell):

Possum

Oh look, another raccoon, this time at breakfast:

Cat and raccoon

Poppy registered a complaint:

Cat and raccoon

Then retreated to the shelter:

Cat and raccoon

I’m getting tired of possums and raccoons turning up, even when there isn’t food there. My main regret about building this shelter is that I didn’t make the entrances in such a way to prevent unwanted guests.  Possums and raccoons can climb very well, but they can’t jump quite as far as cats, so making a higher entrance with metal sides to prevent climbing would enable cats to enter, but not possums and raccoons.

I am contemplating modifying the cat house to give such an entrance.  One idea was to raise the whole thing up, but that’d have some issues.  I’m currently leaning towards enclosing the deck, and making a high entrance in front of the feeder.  But of course I won’t have time for such projects until I finish the duck house.

On happier things, two cats outside, one inside:

Cats

Four cats:

Four cats

Cat snuggles:

Cat snuggles

More snuggles:

Cat snuggles

A cat trying to push in at breakfast time, and told to wait their turn:

Wait your turn!

Comfy cats:

Comfy cats

Cat update for week ending March 9

Happy Caturday!

Poppy on the cat house deck, with one of the twins in front:

Poppy & a twin

Three cats:

3 cats

Porcini licking her lips:

Licking

Cat snuggles:

Cat snuggles

Pansy the shop cat:

Shop cat

All five cats snuggled in the shelter:

Cat snuggles

I’m refilling the cat food, and didn’t realize that Poppy was still inside the shelter; you can see her peeking out of the door (I usually try to wait for when nobody is home):

David refilling cat food

Pepper, the other shop cat:

Shop cat

Two cats at night:

Two cats

An alien orange cat encounter:

Orange cat encounter

Orange cat:

Orange cat

More on the orange cat encounter:

Orange cat encounter

I opened up the cat shelter to clean up a thrown up mouse, and straighten the mats:

Inside cat shelter

Still more snow, and a snowy cat:

Snowy cat

Four cats waiting for breakfast:

Four cats

A good stretch:

Cats

Three cats playing around the (mostly empty) fountain:

Cats in fountain

A snowy possum:

Possum

And a snowy raccoon:

Raccoon

A view from another camera of a couple of cats on the snow-covered deck of the our house:

Cats on deck

All five cats inside:

All 5 cats

Poppy on the cat house deck:

Cat on deck

A photo of the snowy cat house:

Snowy cat house

Cat update for week ending March 2

Some interesting encounters this week at the cat house.

But first, a couple of cats looking out of the shelter; I enjoy the eyes in the window:

Cats looking out of shelter

Cats snuggling:

Cats snuggling

Yet more snow:

Snow

A pile of all five cats in the shelter:

Cats in the shelter

A couple of cats watching a raccoon:

Cats watching raccoon

A “SLOW, WATCH FOR FERALS” sign in the driveway, flecked with snow:

Slow, watch for ferals sign

Snow:

Snow

A cat with snow on their back:

Snowy cat

Did you watch the video on YouTube of cats playing in the snow?

Another raccoon encounter.  This time Poppy had enough, and went out of the shelter to hiss and swipe at the raccoon, and then retreat back to the safety of the shelter:

Raccoon encounter

Another cat then ran up from behind the shelter and did the same from the other side:

Raccoon encounter

A screenshot of my iPad, showing cats in all four cameras:

Screenshot

A Steller’s jay bird flying in for a drink from the heated water dish:

Bird

A cat climbing the tree next to the shelter:

Cat climbing tree

Another raccoon visit, watched by a couple of cats:

Raccoon

The alien orange cat visited a couple of times:

Orange cat

The reverse angle:

Orange cat

Cat snuggles:

Cat snuggles

A cat watching a deer:

Deer

Pepper the shop cat watches a moth flying by:

Shop cat & moth

Pansy, the other shop cat, reaching for some food:

Shop cat

Three cats playing on the driveway:

Cats on driveway

The alien orange cat came back again early this morning:

Orange cat encounter

The cats inside quickly evacuated:

Orange cat encounter

The orange cat went inside the shelter, and Poppy followed and expressed her displeasure at the invasion:

Orange cat encounter

There was much hissing and growling, culminating in a little swiping and rapid exiting:

Orange cat encounter

But let’s end with more snuggles:

Cat snuggles

Cat update for week ending February 23

Did I say “last of the snow” last week? Maybe not:

Snow at the cat house

Cat footprints in the snow, going to the back door of the shop:

Cat footprints in the snow

A cat stretching in the shelter:

Cat stretching

Porcini on the awning, Poppy below:

Cat on awning

A cat intently watching something. Probably me; that’s about when I finished setting up the new cameras:

Cat watching something

The alien orange cat visited again:

Alien orange cat

And explored inside the shelter, too, which I bet our colony wasn’t happy about. They weren’t home at the time, but would have smelled him (fun fact: orange cats are almost always male):

Alien orange cat

Some raccoons also visited, as happens all too often:

Raccoons

Porcini in the feeder, hoping for a late dinner:

Cat in the feeder

I mentioned yesterday that I set up new cameras, and am temporarily using the duck house camera to watch Pepper in the shop. She has a cozy nest high up on a shelf in the front of the shop, on top of a pile of foam, a large dog bed, and a heating pad:

Cat in shop

This day (Wednesday) was Pepper’s 4th birthday, or at least as observed; she is feral, like the outdoor ones, rescued from the streets, so her exact birthday is unknown.

