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

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):

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20190126 165613

20190126 170024

20190126 171322

20190126 171559

20190126 172548

And similarly for breakfast the next day:

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20190127 083608

The rare three-eyed cat:

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

Pepper in the shop:

And Pansy:

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

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20190129 205931

20190129 205933

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

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A sequence of playtime and snuggles inside:

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A sequence of four cats:

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A fight sequence:

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

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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.

Cat update for week ending January 19

It’s that time again, Caturday! And don’t duck out from reading the blog tomorrow; I’ll have some exciting news then. Stay tuned!

Lots of pics this week. I usually aim for about 20, but today we have 31. Including some new visitors.

But first, some cuteness:

This may be a little hard to see, but there’s a cat climbing a pole in the background (and one eating):

The gray alien cat:

Stretch!

A screenshot of my iPad, showing cats on all four cameras: Pansy in the shop, and some outdoor cats:

A non-cam photo of the cat house. You an see the outdoor cam housed in a stack of concrete blocks on the left (one day I want to make a nicer enclosure, but this works):

Another angle, looking from the path by the bird feeders to the cat house, with the white gazebo and pond deck in the background:

Closer to the cat house. I really wish the two signs were more readable from a distance; I’ve thought about painting the lettering. They say “Cat House Saloon” for the shelter side, and “Mercantile” for the feeder side:

Double-decker cats (Porcini on the awning, Poppy on the deck):

Pippin is fascinated by the cats on my iPad:

With the big and small ponds frozen, birds have been taking advantage of the heated water dish (when the cats are elsewhere):

Poppy:

More snuggles:

A daytime screenshot of my iPad, showing Pansy in the shop and others. I really gotta put her on a diet:

What’s this? More snuggles! How shocking:

All five cats inside:

Breakfast queue:

Me refilling the heated water dish. Since the garden taps are disabled for the winter, I bring out a bottle of water (a reused creamer bottle) to flush and refill the dish:

A couple of cats watch as a possum walks by:

Porcini looking at the camera inside:

And her outside:

The alien gray cat ventured into the shelter:

Here he’s coming out:

A bird having a bath in the heated water dish:

Doesn’t want to share:

A couple of smaller birds (sorry, I’m no good at recognizing species):

Porcini the burrito:

Rolling over on the edge… this isn’t going to end well:

Saw that coming; everybody freaked out:

The gray alien again; pretty sure he lives north of us somewhere:

Porcini again:

That’s it for this week! What do you think; too many photos? Would you prefer I limit it to around 20 as usual, or the more the merrier?

Cat update for week ending January 12

Enough with the chickens; it’s Caturday! (I will try to post pictures of the chickens more often than in the past, though.)

This week we have the usual assortment of awning antics, alien visitors, and cute snuggles. I couldn’t think of a title that summarizes the photos this week, so went with a generic one… maybe I should just stick with that?

One of the awning antics:

There have been fewer raccoon visits this past week; since getting back from my Xmas trip, there hasn’t been leftover food, so their visits have been decreasing:

Portabella:

She caught an insect of some kind:

Oh deer:

It’s the alien gray cat again:

The alien gray cat inside the feeder area:

Hey there, mind if I join you?

Snuggles:

Porcini looking rather relaxed:

Portabella again:

More awning antics:

A good vantage point for watching birds:

One of the twins:

Portabella on the awning, one of the twins in the doorway:

Drinking and watching:

Waiting for breakfast (there’s actually four in there; one is mostly obscured):

Yawn! Somebody needs their coffee:

Poppy watching (probably Rory on the deck), along with Portabella behind the cat house:

Lazy morning:

That’s it!

Cat update: hello 2019

Welcome to the first #Caturday of 2019! Your weekly check-in with our family of feral cats.

…And some not-cats, like this lucky raccoon.

The cat house has an internet-connected food dispenser, which has a schedule of set food amounts, plus I can use an app to tell it to dispense additional portions. To avoid attracting wildlife like this raccoon, I normally have the scheduled feedings set to a bit less than what the cats actually eat, and I watch the feeder area via the IP camera there and dispense more if they run out. The goal being to have no food left after dark, when the raccoons and possums are about.

However, while we went away for a late Christmas, I increased the scheduled dispenser amounts, since I wouldn’t be able to watch the camera (it’s only available on our local network, for bandwidth reasons). Apparently the cats weren’t that hungry on this evening, leaving a lot of food for the raccoon, unfortunately:

That naturally encourages the raccoon to come back again, which it did each night. Though the cats seem to be getting used to it, not running away:

Poppy is modeling a high fashion accessory; a cobweb or similar:

All five cats inside:

Another raccoon encounter (and an eye upstairs):

All five again:

An encounter of a different sort; a cat watches as a deer walks by:

A sequence of four photos; two cats on the awnings:

One of the twins (Spud?) hassling Porcini as she drinks:

Porcini leaves (and you may notice Poppy looking out the door):

Rubbing on the edge of the awning, and a shadow of Porcini on top of the camera housing:

Three inside:

Stretch:

Another not-cat: a disappointed possum. I adjusted the food dispenser again to reduce the food after we returned from our trip:

Another raccoon visit, disappointed this time:

The alien gray cat:

Soaking up the warmth from a heating pad:

A couple outside:

That’s it for this week!

Cat update: goodbye 2018

As another year comes to a close, one last #Caturday update for 2018. But fear not, the updates will continue in the new year!

A visit by the alien gray cat:

Stretch!

Four cats snuggling (can you see all of them?):

Three not too concerned up top, one below, facing off a raccoon:

The raccoon backed off and left, and the cats fell back asleep:

Porcini looking at Rory on the deck in the distance:

Three cats enjoying the warmth of the heating pads:

Porcini by the heated water dish:

A meeting by the feeder entrance:

One of the twins inside:

A queue waiting for breakfast, sheltered from the rain:

Porcini upstairs, Poppy enjoying the warmth downstairs:

See you in 2019!

Cat update: let’s go to the shop

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: