Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
On 18 Dec, a very large cat showed up at our house. It was late and cold, and he looked in the door and made it clear he wanted inside. Well, since we have two cats already and he was a stranger, we...
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Finally got the new deck sealed. Definitely not going to reseal in August ever again. I'm putting it on the April schedule.
A skulk of foxes strolled across the driveway two mornings ago, 3 adults and 2 kits. Luckily, the cats were asleep and missed the parade. The day before that, an adult fox came by, startling both cats and itself. The cats dashed back into the house, Rudy growling and Czarny looking concerned. The fox dashed to the driveway, sat down, and looked back at the house for a bit, then headed down the meadow. I think this fox was the one that played with Spotacus, but is too wary of two cats to want to play with these guys - not that either wants to play with the fox.
This morning, Czarny flew across the pool deck, around the pool and inside the house, all puffed up. As he headed under the bed, Rudy ran inside. WLToo checked and saw Leoghaire coming up the slope. Rudy's the big, brave hunter when Leoghaire is eating corn on the north porch, chittering away through the window. But neither cat wants to be anywhere near her outside. Good. Best they not interact.
Rudy is getting so he comes when I call him; Czarny, not so much. But he is noticing that Rudy gets treats when he answers me, so I have hopes that Czarny will decide treats are more important than running around outside when we want him inside. Meanwhile, Rudy is rubbing all over WLToo now, since he's the treats purveyor, and neither cat backs away when WLToo puts the treats down. One day, they'll sit on his lap -- I just know it.
There's a wasp hanging out underneath the hummingbird feeder. Sometimes, it tries to chase the hummers away, and sometimes it just stays in place. I don't think the feeder leaks, and we certainly don't allow a nest to be built under it, so it's just an interesting thing to watch for now. When I refilled the feeder yesterday, the wasp flew up toward my face, I blew gently, and it flew away, so it's not one of the aggressive sort. Did not get a close enough look at it to determine what kind, other than it's not a yellow jacket. Around here, we see a yellow jacket, it dies. Red wasps, mud daubers, etc., are fine -- they aren't aggressive toward us or our critters, they eat undesirable insects, and they don't make a mess, so they can stay.
There was a wasp earlier that did chase the hummers around, until a barn swallow swooped in and grabbed it right in its middle. That's the last aggressive wasp we've seen this year.
The swallows have migrated already, and I do miss them so. They've been replaced by a woodpecker with a love of banging on the plastic covering on the power line connections. At least that's not near as annoying as the woodpecker that banged on our metal chimney cover every Sunday morning back in Virginia. Woodpeckers like to play like that...
A huge flock of bitty birds has been hanging around the last week or so. They move around in a mob, and I haven't gotten a close enough look at them to see what they are. Their presence might explain why we don't have ankle biting insects in the early evening anymore. Hope they stay a while.
Sister's house is on the market, and the realtor's pretty sure it will sell quickly, after walking in and seeing how we'd staged it and that it was pristine clean. Last Saturday, we drove around the lake, getting a feel for whatever neighborhoods she liked. Her initial criteria was it has to be no more than 10 minutes drive from us, but now she's reaching out further (whew). Some really nice places coming up, within her budget, but a bit farther than that 10 minute criteria. By the time she sells her place and is ready to make an offer, she should have a much better idea of which neighborhood she'll want to be in.
There are a couple of cats eyeing me. Guess it's play time. Later, y'all.
A skulk of foxes strolled across the driveway two mornings ago, 3 adults and 2 kits. Luckily, the cats were asleep and missed the parade. The day before that, an adult fox came by, startling both cats and itself. The cats dashed back into the house, Rudy growling and Czarny looking concerned. The fox dashed to the driveway, sat down, and looked back at the house for a bit, then headed down the meadow. I think this fox was the one that played with Spotacus, but is too wary of two cats to want to play with these guys - not that either wants to play with the fox.
This morning, Czarny flew across the pool deck, around the pool and inside the house, all puffed up. As he headed under the bed, Rudy ran inside. WLToo checked and saw Leoghaire coming up the slope. Rudy's the big, brave hunter when Leoghaire is eating corn on the north porch, chittering away through the window. But neither cat wants to be anywhere near her outside. Good. Best they not interact.
Rudy is getting so he comes when I call him; Czarny, not so much. But he is noticing that Rudy gets treats when he answers me, so I have hopes that Czarny will decide treats are more important than running around outside when we want him inside. Meanwhile, Rudy is rubbing all over WLToo now, since he's the treats purveyor, and neither cat backs away when WLToo puts the treats down. One day, they'll sit on his lap -- I just know it.
There's a wasp hanging out underneath the hummingbird feeder. Sometimes, it tries to chase the hummers away, and sometimes it just stays in place. I don't think the feeder leaks, and we certainly don't allow a nest to be built under it, so it's just an interesting thing to watch for now. When I refilled the feeder yesterday, the wasp flew up toward my face, I blew gently, and it flew away, so it's not one of the aggressive sort. Did not get a close enough look at it to determine what kind, other than it's not a yellow jacket. Around here, we see a yellow jacket, it dies. Red wasps, mud daubers, etc., are fine -- they aren't aggressive toward us or our critters, they eat undesirable insects, and they don't make a mess, so they can stay.
There was a wasp earlier that did chase the hummers around, until a barn swallow swooped in and grabbed it right in its middle. That's the last aggressive wasp we've seen this year.
The swallows have migrated already, and I do miss them so. They've been replaced by a woodpecker with a love of banging on the plastic covering on the power line connections. At least that's not near as annoying as the woodpecker that banged on our metal chimney cover every Sunday morning back in Virginia. Woodpeckers like to play like that...
A huge flock of bitty birds has been hanging around the last week or so. They move around in a mob, and I haven't gotten a close enough look at them to see what they are. Their presence might explain why we don't have ankle biting insects in the early evening anymore. Hope they stay a while.
Sister's house is on the market, and the realtor's pretty sure it will sell quickly, after walking in and seeing how we'd staged it and that it was pristine clean. Last Saturday, we drove around the lake, getting a feel for whatever neighborhoods she liked. Her initial criteria was it has to be no more than 10 minutes drive from us, but now she's reaching out further (whew). Some really nice places coming up, within her budget, but a bit farther than that 10 minute criteria. By the time she sells her place and is ready to make an offer, she should have a much better idea of which neighborhood she'll want to be in.
There are a couple of cats eyeing me. Guess it's play time. Later, y'all.