All 5 outdoor cats enjoying the shelter:

Cat snuggle pile

Cats eating breakfast:

Cats eating

Another shot of Pepper sitting on her heating pad nest in the shop. I temporarily renamed the camera in her honor:

Cat in shop

Three cats in shelter… but notice the cat-shaped shadow on the back wall?

Cats in shelter

Yep, that’s from a cat out on the awning, looking in the window:

Cat looking in window

Moments later, a cat looking out the window (cropped and zoomed to be more visible):

Cat looking out window

Four cats outside the house:

Cats by house

A closer shot of Pepper in the shop; sometimes she gets too warm on the heating pad, so moves off it. Here she’s surveying the shop from her high perch, looking for rodents:

Cat in shop

But she doesn’t stray from the heating pad for long. Having been working in there (building the duck house), I know how cold it is:

Cat in shop

Another snuggle pile of four cats:

Cat snuggle pile

And all five:

Cat snuggle pile

New chicken & duck cams

A couple of days ago I set up four new cameras around the homestead.

Two were for the chickens. We have two coops, each with a run (that are separated by a fence, but with an open hole so the chickens can go between them, for now). The old coop had an old low-quality camera mounted in the ceiling, and the old run didn’t have a camera at all.

So I replaced the old coop camera with a new one, mounted on the wall for a better angle.  This camera has a wide field of vision, about 100°, so can see most of the coop:

Camera

Here it is in context on the wall behind the door. The coop is very cobwebby!

Camera in coop

This is me looking at the camera viewing app on my phone, to check the position during installation:

David and chickens in the coop

And here’s the view from the camera once the angle was tweaked:

Chickens in coop

Another example, with a bunch of chickens roosting:

Chickens in coop

As evening sets in, most of the chickens roost in the new coop, but a few roost in the old one:

Sleepy chickens

The chicken pop door automatically closes after dark:

Pop door closed

As mentioned, I also added a camera in the old run. Here you can see the old camera for the new run on the left, and the new camera for the old run on the right (confused?!):

Chicken run cams

Here’s an example of the view from this camera, showing the old coop:

Old run cam

A screenshot of the camera app, showing all four chicken cams.  I like how the two run cams line up to a panoramic view of both runs (with a little overlap):

Screenshot of cameras

I also set up two cameras to watch the (future) ducks. Here, I’m installing the outdoor camera to watch the pond. I have the camera running so I can check the position:

David by pond

Here’s the pond cam, mounted on the pond deck:

Pond cam

The view from the pond cam; it can see most of the pond:

Pond

Finally, I also set up an indoor cam for the duck house, though since I’m still building that, in the meantime I’ve placed it to watch Pepper’s bed in the front of the shop:

Cat in shop

(I’ll have a few more pictures from that cam in tomorrow’s Caturday post; stay tuned for that!)

Cat update for week ending February 16

We start this Caturday with some lingering snow, and a cat peeking out of the shelter:

Cat peeking out of shelter at snow

The cats have been somewhat absent during the day this week, though did show up for food, and occasionally spent a night in the shelter.  Here are all five cats in there:

All five cats inside shelter

Birds in the snow:

Birds in the snow

A bird on the heated water dish:

Bird on heated water dish

I set up the old automatic feeder in the back of the shop, so I can eventually control the amount of food Pansy eats, since she’s somewhat overweight. Initially I had both feeders there, so Pepper still ate back there. A few days later, I moved the manual feeder and a new water dispenser to the front of the shop, where Pepper lives. So this is probably the last time we’ll see Pepper in the back:

Cat in the shop

I’ve got some new cameras for the chickens and ducks, so will move the old camera from the old chicken coop to the front of the shop, to watch Pepper’s food. Probably more on that next week.

Here’s Pansy, eating from the auto-feeder. Currently it is dispensing too much food, but I’ll slowly reduce the quantity to match the level she eats, then a little less over time:

Cat in the shop

Back outside, here’s a cat drinking from the heated water dish, while another eats their dinner. This is the last of the snow, too:

Cat drinking from heated water dish

A cat having a good stretch against a tree:

Cat stretching

Dinner queue. I don’t usually show pictures from this time of night, since the contrast between the darkening outside and the lighted feeder area doesn’t work that well in pictures, but hey, something different:

Dinner queue

The theory with the feeder light was that a bright light would deter the possums and raccoons, since they can’t see in that brightness… but they just feel around for the food, so that didn’t work. I suppose I could turn the light off, but I haven’t; it might help a little, perhaps, and makes it easier to see things via the camera in there.

