Moderately calm day with most residents being home biddies.
TC lurked out of sight until a familiar car drew up at which point he made his presence as obvious as he could, with food very much in his mind.
Butch and Sundance had the same idea, although they have got confused about what food they will eat so are living on biscuits until they can decide. But they got to say hello.
Peter Sellars has a bit of a personal itch problem involving alot of sprays and is being kept indoors until she can be certain of her standing in the world. She is spending alot of time looking out the window.
After dark, however, more started to happen as the fox went rampaging after rabbits making a ruckuss and everyone kept home, apart from Butch who thought he would take in the evening air. This he did for a bit and then home did seem a less fraught place with all the rabbit stuff going on out there. Making sure he was going in to 'company' other than his brother, he opted for the front window, larger field of vision there......
Monday, 17 September 2012
Friday, 14 September 2012
14th September 2012 - Mole revision
Several months ago, TC held a masterclass for the residents of Felicity Terrace in the art of catching moles. Showing the reasons for his 'Yoda' nickname, he watched calmly as his students were each allocated a molehill and he taught them to 'wait'. A cat as a hunter who cannot 'wait' is less efficient and more hungry. Too much noise is made not 'waiting'. His best students were Mad Millie, ever competitive, and the two youngsters, ever keen to learn and alert enough to know when to listen to their master.
Today a new molehill appeared.
But the cat sitting beside it was Cardboard, a cat from outside the Terrace whose size and strength indicates good hunting prowess. Cardboard often sits. He sits for so long that he looks like a cardboard cut-out. Sometimes he sleeps under an oak tree nearby. Today he sat by the molehill. He has learned to 'wait'.
So has the mole.
Today a new molehill appeared.
But the cat sitting beside it was Cardboard, a cat from outside the Terrace whose size and strength indicates good hunting prowess. Cardboard often sits. He sits for so long that he looks like a cardboard cut-out. Sometimes he sleeps under an oak tree nearby. Today he sat by the molehill. He has learned to 'wait'.
So has the mole.
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
4th September 2012 Warm again
So hard to know what to do! First it gets cold. Then wet. Then warm then wet. Now warm again. What is a cat to do?
TC stopped worrying and just flopped onto the path. Behind him the jackdaw was in the apple tree. Did he care? No! Warm, muggy and fur matting, he didn't need to be bothered about anything more than minute by minute coping.
The jackdaw, on the other hand, was having a lovely time. Just right, the apples were ripe but not dropping! Eat your heart out woodpecker, I can peck my fruit where it grows, I have no need of telegraph poles or dead trees! Juice flowing from the flesh of the fruit, bitter as it is.
The nuthatches have both moved back to Felicity Terrace together, but have decided life is far simpler if you just go to the bird table for food, maybe the green hazelnuts gave them indigestion, anyway they have gone big time for peanuts for quite a few days. Still being flamboyantly ostentatious but not much attention paid to the old tree now.
The fly bag is smelly and filling up. Yuck. This seems to add to its attraction in fly quarters. More yuck.
Indoors The Spider is finding competition building up. Fly numbers are down, the fly paper has worked well and maybe the bag too. She needs to build up her elbows to surpasse the other spiders that moved in.
Butch has had a mellow day. Long lie followed by a genial stand-off with TC. Given the day neither had the inclination for more than 'look' training. A few random wanderings and then off to look for craneflies, after finding a dessicated frog on the path. Wonder where that came from?
TC stopped worrying and just flopped onto the path. Behind him the jackdaw was in the apple tree. Did he care? No! Warm, muggy and fur matting, he didn't need to be bothered about anything more than minute by minute coping.
The jackdaw, on the other hand, was having a lovely time. Just right, the apples were ripe but not dropping! Eat your heart out woodpecker, I can peck my fruit where it grows, I have no need of telegraph poles or dead trees! Juice flowing from the flesh of the fruit, bitter as it is.
The nuthatches have both moved back to Felicity Terrace together, but have decided life is far simpler if you just go to the bird table for food, maybe the green hazelnuts gave them indigestion, anyway they have gone big time for peanuts for quite a few days. Still being flamboyantly ostentatious but not much attention paid to the old tree now.
The fly bag is smelly and filling up. Yuck. This seems to add to its attraction in fly quarters. More yuck.
Indoors The Spider is finding competition building up. Fly numbers are down, the fly paper has worked well and maybe the bag too. She needs to build up her elbows to surpasse the other spiders that moved in.
Butch has had a mellow day. Long lie followed by a genial stand-off with TC. Given the day neither had the inclination for more than 'look' training. A few random wanderings and then off to look for craneflies, after finding a dessicated frog on the path. Wonder where that came from?
Saturday, 1 September 2012
1 September 2012 Autumn with green leaves
Some years autumn sweeps in with russet leaves in the latter part of September following a late flourish of warmth and berries. It seems that this year autumn has started barely as August has finished. In a cat world this doesn't really mean much, a world dominated by sleep and by food is fairly resilient, but patterns of possibility change.
Mad Millie has turned mildly indecisive. Her moulting seems to have finished, so she is getting her feisty argumentative streak back into play, but her approach towards Butch and Sundance was decidedly hesitant. She knew she had tormenting fun ahead of her, but still she wasn't utterly sure it would go her way. And in the end she decided against the foray completely and sachayed off.
Peter Sellars has taken to table tops. Nice warm wooden ones. In the sun is best but in the shade is jolly good, too, thanks. She watched Mad Millie's sachay with curious relief, no need to stand HER ground required, odd though.
Butch came past and Peter Sellars hissed and growled. Sundance came past and Peter Sellars looked. Interesting. Both boys went off into the hedgerow after a morning of peaceful sleep.
In the dead tree the nuthatch was tapping. In the same place. Where the tapping was happening there were green tufts.
The nuthatch was also tapping at a hazelnut trapped in wood. Not just a game for the woodpecker after all.
The hazelnut looks green....early autumn then.....
The Spider is 'complicated'. It has been a good season but she may have miscalculated. She appears to have had some children and they are now taking her food. That was a bit of an accident and will not do! She needs to work on getting them into a different area.
Mad Millie has turned mildly indecisive. Her moulting seems to have finished, so she is getting her feisty argumentative streak back into play, but her approach towards Butch and Sundance was decidedly hesitant. She knew she had tormenting fun ahead of her, but still she wasn't utterly sure it would go her way. And in the end she decided against the foray completely and sachayed off.
Peter Sellars has taken to table tops. Nice warm wooden ones. In the sun is best but in the shade is jolly good, too, thanks. She watched Mad Millie's sachay with curious relief, no need to stand HER ground required, odd though.
Butch came past and Peter Sellars hissed and growled. Sundance came past and Peter Sellars looked. Interesting. Both boys went off into the hedgerow after a morning of peaceful sleep.
In the dead tree the nuthatch was tapping. In the same place. Where the tapping was happening there were green tufts.
The nuthatch was also tapping at a hazelnut trapped in wood. Not just a game for the woodpecker after all.
The hazelnut looks green....early autumn then.....
The Spider is 'complicated'. It has been a good season but she may have miscalculated. She appears to have had some children and they are now taking her food. That was a bit of an accident and will not do! She needs to work on getting them into a different area.
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