cat update!

The girls spent a couple of days on a field trip (literally, I expect) and poor Inky/Spook fell behind.  He spent most of two days as a solo artist, working on his pitiful meows to make us feel he'd been totally abandoned.  I've found the kittens love chasing coins rolled down the driveway; their reflexes will thank me when the first mousies appear without mama to help!   Later he jumped under the tarp and did some self-motivated play.

Last night mama returned though, so Inky had a little more company at dinner.  And this morning the girls are back!  They were quite hungry so I made sure a bit extra was in each bowl.  Now they're wandering in and out of view, like they have been doing since early June.  They all come running when we step outside (unless it's siesta time) but rubbing against us or actual touching is still not their thing.

kitten updates

Mama and kittens remain nearby, and are getting more familiar with us.  Voyeuristic viewing suggests that the twins are both girls and the all-black is a boy overwhelmed with girl attention!  Clyde is therefore Sue (a la Ms. Pac-Man), and Inky has been dubbed Brave Sir Robin* .  Sue is still the most curious, often attending me to the garage door as I get out the cat food; Pinky hangs back a bit and Sir Robin the Brave is loitering anxiously near the exit :~)

Clearly they've adapted to the spa noise and the presence of a nice chair!

mama Pinky and Sue, the matched set.  Sir Robin = Sir Not Appearing in This Image (behind the others)

* "when danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled" (from the Holy Grail movie)

lost and found

Early this week the cats vanished.  One evening we were outside and didn't see much of them, then no sign at all.  Mama cat wandered past, and her new friend a bronze tabby! - but the kittens were gone.  I picked up the play toys and food trays and we mourned their brief time with us; I had expected more time to decide if we could make their stay more permanent but it appeared the decision was made.

After a long and exhausting yesterday I saw mama and kits over by the big garage; apparently they had a new home in the wilderness.  Then this morning they sat near the corner of the house watching me as I shot the beautiful sunrise.  Like nothing had changed!  So out came the food which they gratefully devoured.  Curious.

This image covers all the bases nicely.  One adventurous kitten closer to me than to his/her mama, one near mom & one under cover.  'Clyde' has always been the most inquisitive and daring of the three, 'Inky' (brave brave Sir Robin?) the most likely to flee at any hint of danger, and 'Pinky' the in-betweener.  

And so the decision begins.. again.

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Oh yes - that beautiful sunrise?  The solstice has just passed, and it turns out the far-north sunrise is adjacent to Rainier!  That's quite the ogham stone to use, Ireland would be jealous..

St. Helens at dawn

family of four

Back in November or so I noticed a black cat with an off-center white stripe hanging about.  I later suspected he was under our house for the winter, as I would see him dart around a corner of the house, but when I got there - no cat.  What me worry, we weren't using the area under the house anyway!

Over the last week I began seeing more of him.. well HER in fact.  I learned that when a small mirror-image kitten looked out at me from the corner of the house where a small gap led beneath.  Later two other faces popped in: another white-stripe face and a very dark one.  An occasional view of a black cat in the area causes me to suspect I've met the father!

Since we still had a decent supply of food from Sadie's time with us, I set out a bowl or two and some water.  They clearly weren't going anywhere so why starve them?  My reward has been two mouse bodies in two days, so I guess they weren't exactly starving; mom is clearly quite the hunter!

What's next?  Hmmm we'll see.  We have yet to actually touch one since the kittens have several safe places to hide plus mom as first defense.  Therefore no gender ID - they enjoy solid food though, so they're beyond the nursing stage.  The one white-face (here in the downspout drain) is the most social, the all-black least commonly seen.  All three were having a fine time among the pea-vines this morning though when I came out the door!

A shot of our fuzzy family!

In memory of Pac-Man, here are mama Blinky (eyes often shut in photos),

Clyde (brown spots on nose), Pinky (all-pink nose) and Inky.

cute v. pretty

I recently took the compost out to the future-garden-area, and spooked one of the three DLF (deer little friends) that often come to visit. The other two sauntered into the yard and the third rejoined them pretty soon - and they almost immediately began foraging on the azalea flowers

What does one do when confronted with cute deerlings eating pretty flowers?  Well in my case, I grab a camera :+) the K-r and DA50-200 to be precise.  I was standing about 20 feet away on the deck, and only received an occasional glance as I clicked away --

The flowers will be back next year - who can say about the deer?  Just don't let me catch them in the blueberries, which is where that first one may have been munching!

bird confusion

similar yet decidedly different!

Oh my goodness - I had never heard of a Varied Thrush until today.  So the birds that I've often considered to be a darker variant on Oregon's state bird, the Western Meadowlark, is not a dark lark at all!  Live and learn..  The patterns are similar but beaks and backs are distinctly different.  And one wears a V-neck, the other a crew :^)

It could take a while to edit my many mis-birded posts, but the VT is the bird tossing leaves in our yard in search of lunch - Not the meadowlark.  Good thing I left Oregon before learning this.. and neither will be confused with our new state bird, the Goldfinch!

* nope, it sounds nothing like the Swainson's spiraling call, just a single note.  And since I've been hearing that call a lot in the past few weeks, I now know who makes it!  I should have heard it long before now.  Better late than never, I suppose.