It's Spring !!!

Our camera caught Pepper enjoying nice weather and a good spring roll around on the greening grass.

Mama is One Cool Cat

This morning the roofers began work on our new roof. Four cats were breakfasting when the roofers arrived. Four cats disappeared for the day. Mama Cat usually comes for breakfast after the other cats have finished and gone off to their daily pursuits. Today was no different. While the roofers were pounding and scraping she enjoyed a quiet breakfast and then gracefully and purposely walked back across the yard.

Back in March I wrote how Harley stepped into the house and she and Alex met nose to nose - and I missed the picture. Well, Harley has frequently come back inside briefly when I open the door in the morning to bring out the food for the day. So I finally caught the exchange between Harley and Alex on film - but missed the actual kiss. Here, Harley appears to be more interested in the furniture than in Alex.

Don't Fool with a Duck

Harley was out in the back yard yesterday when the two ducks that roam our neighborhood came through, quacking away. Harley began to stalk them, crouching low to the ground. One of the ducks turned and faced Harley, still quacking away. Harley stopped. The duck started toward Harley, still quacking away. Harley didn't move. The second duck turned and also started toward Harley, also quacking away. Harley chickened out and left.

A Visitor

This cat visited our back yard recently. It was the first time we had seen him. We almost mistook him for one of our kittens, until we noticed the black rings on his tail. To date, he has not returned.

Spring Cleaning

We've been blessed with sunny, warm weather recently, so we figured it was time to clean up and put out some warm weather things. The blanket on top of the condos will remain for the time being - nights can still get quite cool. However, we have unplugged the floor heaters. The cats don't spend much time inside anymore. Pepper, eating above, is the only one that sticks pretty close to the condos, and she is away more and more lately.

Capture Mode - Not

All the cats were waiting for breakfast this morning. Two dishes went out again and Yellow Ears was again one of those waiting. All at once all the cats went on alert and began to run erratically back across the yard and down the hill. Not one came back. I went out on the deck and could hear the pilings being driven in for a sea wall a short distance away. That noise was of great concern to the cats.

The capture cage sat alone on the porch. We took the time to do some measuring. It's a much smaller cage than the one we usually borrow. We figure this is a kitten capture cage. Our measurements showed us that if one of our cats (who are pretty well full grown) went inside, they would trip the cage door before their tail was inside. Ouch! We don't want to hurt our cats, so the cage went back to the vet and we will wait to return to capture mode when the larger cage is available.

Capture Mode

We borrowed a capture cage from our vet and set about coaxing Yellow Ears into it. She's the only female in the colony that has not been spayed. Yellow Ears is our least aggressive cat, so we set out only two bowls of cat food. Yellow Ears is always last to eat because she will not challenge one of the other cats, even those younger than she is. When the rest of the cats had eaten their fill, we took the bowls of food away and set out the capture cage with food inside. Yellow Ears kept coming back every couple hours, but would not go near the capture cage. We'll try again tomorrow. She'll be very hungry by then.