Sights from around Crooked Acres.
While I was recovering from surgery, Spring done sprung.
Jake and Elwood, through the window.
Due to the longer days, the hens are laying eggs like crazy. We’re getting close to 2 dozen eggs a day!
George (right) and Gracie.
Silly pup.
Pretty boy.
“Hallo, you has snack for me?”
Tufted Titmouse.
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I was sitting at my computer Wednesday afternoon, and something out under the big pecan tree caught my eye.
“JOE BOB,” I grumbled to myself. “What are you doing out of the back yard?” I got up to go out to yell at him to get his butt back inside the back yard (he’s a pro at slipping out of his collar from time to time, and goes wandering. Luckily, he’s never gone too far.)
Only, on my way to the door, Joe Bob said “Were you talkin’ to me?” I looked down, and there he was, curled up on the cardboard scratcher by my desk. I looked back out under the big pecan tree, and realized that I wasn’t looking at a gray and white cat, I was looking at a BLACK and white cat I’d never seen before.
I stepped on the side porch and called “Kitty kitty kitty!” to him, and he ran right over to me.
There’s something going on with his right eye, but other than that he was in really good shape. I showed him the food bowl (on the porch), and he ate a little to be polite. He let me pet him, and talked to me a little. He hung out on the side porch for a few hours, then wandered off and I haven’t seen him since.
I’m hoping that he (and yes, I checked – he’s a he, but I honestly am unsure whether he’s been neutered or not.) belongs to someone around here, but I’m sure if he doesn’t, he’ll be back around. I’ve temporarily dubbed him Newman.
For comparison purposes, here’s Joe Bob – I think you can see why, when I first saw Newman at a distance, I thought he was Joe Bob.
And THEN, yesterday morning when he woke me up for his morning kiss before he headed off to work, Fred announced “There were two new cats out on the side stoop this morning.” He told me that he’d only gotten a good look at one of them, that it then ran around to the front porch, and when he followed it, it was sitting there with a black cat, not one of ours. The black cat ran off, but Fred emailed me from work to tell me that when he’d left the house, the other cat was sitting on the side stoop.
When I got downstairs a couple of hours later, there was no strange cat to be seen, but a little while later I glanced out and saw a cat running after a bird in the side yard, and there he was, the new guy. Or girl.
S/he has a rounder face and smaller ears, but good LORD is that cat a dead ringer for Reacher!
Reacher, for comparison purposes:
The one thing I can tell you about this cat (who Fred has dubbed “Rufus”, despite the fact that we don’t know whether it’s male or female just yet) is that s/he really likes our cats. Elwood and Corbie were in the back yard watching the birds, and Rufus was rubbing up against the fence trying to make friends.
Rufus did NOT act like a cat in heat, but that’s my concern, that Rufus is a she, and either pregnant or about to go into heat. So Fred’s shifted into high gear to try to charm Rufus into believing that we’re A-OK. If s/he keeps coming around, we’ll assume s/he has no home, and if we can get our hands on him or her, off to the vet we’ll go.
(Obviously, if Newman keeps coming around, he’ll also get a visit to the vet, but given how friendly he was, I very much suspect he’s got a home.)
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Sheriff Kara says “Obviously they didn’t come into the back yard, because then I would have kicked some SERIOUS tail. Sheriff Mama keeps the back yard SAFE.”
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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Yay new kitties!!! 🙂
Newman and Rufus are just beautiful! I hope they are both “altered” and homed (and loved!!!). 🙂
Great pics of the farm…oh and send me some eggs! 🙂
P.S. Rufus is a fluffier version of Reacher.
We decided last night that Rufus is a mix between Reacher and a lynx! 🙂
Spring?!? What state do you live in? We still have three feet of snow on the ground… 🙁
I’m in southern New Hampshire and currently dreaming of a season during which I don’t have to shovel the _roof_ never mind the driveway.
I’m in Alabama. My brother, who lives in Maine, told me that it was zero degrees out this morning. I always advise everyone to move south! 🙂
That Newman is one handsome lad.
(All I can think of right now is Seinfeld, and him saying “Newman!”)
LOL – when I emailed the pictures to Fred (who was at work) and told him I’d named the cat Newman, he emailed me back with “Hello…. NEWMAN!”
I thought the same thing!!!!
