Cat update for week ending September 12 (plus evacuation update)

The latest news from our evacuation from the wildfires (or more accurately climate fires): last night the power was restored to our homestead, having been off since Tuesday afternoon. Since it was without electricity for over three days, it’s safe to assume the contents of our three freezers and two fridges will have to be thrown out. But having power means that the well is working again, and the waterers in the chicken runs will refill, which will help them survive. The stream to the small pond will also be running again, providing water for the outdoor cats and wild birds.

We remain safe at Mom’s place, though the smoke from the fires is affecting the air quality up and down the west coast, as can be seen in this map (or check the current conditions):

Air quality

The fire boundary and evacuation map hasn’t really changed since yesterday (website):

Fire and evacuation map

The Clackamas county map (website):

Fire and evacuation map

I talked about the chickens and ducks yesterday; today is Caturday, so I’ll talk about the cats.

We care for nine cats: two indoor-only pet cats (Pippin and Paladin), two indoor-only feral shop cats (Pepper and Pansy), and five outdoor-only feral cats (Poppy and her offspring Porcini, Portabella aka Bella, Pomegranate aka Pommie, and Potato aka Spud).

Pippin and Paladin are safe with us. Pepper and Pansy are still in the workshop, and should have enough food and water to last them about a week. Poppy and the others can feed themselves on rodents etc, but now that the power is back, they will get some meals from the cat house. That food should last about a week too. And they can drink from the stream and small pond, plus a waterer near the cat house.

So I’m not as concerned about the cats as I am about the chickens, though the shop cats would be my next concern after the chickens. I do worry that the outdoor ferals might have abandoned us when they weren’t getting food while the power was off. The feeder has a battery backup, but according to the feeder log, apparently it didn’t work while there was no power, so the batteries must be flat. D’oh! They’ll probably stick around, though.

Unfortunately although the power and internet are back on, my Camect camera server is connected to a UPS that is off, so I can’t view the cameras remotely. I won’t know what’s happening until we go home.

Enough text, let’s have some photos. Here are Paladin and Rory snuggling in our room at Mom’s place:

Paladin and Rory

Some pictures of the feral cats from before we evacuated. Here’s Poppy:

Poppy

Porcini having a bath on the kitchen lawn:

Porcini

And relaxing in the kitchen garden:

Porcini

Poppy emerging from the feeder:

Poppy

Porcini:

Porcini

Porcini again:

Porcini

Poppy again:

Poppy

Poppy and Porcini:

Poppy and Porcini

A tail:

Tail

Finally, Pansy in the back of the shop:

Pansy

I hope the cats will be okay!

Cat update for week ending September 5

As any good calendar will tell you, the day after Flock Friday is inevitably Caturday. Weird how a day of the week is named after cats, but they were treated as gods in ancient times, so who am I to argue?! Makes as much sense as naming a day after a ball of gas.

Anyway… here’s Porcini:

Porcini

Paladout:

Paladout

Two cats inside:

Two cats inside

Comfy Poppy:

Poppy

Poppa:

Poppa

Spud jumping up to the breezeway cabin:

Jumping up

Porcini relaxing in the kitchen garden:

Porcini

A closer look:

Porcini

A few minutes later, I wanted to go out to close up the duck house, and Porcini was sitting outside the door:

Porcini

(I cracked the door, and she retreated.)

Spud emerging from the breezeway cabin:

Spud

An animated GIF of Spud stretching and heading off to work:

GIF of breezeway

I put a spare camera in the back of the shop to watch Pansy’s food and litter boxes; this is when she first saw it:

Pansy

Poppy:

Poppy

Bella chilling:

Bella

Pommie, Poppa, Poppy, and Bella (left-to-right) by the cat house:

Pommie, Poppa, Poppy, Bella

Pommie, Poppa, Bella, Poppy; Poppa was feeling a bit ganged up upon, but the girls were just saying hi; I continue to be amazed how well they get on with him:

Pommie, Poppa, Bella, Poppy

Queue for food:

Feeder

A GIF of that time, with Bella, joined by Poppa, then Poppy, and Pommie:

GIF of cat house

Pansy waiting for her dinner on the white bed in the center of the picture:

Pansy

Food dispensing, she pops up:

Pansy

And comes to eat it:

Pansy

Finally, Bella and Spud hanging out in the kitchen garden (with some reflections from the window):

Bella and Spud

Cat update for week ending August 29

Welcome to Caturday! Cuteness! Paladin! Raccoons! Levitating cat! A random GIF! And more!

