I have taken to throwing small stuffed animals into corners for the kitten to find. He likes to carry them around the house, drop them, then chase them like they just tried to make a daring escape. The octopus toy makes me laugh; it has a happy face outside, then is reversible to show a sad face. I caught a video of Thor the kitten playing with it, and it started off happy, and ended up sad, as the playing inverted the toy. Here is the video.
Mr Tom, our neighbor’s outdoor cat, has taken to hanging out in our back woods, rather than just the meadow between our houses. I went back to see where he was hanging out and found that our ATS system sprinkler had a pool. Oops. Something (probably an armadillo) dug a burrow near the sprinkler head, and the hole filled with water. A problem for us, but it made a nice cool “beach” for cat lounging in 100 degree weather.
My husband collapsed the hole, repaired the sprinkler head, and filled the area with rock to support the head and discourage digging. I asked him to also get a large flat paver, so there was still a place to lounge.
The next water woe happened when the hose feeding water to the garden and the coop split, in the middle of the night, and flooded the area around the coop. That was not fun to find at 5:30 in the morning.
I bought a new hose, and rather than running it along the ground, so the hose had to come up and make a tight bend to attach to the manifold, I used heavy duty cable ties to run the hose along the top of the metal fence, so it would come down to connect, thus avoiding stressful bends. We’ll see how it holds up.
The waterways around the coop still work, and the flood went around the hens’ doors and food. The birds in the woods were particularly happy that day. We really need rain.
Scrat the squirrel it rather enjoying his “place” near the house. There is a water dish, occasional peanuts, and cool concrete to stretch out on. It also happens to be at a window where the animals inside can watch him.
Thor the kitten is certainly a pretty boy. The combination of gray with white is striking. The picture above was not staged; he climbed up on my youngest’s bed and snuggled down in the fuzzy, fuzzy blanket.
Thor the kitten has picked up on the vibe Izzy the cat sends out and usually gets out of her way, except when he doesn’t. He likes to push his luck when he can. My eldest was giving both Izzy and Thor scratches and he decided to reach out and touch Izzy. She didn’t do anything for awhile, so he kept his paw there until she noticed and told him off. Kittens.
Critters and Craft 