Cats on a Tree

Here are Wiley and Jade posing on their indoor cat tree. They like to sit on it and look out the window

Each morning I let the cats out for a short run while I am feeding the horses. Then I call the cats in and feed them. They have to stay in the house the rest of the day and night. A few days ago I let the cats out and then noticed their was a roadrunner bird sitting on a makeshift table in the yard I use for potting plants. A three cats started stalking the big bird. I sure did wish I had my camera and even though about getting it but before I had a chance the bird jumped up into a tree. In another second it jumped down to the ground and away it ran with our youngest cat, Wiley, right behind it. I had to laugh as it reminded me of the old roadrunner and coyote cartoons but Wiley was taking the part of the coyote. In another second they had rounded the house and up through the horsepen
to disappear across the road. Thankfully there were no cars coming at the time. About a half an hour later Wiley returned to the house and flopped in the floor as if to say it had been a dumb idea to chase a roadrunner. Neither of the other two cats, Jade and Murphy, had even tried. I guess they had learned long ago that the birds could run faster than they could.

Burrrrrr!!

It's cold. It seems like it is a lot colder than normal at this time of the year. It was 20 degrees at it's coldest the night before and last night it was 20 degrees when we went out to do the late feed at 9pm. At 4am we got up to rebuild the fire and it was 13 degrees. And then when we went out at 8am to feed the horses it was 10 degrees. That can be usual for late January through March but this is only December. So what will those months be like when they come.
Lee has been telling me that our newest member of the family that high energy kitten, Wiley had been waking him up when the fire in our woodstove that we use for heating starts to go out and it gets cooler in the house. Wiley gets in the bed with Lee and starts pushing right against his face. When Lee wakes up enough to try to get the little black cat to leave him along he will realize that it is cool enough he should get up and load the stove with wood again. None of our other cats or dogs has ever done this. Murphy our 8 year old black cat will lay right in front of the woodstove as long as it is really warm and when it starts getting cooler he will move to a chair but he doesn't try to wake any one up. Jade our 13 year old black cat sleeps huddled up again me. Since we have a water bed with a good heater to keep it warm a lot of the time we don't realize that the fire is going out. Of course we have the propane furance set to come on if it should get down to 55 degrees in the house. Usually we wake before then but it is nice to have a cat that tells us when we need to put wood in the store before it goes completly out.

Wiley in the Trash

Our kitten Wiley decided to play in a little trash can the other day. He looked so cute I had to take his picture.

Wiley Wild Cat

This is Wiley Wild Cat our new kitten.

Kitten

Last week a neighbor found a tiny kitten and no one claimed it so I decided to adopt it. He, yes it is a male, and is all black. Of course we already have 2 black cats, Jade and Murphy. Jade is about 12 and Murphy is 8. When I brought the kitten in Jade looked it, licked it's nose and I swear she asked if we could keep it. Murphy hissed at him as did Kasie our 10 year old gray and white. But after 3 days Murphy was starting to play with the kitten, although a bit rough.
The dogs have beem a bit more of a problem. Codee is 9 and Tuffee is 5. They weren't sure they liked the idea of a new kitten in their home. So at first I put the dogs out when the kitten was in the livingroom and kitchen. When the kitten would get tired I would put him back in the spare bedroom with food, water, and a litterbox. Then I started keeping one dog in on a leash and up close to me while the kitten roamed and played. But today the dogs are doing better with him running around them and I let the dogs stay in with him while off leash. Of course these dogs have grown up with cats and are used to the ones we have. They do bark at and chase the stray cats that come around outside. I will continue to put him in the spare bedroom when I go out and leave the dogs in the house. No since taking a chance on him getting hurt when he decides to play with a dog tail.