Come into my parlor…
Remember the feral cat who was making Jack’s life miserable? We hadn’t seen him for ages. In fact, we started to wonder if the Monster that Chewed Charlotte had got him.
But, no. He’s back. And the reason is: the food I’ve been leaving out for the hedgies. I haven’t fed them for two days because Ginge keeps knicking it.
Poor old boy. I do feel bad for him. Because he’s a working farm cat, they don’t feed him, and a skinny rough old thing he is. But he beats up Jack and then Jack beats up Charlotte and…no, we just can’t have it.
So that beehive looking thing in the picture is a hedgehog feeder. Or house. It’s sold as both. The opening is too small for a tomcat.
It’s not weighted at the moment, so I reckon Ginge could get his head in the opening and toss it aside, but it’ll slow him down enough I can catch him at it and shoo him off. I watch them cameras like a demented hawk.
Funny thing: it’s wire covered in twigs and it’s almost invisible, tucked up under the hedge. But it screams out on the surveillance video, see? Another IR anomaly.
Posted: August 9th, 2017 under animals, cats, personal.
Comments: 21
Comments
Comment from Crabby Old Bat
Time: August 9, 2017, 9:40 pm
How have Ginge’s owners not cottoned on to the fact that cats will hunt for the sheer joy of hunting, well-fed or not? Idiots. Perhaps you could feed him closer to his own territory?
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: August 9, 2017, 9:50 pm
Eh. Farmers, eh?
I actually had a long conversation with this farmer’s wife about their three dogs. Because they’re working dogs, the farmer didn’t want them in the house or in any way treated like pets. Her kids had to work on him to change that.
No way a cat they got as a feral for the express purpose of ratting is getting any soft treatment.
Comment from Skandia Recluse
Time: August 9, 2017, 9:58 pm
The sandhill cranes have been on walkabout, strolling through the yard, foraging. They call to each other and I go to the window to watch.
And I’m attuned to the highway traffic noise. Normal traffic zooming by at a hundert miles an hour is normal. Traffic noises different than normal also send me to the window. The neighbors make weird engine noises at weird times of the day/night.
Your camera makes me want one of my own. I’ve thought about it, and would like to see what animal life passes through my yard, especially wolves and coyotes.
Twice, I have seen fox tracks in the snow; foxes hunting the mice around the place, but foxes occupy a precarious place in the wildlife heirarchy.
The book “Mill River Recluse” by Darcie Chan describes the main character as often standing at the window looking out. I do that a lot, even on the nice sunny days, which have been rare this year.
Comment from Janna
Time: August 9, 2017, 10:19 pm
do cats eat hedgehogs?
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: August 9, 2017, 10:29 pm
Janna, the only animal that eats hedgehogs is um, err… one guess. Begins with ‘B’.
But I’ve promised to be good.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: August 9, 2017, 10:32 pm
Hedgehog rescues won’t even release hogs into neighborhoods with badgers. Apparently, they scratch at them until they unpeel them and then disembowel them. Nice.
Oh, and gypsies. Gypsies eat hedgehogs. Coat them in clay and put them in the fire, which is rather horrible.
Remember Elton John’s ‘Country Comforts’? That explains what “hedgehog’s done in clay between the bricks” means.
Comment from Feynmangroupie
Time: August 9, 2017, 10:40 pm
I was feeding a feral cat many years ago, and caught a possum eating the food. I started putting more food out for the little guy and he/she started getting used to me. One night my dog slipped through the front door while I was talking to it and snapped the poor things neck. I felt horrible. That was the second critter I had tried to help and my dog got a hold of. Huskies have a very high prey drive.
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: August 9, 2017, 10:41 pm
Looks like you have one of those Twilight Zone cameras that take pics of the future, Mme. Ermine. Your post tonight is timestamped August 9, 2017 — 9:33 pm and the image says 09-08-2017 10:05:27PM.
♫♪ Doo-doo-doo-DOO, Doo-doo-doo-DOO ♫♪
If your farmer neighbor is named Schrödinger tell him it’s OK to look in the box, the cat got out.
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: August 9, 2017, 11:12 pm
“the cat got out”
And…
he has the beaker of poison.
Comment from Skandia Recluse
Time: August 10, 2017, 12:00 am
Warning color
Thanks. I like it.
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: August 10, 2017, 12:07 am
Warning color. What the heck is that thing that looks like a one-legged stool made for someone whose leg was amputated at the waist?
Comment from Ric Fan
Time: August 10, 2017, 12:29 am
Okay, they’ve got their ir lights on. There is a moth or two but most of it is moisture picked up by the IR:
Comment from Sam Paris
Time: August 10, 2017, 1:01 pm
One of the many things the military uses near-ir cameras similar to (but way more expensive than!) yours is to see through some kinds of camouflage. Welcome to the Weasel School of Night Vision. 😉
Comment from Ric Fan
Time: August 10, 2017, 1:15 pm
DANGER, STOATY! DANGER, UNCLE B!
Comment from Steve Skubinna
Time: August 10, 2017, 4:08 pm
See, now you know how the Predator was able to watch Arnold’s guys in the jungle so easily. And how he could spot and avoid their traps until they made them with vines and branches.
The more you know…
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: August 10, 2017, 4:21 pm
@Uncle Al
There’s a whole bunch of interesting stuff going on in that painting.
The ‘mousehole’ cabinet to the right, what the hell is that?
The candle holders hanging on the hooks behind him, I get that, no need to leave em on the table during the day.
The cabbages (big uns!) on the floor, the glass ‘ale’ tankard.
And that looks like something that would be classified as a carbine he’s got in his hand, but it looks like it has rear and front sight, which implies rifling, but no trigger guard? and I can’t make out what the ignition system is.
Where’s his microwave? I figure his cell phone is in the apron pocket.
Comment from Hey Ric Fan
Time: August 10, 2017, 5:38 pm
The Good Sgt. types:
6/5/17 #Transphobic #hate 8 #BurgessHill – Non-crime hate incident – Name calling between children. Under Investigation
8:06 AM – 8 Aug 2017
The bobbies focus like a laser beam on non-crime.
Beyond Orwellesque.
Beyond Kafkalian.
Monty Pythons re-think career choices.
The great plywood sheets of multiverse seem to be delaminating.
Comment from Ric Fan
Time: August 10, 2017, 6:08 pm
He also seems overly concerned with everyone using the same bathroom. He evev objects to stores using the sign ‘feminine hygiene’ – says it should be ‘personal hygiene’. The guy is scary and other police depts are exhibiting the same madness.
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: August 10, 2017, 6:45 pm
@durnedyankee – Is that garlic hanging over the window and pile of boots? I always get my vampires and lycanthropes conflated. Maybe the cobbler has a silver ball in that long gun. And I dunno about the mobe in the apron pocket. Cell phones were pretty big back then. Maybe it’s in the bucket with the other stuff.
I really want to know what’s outside that he’s thinking of killing. And where’s his ear pro?
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: August 10, 2017, 7:33 pm
“I really want to know what’s outside that he’s thinking of killing. ”
a squad of Imperial Storm Troopers, looking for a pair of stolen droids.
I noticed the ‘garlic’ too, I’m going to run with that, but observe it must weigh a ton based on how thick the hanger looks.
and he STOLE that potted plant from me, that looks like the average plant I’ve had anything to do with, so I recognized it instantly.
Finally, I think that’s a ‘stool’ in the foreground but it could be an upside down plunger for a crapper I want nothing to do with.
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