Dinner queue:

Dinner queue

Porcini:

Porcini

Pommie in her favorite place:

Pommie

Pommie and Bella at the cat feeder:

Pommie and Bella

Paladin watches Bella on the driveway:

Paladin watches Bella on the driveway

Bella is curious, and approached:

Bella is curious

Paladin and Bella curiously watching each other:

Paladin watches Bella

A closer look at Bella:

Bella

Pommie was comfy in her cabin, then raccoons approached; she hissed at them:

Pommie hissing at raccoons

The raccoons circled around behind, and Pommie wisely retreated; you can see raccoon eyes between the cabins:

Pommie retreating from raccoons

There was a mother and at least one kit:

Raccoons

Pommie was happy to go back later, though:

Pommie

On a hot day, Pepper on her non-heated bed on top of shelves in the shop (there’s a heating pad on the nearby blue bed for cold days):

Pepper in the shop

Spud thought he heard something in the breezeway:

Spud

Spud in his cabin:

Spud

Bella walking through the breezeway while Spud is sleeping in late:

Bella and Spud

Levitating cat! A frame of mid-run through the breezeway:

Running cat

Breakfasttime:

Breakfasttime

Dinnertime:

Dinnertime

Sparkletime — a GIF of the dappled sun through the trees by the cat house, which makes it very hard to spot cat activity when reviewing recordings around midday, as the camera is pretty much constantly registering motion (it does look nice, though):

Sparkletime

Cat update for week ending August 22

Lots of pictures of Porcini this week; she’s a bit of a home-body, not necessarily in the cat house, but in the gardens nearby. Pommie is too, in her own way, though she prefers the cabins.

Several days this week I’ve spotted Porcini when doing my afternoon or evening rounds, on the way to or from the pond. Here she is on the steps to the fountain garden:

Porcini

Porcini waiting for her turn for breakfast:

Porcini

It’s not all Porcini, though. Here’s Spud emerging from the breezeway cabin:

Spud

Spud freezes when he spots a bird at the end of the breezeway:

Spud spots a bird

Oh look, it’s Porcini again:

Porcini

And again:

Porcini

And again; so comfy on the deck:

Porcini

Two cats as the food starts to dispense:

Two cats

Twins:

Twins

Sniffing noses:

Sniffing noses

Spotted Porcini again; you can just barely see her hiding behind the ceramic pukeko ornaments:

Porcini

Yep, it’s Porcini again:

Porcini

Porcini and Poppy inside their house:

Porcini and Poppy

Finally, some other cats; here’s Bella:

Bella

Pommie and Poppa:

Pommie and Poppa

Poppy and Spud:

Poppy and Spud

Cat update for week ending August 15

This week on Caturday, a bit of danger with raccoons, that fortunately was uneventful, and various other cat pics.

Two cats relaxing in the shade under the bushes on the left, while one drinks:

Two cats relaxing in the shade, one drinking

Cats eating and drinking:

Cats eating and drinking

Silhouette of a cat jumping down from the breezeway cabin:

Silhouette of cat jumping down from the breezeway cabin

Scratching a tree:

Cat scratching tree

A cat about to jump down over another inside their house:

Cat about to jump down inside

Three comfy cats inside their house:

Three cats inside

A family of raccoons visited the cat house (no leftover food for them):

Raccoons

Two cats were inside the house at the time, which could have been rather bad if a raccoon had gone inside the house, but fortunately none did:

Cats inside with raccoons outside

The cat house has a back door for escape, but a design flaw was that there is no emergency exit from the upper level. (There are several things I’d do differently if redesigning the cat house, most around better protecting from raccoons.)

If a raccoon had, the cats probably would have been okay; they can defend themselves very well, and could defend the high place against a raccoon, but there would be some risk. I’m glad that didn’t happen.

Finally, three happy cat loaves:

Cat loaves

Cat update for week ending August 8

It’s Caturday!

