I was so proud of myself this morning when I looked at my new Weather Channel wireless temperature station monitor sitting on the dining room table and it said -4 degrees and I was able to make a pot of coffee. All my efforts had paid off and the pipes didn't freeze.
An hour or so later I went to make another small pot. What else is there to do but loaf around and drink coffee when it is all the way up to a vigorous +4 degrees at 10am? No water would come forth from the faucets in the kitchen sink. Drat, drat and double drat, I forget to leave a trickle of water running after the first pot and the pipes done froze up solid. I got to the bathroom faucets in time and turned on the trickle of water.
The Spots have discovered the difference between -4 and 68. We have been spending some extended quality time indoors today. It is still an in and out situation though.
During an outdoor lunch break mama Spot came home with a snack for Crawford.
Take that you bulb eating varmint! Actually this one looked more like a mole which is an earthworm and small invertebrate carnivore. The vole, a more mouse like looking critter is the real vegetarian bulb eater. We got voles too.
Crawford is rolling and jumping and poncing and growling, having the best time with this little squeaky toy and I am getting a good look at his newly disturbed nether parts and thinking how on earth does a vet technician shave such a delicate little thing? I know my hands aren't steady enough for a job like that.
No one messes with Crawford when he's growling and has a varmint to play with. Collar only looks on. Every time I have seen mama Spot fetch a critter, Crawford gets it.
The last round of quality indoor time was headed for a new time record until all hell broke loose when Crawford got his foot stuck in an old sticky glue trap. The cats find the mice's former favorite closet a place of particular interest. They were ready to go back outside after the commotion had died down. They regained their composure and I got the clackety, clack, glue trap off the bottom of Crawford's foot.
It's new entertainment for minus four degrees.
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10 comments:
I chuckled at Crawford's glee in tackling the varmint! Finally had time to go back a couple of months and learn about the coming of Mama Spot and then the Spotlets. We've successfully rehabilitated feral cats before, and the big secret is to get them young, as you have done. One adult cat that the no-kill cat rescue group had caught and neutered, we could not get to settle inside; she was just too wild. I looked after Grace for years, and she would come inside as long as the door was left open. She would eat and warm up but if you closed the window or door, she absolutely freaked. We finally built her a small insulated and very snug cat-house on the front deck of the house where we then lived, and she would sleep there every night when it was cold. She lived a long and happy life, hanging out with the rest of our cats but declining to be domesticated.
The debate over cats hunting will never be solved. We feed the birds. We have seven cats, only the oldest two of whom go out without supervision (one goes out on a harness with me to supervise the garden, two go out with me to play in the back yard, and two, both formerly feral/abandoned kittens, don't ever never no-how ever want to go out, thank you). The two oldsters hunt rodents but ignore the birds. I don't know whether they're just too old and relaxed or if they maybe got buffeted by our chickens when we had them. But they don't bother the birds.
I often think that the province ought to levy each taxpayer, once a year, with the cost of spaying/neutering one feral or stray cat or cat owned by someone who can't afford the fee, and have vets around the province handle the neutering. Populations would go way, way down, and probably so would the complaining about cats. Maybe.
They don't actually have to shave down there. The hair rips right out.
Heh, heh. It's true. But me and the vets I worked for would usually shave. It's very easy.
Hi Christopher! I hope the water in the kitchen faucet is working for you again. I know how frustrating that can be. It sounds like the Spotlets are so happy to be home! I need to borrow Crawford for a bit to take care of my vole problem. :) She sure looks like she is having fun!
What an entertaining sequence of events. After Crawford entertained with mole mauling I was grinning from ear to ear. I about fell out of my chair laughing when you said he got stuck in that sticky pan meant for mice. Oh lordy what a sight that must have been.
I am so glad they came to their senses and came in when it was so cold. I would hate to hear their shaved nether parts were frost bit. If they are in more maybe you won't need sticky traps any more.
Hi Christopher, so there is definitely a mama's boy thing going on here, no fair! Boy, that was a close one with the water, quick thinking on your part. I can picture the commotion with the sticky trap, poor kitties, the house is full of scary things along with the heat and cool mouse smells for them, quick! flee to the outside! The Financier went to Asheville to work on the books at the hop. I was supposed to go but got sick. Still managed to locate witch hazels by phone at BB and Jesse Israel, so hopefully one will come home to live here. :-)
Frances
Cats are just fantastic. After looking at Don's post (An Iowa Garden) with his cat attacking a dear, I am thinking of becoming a cat. Our two boys chase and tackle each other, nip and jab as they wrestle. In all my 20 years of having cats, I've never seen this. They never hurt each other, but also never sleep together or near one another.
Hey,
Great sequence of photos! This was a fun post to read.
Remember Caddie Shack? We lived it! Should have had cats, I guess.
We're having fun following your blog.
Jodi, what a thoughtful comment. Yes the hunting debate I don't think will ever be solved. The reduce the population numbers issue should be a no brainer.
Ouch!! Chuck.
Siria actually you would need to borrow Spot. The women do all the work in the feline world.
Lisa, the sticky trap thing was pretty funny. I think I solved the mouse problem a while back with one brief return, by finding and sealing all the holes in the house where they were getting in.
Frances, lucky you to a Financier who shops for you too.
Ben my last two cats on Maui were like that, a major sibling rivilry.
Hi BlogH thanks for all the incoming traffic. You've got mail.
Just to set the record straight, it was Brokenbeat doing the shopping, the Financier did his thing, financing the shopping. And setting up the accounting system at the ice cream shop. Hooray for Spots back home, unmarried and inside.
Frances
The house is looking great I see. Cats are funny. Ours stays inside though; there are some mean feral cats running around these parts.
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