Two cats on the deck after dark:

Two cats on deck

A cat eating, when a raccoon turns up outside. The cat kept eating, then quickly evacuated when the raccoon got closer (there was no food left):

Cat eating, raccoon outside

I think this is the first time I’ve seen a rabbit on the camera:

Rabbit

Three cats waiting for breakfast:

Cats waiting for breakfast

The breakfast rush:

Breakfast rush

Four cats:

Four cats

Finally, some disappointed alien visitors. A small possum:

Possum

An orange cat:

Alien cat

A bigger possum:

Possum

A raccoon:

Raccoon

Cat update for week ending February 9

It’s a snowy Caturday!

We got a trace of snow last Sunday.  The area around the cat house is somewhat sheltered by trees:

Cat with trace snow

Looking across the small pond to the cat house, with a dusting of snow:

Cat house across the small pond

Lots of cat footprints in the snow on the path to the cat house:

Cat footprints

Another angle of the cat house through snow-covered branches:

Cat house with snow

A view from the driveway through the fountain garden, with the cat house visible through the trees in the middle:

Snowy landscape

Some snowflakes on a cat in the feeder:

Snow on cat

More snow overnight:

Cat in snow

A bird making poor life choices, snacking in the cat feeder; fortunately for it, nobody was home at the time (I do have bird feeders too):

Bird in feeder

Porcini looking from feeder:

Cat looking from feeder

Pommie with her tongue out, drinking from the heated water dish, about the only non-frozen water available:

Cat with tongue out

Cat tracks in the snow across the driveway:

Cat tracks in snow

The cat house with lots of cat footprints out front:

Cat house with cat tracks

The side of the cat house, through snowy trees:

Side of cat house

A cat on the front path, watching me:

Cat on front path

Just for fun, I made a couple of very rough mini-snowmen by the cat house.  Here a cat is poking at one:

Cat poking snowman

A rare sighting of a cat-head snowman:

Cat head above snowman

Three cats:

Three cats

Five cats toasty inside the heated shelter overnight. That makes me happy:

Five cats inside shelter

We had more snow overnight:

Cat in snow

Likely more snow on the way over the next few days, so there will probably be more snowy cat photos next week. Stay warm out there!

Cat update for week ending February 2

For this Caturday, I’m doing something a little different: sequences of photos. So there are lots more photos than usual, but most of them are very similar, so you can skim through them quickly. Sorry if this is too much; I’ll almost certainly go back to the usual format next time. But I thought this could be fun.

First up, a bunch of photos of cats arriving for dinner one evening; see if you can count how many (note, some visited multiple times):

20190126_162603.jpeg

20190126 163102

20190126 163452

20190126 165305

20190126 165611

20190126 165613

20190126 170024

20190126 171322

20190126 171559

20190126 172548

And similarly for breakfast the next day:

20190127 063415

20190127 064411

20190127 064801

20190127 071258

20190127 075946

20190127 080528

20190127 083608

The rare three-eyed cat:

20190127 174524

One of the cats on the deck, drinking from Rory’s heated water bowl (the cats did still have their own heated water):

IMG 1059

Pepper in the shop:

IMG 0707

And Pansy:

IMG 0717

A sequence of a raccoon approaching the camera, with a cat watching from the doorway:

20190129 205903

20190129 205928

20190129 205930

20190129 205931

20190129 205933

Playtime on the awnings, followed by a sequence of jumping off:

20190130 104941

20190130 105211

20190130 105211

20190130 105211

20190130 105211

20190130 105211

20190130 105211

A sequence of playtime and snuggles inside:

20190130 114928

20190130 115028

20190130 121808

20190130 125519

A sequence of four cats:

20190130 145049

20190130 145313

20190130 145343

A fight sequence:

20190131 135912

20190131 140202

20190131 140203

And (hopefully not appropriately) we end with a big yawn sequence:

20190201 150449

20190201 150449

20190201 150450

What do you think? Fun experiment, or tedious repetition (or both)?

Cat update for week ending January 26

Happy Caturday! Only 17 pictures this week.

Here’s Poppy by the heated water dish:

Poppy

Two cats inside:

Cats inside

Aww:

Cats inside

Not a cat: a raccoon dared to go inside the shelter:

Raccoon inside

Poppy is waiting for breakfast:

Poppy in the feeder

Me refilling the food dispenser. It sits on a drawer for easy filling:

Refilling food

I spilt a little food on the ground, so the cats were happy to help clean it up:

Cats eating spilt food

All five cats inside:

Cats inside

Another not-a-cat: a raccoon turned up during breakfast time.  I let Rory out onto the deck, which scared it off:

Raccoon in feeder

Since I got a number of nice comments that people enjoyed different views of the cat house, here are a few more. Looking across the small pond:

Cat house

A close-up of the “Cat House Saloon” and “Mercantile” signs:

Closeup on cat house signs

A side view, with the white gazebo and pond deck just visible in the background:

Cat house

Straight on, from further away:

Cat house

Stretch:

Cat stretching

A disappointed possum in the feeder area:

Possum

All five cats outside:

Cats outside

All five inside:

Cats inside

That’s all for this week.