Porcini arrives while another is eating:

Porcini etc

The two twins, Spud and Pommie:

Twins

Porcini:

Porcini

Comfy Poppy:

Poppy

Poppa peeking up at Spud:

Spud and Poppa

Spud in the morning:

Spud

Pommie and Spud in the cabins:

Pommie and Spud

Pommie oozing out, Spud cozy:

Pommie and Spud

Two cats inside:

Two cats inside

Two cats in the feeder (I don’t get pictures of this much anymore, as the camera isn’t recording, but I captured these live):

Two cats eating

Pansy in the back of the shop:

Pansy in the shop

Cat update for week ending August 1

As is usual for warm weather, the feral cats haven’t been hanging around as much in the last week, so I only had 16 photos from which to choose; perhaps a new low for me. I picked 10.

Poppy and Porcini inside their house:

Two cats inside

Porcini and Pommie outside:

Porcini and Pommie

A mother and two young raccoons looking at the cabins (no cats were home):

Raccoons

One of the twins in the breezeway cabin just before dawn:

Breezeway

Waiting for breakfast:

Waiting for breakfast

Breakfast dispensing:

Breakfast dispensing

I startled Porcini when walking on the path near the cat house (her mouth is open licking her lips after eating, not reacting to me):

Porcini

She retreated to behind the cat house (lots of lens flare at that time of day):

Porcini

Two on the deck:

Two on the deck

Pepper in the shop:

Pepper in the shop

Cat update for week ending July 25

This week for Caturday, a couple of GIFs with Poppa and Bella, and the usual assortment of cat pics.

Paladout is watched from the cat house:

Paladout

Poppy and Pommie:

Poppy and Pommie

The mushroom girls, Bella and Porcini:

Bella and Porcini

Poppa, with Porcini in the background:

Poppa

An animated GIF of Poppa drinking, with Porcini approaching from the back, then Bella rushes up, chasing Poppa:

Poppa and Bella GIF

Another GIF from a few minutes later; Bella was having a bath, Poppa started to get comfortable, and Bella didn’t allow that:

Poppa and Bella GIF

She seems to have a bit of a problem with him; they don’t fight, she just appears to want to put him in his place.

Porcini relaxing on their deck:

Porcini

Pommie in front of the cabins:

Pommie

Pommie watching me from behind the cabins:

Pommie

Costco deliveries:

Pommie

Three cats:

Three cats

Poppa and Pommie sniffing noses:

Poppa and Pommie

Pepper in her nest on the shelves in the front of the shop:

Pepper

Three cats:

Three cats

Snuggles:

Snuggles

Cat update for week ending July 18

For this week’s Caturday: Porcini by the small pond, Pommie by the cabins, Bella and Poppa by the cat house, Poppy inside the cat house, and more.

A nice picture of Porcini watching me from between the cat house and small pond:

Porcini by small pond

Pommie toe beans:

Cat toes

Sleepy Pommie:

Cabin cat

And in front of cabins:

Pommie in front of cabins

An interesting silhouette of a cat jumping up the log pile, with lots of lens flare from the sunrise:

Silhouetted cat jumping

Double-decker cats:

Two cats inside

While doing rounds, I felt I was being watched:

Cat

An animated GIF of Poppa, Pommie, and Bella arriving, Poppa eating then sitting on the deck while Pommie ate, Bella rushing him then rolling around on the ground, then finally Bella chasing Poppa off:

Cat GIF

Pommie and Poppa:

Pommie and Poppa

A GIF taking a closer look at part of that sequence, where Bella rushed at Poppa, then sniffed him:

Cat GIF

Bella rushing at Poppa, while Pommie ate:

Bella, Poppa, Pommie

I was pleased that Poppa didn’t fight back, he just raised a paw in defense; it wasn’t a serious attack. Then Bella sniffed him in a friendly way:

Bella, Poppa

Bella, Poppa, Pommie:

Bella, Poppa, Pommie

Bella rolling on the ground below Poppa:

Bella, Poppa

Poppy spent most of yesterday inside the cat house:

Poppy

Here’s a GIF of her day:

Cat GIF

Cat update for week ending July 11

For this week’s Caturday, we start with a not-cat, then a GIF of a day in the cat house, plus pictures of multiple cats in multiple places, a second GIF of Poppa and Pommie, checking on the shop cats, and finish with some nice shots of sunrise in the breezeway.

A raccoon visited the cabins; nobody was home at the time:

Raccoon