Release Day, Feb. 24, 2012

Our Mousers-in-Training have been fed by us in this cage for about a month. We covered them up at night to protect them from the wind and rain, and uncovered them and fed and watered them in the morning. They are used to our voices calling out when we bring them food. They are not terribly fearful when we show up in the morning. In fact, they anticipate our arrival and call to us that they are hungry.

It is time to release them.

First, we take the cage off the saw horses and put it on the ground. Then we open the doors and step back. It is their turn to again be brave.

They are a tad freaked out at first because they haven't been on the ground in a month.

One always leads the way

One foot

Out!

The other will follow. We needed to step away so he would come out. They have been out for about two weeks now. They are now part of the backyard pride and have fit right in. We have been receiving presents in the form of voles. And - they have let us pet them. :-)

New Mousers in Town

These little guys arrived on January 25th from the awesome folks at Project Purr.

They stay in the cage for about 3 weeks to imprint to us, our location, and the fact that we bring them food.

Mousers in training.

Hobbes

This is Hobbes, as in Thomas Hobbes the English philosopher. I think I've mentioned Hobbes on here before. He walks like a ballet dancer and curls up his tail like a monkey.  Hobbes is our seventh cat. Quite a special number for two people that got married on 7-7-07 and have a blog site called Seven Generations.

We adopted him in 2007 from the Humane Society (I love that place!). Hobbes was found half dead on the side of the road weighing five pounds, severely dehydrated, only has his four fang teeth (also called canine teeth, but he's a cat so it's odd to call them canine, don't you think?) and had a hole in his tongue. He was nursed back to health by the Humane Society and when the Lovey saw him, he was instantly smitten. Such instant love is rare. And it runs deep. Hobbes now weighs 12 pounds and although he will never be in perfect health (he has chronic respiratory issues), it's nice to see him like this.

Hobbes has trust issues for a L-O-N-G time. It wasn't until we moved to our homestead that Hobbes began to really open up (that would be three years for anyone who might be counting). He now sleeps with us at night, lets us pet him, doesn't jump or run when we look at him. And - and this is a biggie - he purrs; an incredible, deep, rumbling purr. It's wonderful to see the transformation and know that we are a big part of him coming out of his shell.

Hobbes loves to stay warm. We will often find him under the covers. Here's his latest spot, under warm, clean clothes.

Houston - We have Visual Contact

We had three cats in our pride, but when we released them, the largest and most feral of the cats took off. We haven't seen her/ him since, but have not given up hope. Margaret and Lynne from Project Purr say that sometimes ferals will return in time. We're giving her plenty of time.

Meanwhile, the two younger ones are not only hanging around, but they are hanging around with each other. Great news! That means they have each others' back. We all need someone to have our backs, don't we? They come when called in the morning (feeding time!) and have begun to show themselves every now and then. It looks like they are living under the back porch.

So - I give you photos of Oliver Twist ( the lighter one) and Charley (with the swirly coat). In some of the photos you can see the Universal sign of a 'fixed' feral - the clipped right ear.

Our First Livestock

Seven Cats Farm has it's first working animals. That's right. A pride of cats. Cats for rodent control on the farm. An organic way to help decrease the rodent population that might go after the (future) chicken feed. Or moles that will eat roots of veggies.... or.... or.....

 

Project Purr out of Santa Cruz, CA helps relocate feral cats that have lost their habitat or spare non-adoptable cats in shelters from an untimely death. They have quite a process to help ensure success.

Our little tigers came to us in a large hutch which was put on saw horses to keep them above the ground. We feed them in the morning, take the food out of the hutch at night, and clean their little box. They are imprinting on our land and are getting used to us calling when we bring food.

Next week, when we have their safety house ready (they need shelter from those that might hunt them), we will let them out for them to begin their work. We will continue to feed them daily. If they are not good hunters, they will need food. And, believe it or not, even if they DON'T hunt, the smell of their urine will help keep the little rodents away.

Sleep well, little one

We were introduced to her with the name G.G. which stood for Gorgeous Girl. She'd been at the Humane Society for six months, living in a small cage. She had stopped trying to get people's attention and spent the majority of her time with her face toward the wall. She broke my heart.

We took her home and renamed our six-pound lion Ayashe, Cherokee for "Little One". She immediately made her place in our home. He already had three cats, I brought two, but Ayashe was the first 'our' cat.

Yashe was cranky, didn't want to be bothered, and picked up bad 'bathroom' habits which she quickly expanded upon. But at night she would curl up on our bed and cuddle right in. She would stay there until morning.

Thirteen months ago, Ayshe had her first of several pancreatitus attacks. We changed her food several times, going to the extreme of making raw food, getting a grinding tool to grind bones and cooked chicken, freezing the weird concoction in hard-to-find ice cube trays..... and taking her to get acupuncture. The combination of Western and Eastern medicine did her good. Until last week. It was her time.

She was a little fighter. A girl that won you over because she was so loving at night you thought for sure you would see a tad of that during the day (nope).

She is now on our hillside with a flagstone as a marker. She will see the sunrise and sunset everyday. The sun will shine on her all day to keep her warm.

Good night, Yash. Your tiny body has left a big hole in our hearts.

Why can't I get anything done?

Well, partially because I am a tad lazy. And I am learning a new skill set (I'll post about that later!). But the main reason I am having trouble getting things done is because of Solomon:

Solomon, asleep right in the middle of my cutting mat, with the rotary cutter tucked neatly between his back legs. Space is at a premium at the Homestead. But not this bad. Yet this is a cat house. Somehow they always seem to win.

Cat Bread from the Cat House

One could say that this is a failure. Yes - it's bread.

I have a machine (it's a great machine that should last the rest of my lifetime), however I am having difficulty making the transition from regular recipes to machine recipes. I don't think it should be so difficult. What's the difference?

Anyway, here is a recipe from 'Beard on Bread'. Thank goodness it tasted great.

We've decided to call it 'Cat Bread'. It looks like a cat face, don't you think? Can you see the ears?

Tough Being a Cat

Piper is our 'youngest'. She's about a year old and full of energy. Here she is posing for a glamor shot!

She is also our 'girl with a curl in the middle of her forehead'. Because when she is good, she is very, very good, but when she is bad, well.... she's just plain mean. Piper chases, no ... she stalks ... two of my original cats. My girls. One stands up to her, sometimes. The other is so frightened that she hides. All the time. We've begun to lock Piper in the sun room at night so that the others can have at least a few hours of peace.

But look at Piper's face. How can you be mad at a cat who is a clown, doing what she is meant to do?