Rufus DOES look like Reacher! It’s kinda like “who wore it better”- the same coat on two differently shaped cats! I had the happy thought “maybe Rufus is his older bro/sis…” but then I had the sad though “then maybe s/he has the FIV….” I hope you get them sorted out.
Your spring pics are mindboggling. I forget that the whole country isn’t still under three feet of snow like we are. (Maybe it’s more like denial?) It’s going to get all the way up to 45 degrees today, though. And the birds have started coming back.
Well, Reacher and the Bookworms actually came from near where Fred was working last year, which is about half an hour away. I won’t say it’s impossible that a cat could have come from there to here, but it’s unlikely. 🙂 Fred’s more of the thought that perhaps s/he is from the same litter as Martin and Alice – he’s a small cat, so could be about 9 months old, I think. But of course it’s impossible to know just how small he is without getting our hands on him!
I hope your snow melts fast and you have a mild spring, Katey. The weather’s been gorgeous here lately, I wish it was for everyone else, too!
Been wearing shorts here in Florida… jealous?
I see that “Super-Strength Cat Magnet” on your house is still working well!!! Maybe too well!
I too hope they are altered and have loving homes, just stopping by to visit the cat-house.
You really must take the “free food here” sign down! BTW, did Corbie go AWOL anytime this week (for a few days, carrying his passport and a plane ticket)? No? Well, it looked just like him; my boy cat had come inside and was in the kitchen and our female cat was in there too. He has his food on the window sill because she has a special diet and she can’t get up there to eat his. I rushed in when I heard a horrible yowling noise, thinking she was throwing up a furball; sometimes she yodells a welcome to it! Either that or one of them was in terrible pain. There was the boy, on the window sill, looking out and down, his back arched and tail like a loo brush. I looked out and on the bench under the window, sat a tabby, looking all about, wondering where the “I’m gonna rip your head off” noise was coming from. I knocked on the glass, he looked up and saw me and the head-ripper looking back. I thought “Corbett Bookworm!” And he was gone!
You have the cutest cat neighbors! Newman is a doll. I hope his eye isn’t anything too serious.
Kitties know good people. The same thing happens to me all the time. 🙂 They just kind of show up.
You are the Harriet Tubman of the stray kitty underground railroad:)
Awwwww lovely Rufus and Newman!!! I do hope they have homes and if not I’m just glad they found you!! Awwww poor Newman with his eye! Oh dear!! Fingers crossed they’re both ok!! That must have been a shock though to discover Newman wasn’t Joe Bob and that Joe Bob was just there with you all along!
Awwww Gracie and George are just lovely!! And so are your chickens and that tufted titmouse! Wow!!!!
Sheriff Kara is doing a brilliant job keeping all under control! 🙂 Take care
x
Rufus is far too pretty of a cat for that name! What a beautiful coat… I’ve always wanted a long haired cat, and s/he is just beautiful!
Newman looks just like my old cat, Spunky. Hes a very pretty cat too.
Hope everything getst taken care of, and you find the home for those cats, be it with you or someone else!
What bugs me is the thought that irresponsible people may be dropping their unwanted cats off near your house figuring ‘The cat lady who lives here will take care of it,’ instead of making the effort to take them to a shelter – or even to knock on your door and ask you if you will!
It’s wonderful that there are people like you who take in strays and ferals and take good care of them, but nobody should take that for granted.
On a more sentimental note, I want to squeeze Rufus’ little face and give Newman some eyedrops.
I think I’m in love with Rufus. I’m such a two-timing cat ho! Still, that cat is gorgeous! Good luck with the cat charming (if it becomes necessary).
You really are the cat whisperer, aren’t you? There should be a show. 😀
ROFL!! I love the name, “Newman,” Robyn! How apropos! My guts are saying you’ve got a Ruffette (Ruffina?) on your hands there. Fingers crossed Fred makes friends quickly!! You guys rock… the homeless critters in your area are very lucky, indeed!
Newman’s a very pretty cat. Like you I hope he has a furever home of his very own. As for Rufus – quick, stick him/her in a box and post her on out. Oh, alright, with Corbie. (note to self: better rent a house near the airport, quarantine’s gonna be a b*tch, all 6 months of it…)
I hope tese cats are visiting and you don’t have to add to your family.
PS: How come your cats didn’t start yoewling and screeching and carrying on to make these intruders run away?
Sherrif Kara sure must run a tight ship.