In-and-out at night

Rascal likes to spend most of the day in the house.  Mostly sleeping.  Lately, with the better weather, he wants to spend lots of time outside after dark.  But this being Rascal, often that means he wants in-and-out of the house quite a lot.   Usually he wants in to get something to eat or drink, then wants back outside.  My previous cat, Daisy, seemed only to eat two or three times a day.  And when Daisy came in, he stayed in for a while.

I don't have a cat door.  So Rascal comes in the bedroom to meow to wake me up and tell me he wants outside.  He knows at night which door to go to.  My bedroom window is nearby and he then can meow and wake me up to let him into the house.

Lately he wants in-and-out quite a few times in an hour or two.  Usually every 20 minutes or once a half hour.   Last night he went in-and-out every 5 to 10 minutes.  Each time he would wake me up from sleeping.  After the fourth time I left the door open. 

Now I am not keen on leaving the door open.  That is because a few days ago I heard noise in the kitchen or entryway at night while I was on the computer.  I think it may have been a mouse.   Some years ago I "mouse-proofed" the basement walls, and the floor.  That stopped mice from finding a way into the house.  Apparently those mice could squeeze through the small openings around the water pipes in the floor.  I placed wire around those openings, and no more mice in the house.

Since that night, a few days ago, I haven't heard any sound of a potential mouse in the house.  I don't know if Rascal got the mouse, or the mouse went back outside when I had left the door open.

Rascal does spend time outside.  Often when I am outside.  I tried to take a photo of him, but each time he would flop over to lay down next to me.

Sitting on a fence

The hayfield grass is getting tall.  It seems, instead of walking in the hayfield, Rascal likes to sit on my fence and look out at the hayfield.  Is it so he can listen for mice?

 

I have no idea what caught his attention behind him.

New wind ornament

Today I assembled and put up a new cat wind ornament that Donna bought for me.  The wind ornament changed since I got the last cat ornament.

The new ornament did not have a bird on the handlebars.  Nothing was there.   The cat's hands were not attached together. So I moved the bird from the old ornament to the new ornament.

The cat was sightly different.  Also the tail was not attached to the body.  The wheels are slightly different and are attached to the bicycle differently.  The "pole" is different.  And there was no section of the pole that goes into the ground.  I used the old pole. 

It seems as if the manufacturer cut corners since they made the first cat ornament.  But the new ornament seems to be working.

Stinky, Maggie and Molly

Nothing about Rascal in this post.  He is doing fine.

This week my friend Donna is out of town and is house sitting, horse sitting, dog sitting and cat sitting for her daughter while she is on vacation.   So while Donna is out of town I am checking each day on her pet turkeys and one of Donna's cats.

The turkeys are both female and each produces an egg every day.   Donna doesn't eat her pet turkeys' eggs, and I don't want them to go to waste so I eat them.  I am eating a lot of eggs.   The turkeys are named Maggie and Molly.

The cat used to be her neighbor's cat.  The neighbor now has a young son and a large dog.  The cat decided to move over to live at Donna's place.  Donna already has a pet and indoor cat.  So this cat lives out in a shed.  And is living well as Donna made a cat door, a bed with a blanket, and a heat lamp when it is cold outside.  The cat has it good.

And the cat is old.  Apparently he is 22 years old.   And being so old he has a little smell.  So Donna named the cat "Stinky".

I had my camera along with me yesterday when I checked on the pets.  It was a nice and sunny day.  Here the cat is sitting on the steps to Donna's house and wondering where Donna is.

One turkey was laying on the nest.  So I didn't get any eggs yesterday.

Wind ornament cat damaged

My wind ornament of the cat riding a bicycle got damaged the other day.  Usually if it is really windy I will take the ornament inside the house.  I didn't think about it this time.  Friday morning I discovered the ornament lost its front wheel.  The cat is now riding a unicycle.

 

With me in the sun

This afternoon when I was working outside, Rascal came outside to be with me.

I wonder if there can be mice under that building?

Yesterday I took Rascal back to where I adopted him to get his 3 year rabies vaccine shot.  He did fine.

On the house roof

In the past Daisy figured out how to climb up and down the shrub/tree just south of the house.  And often he would spend time sitting on the house roof overseeing his kingdom in the evening.  Well... now Rascal has figured out how to climb the shrub/tree branches to get up and down from the house roof.   This evening I found him on the roof two times.   The second time I got my camera and took a few quick photos before he climbed down from the roof.

I'm glad Rascal has now figured out how to get on the house roof.  Last night when Rascal was outside, and on the ground, I heard coyotes howling/barking.  They weren't nearby, but sounded closer than I liked.  Rascal zoomed inside the house when I opened the door.  I didn't hear any coyotes tonight.

Good day

Rascal had a good day today.   Lately Rascal has been coming outside with me in the morning when I go out to check on the cattle and their water trough.  I open the barn door so Rascal can go inside and look for mice.  And there are mice inside.  Today when I looked back outside the house I saw Rascal by the toolshed on his way back from the barn.  When he got to the snow-free grass he dropped a mouse and played with it.  After a bit he came walking to the house and I let him inside.  Over an hour later I checked the area but didn't find a mouse body.  I'm sure he killed it by the way Rascal acted when the mouse tried to run away.  I believe the birds later took the mouse body.

Rascal got his fur - mainly neck and chest area - brushed twice today.  He was fine with me brushing him and seemed to like it.  Of course he doesn't stay still and I have to bend over and follow him while brushing him.  When I stop walking he will immediately turn around and come back to me for more brushing.  He also likes to gently pat a metal ball with a bell inside when I brush him.  One pat - ring - then he walks away.  A minute later he walks back and one more single pat on the ball for another ring.

And Rascal had a little time laying on, then next to, my lap this afternoon.

He was laying on my lap and having his neck rubbed as I started this post.  But after a bit of typing and no neck rub, Rascal left.   He'll be back later.

On my lap

Apparently Norwegian Forest cats are not lap cats. And Rascal is that way for the most part.  Unless he wants his neck rubbed, then he will come up and sit on my lap. He likes his neck rubbed due to the long mane around his head.  When I finish the neck rubbing or head petting Rascal will then get off my lap.  An exception is in the afternoon if I am sitting on the couch, after the neck rub and head petting, often he will reposition himself and then lay and sleep on my lap.

He did so yesterday afternoon.  He had his head on my knees and was curled up and sleeping.  He looked like a giant snowball on my lap.  I wanted a photo of this but I didn't have my camera nearby.  Today I made sure my camera was nearby on the couch.  And again he laid on my lap after the petting was done.  I got a few photos.  Today he laid more on his left side than right side, so the black showed up more.  If he lays more on his right side, he is whiter.

I now call this the "Rascal blanket" as it is easier to have him lay on my lap if I have the blanket over my legs.

Laying on my lap

Even so, after a while of laying on my lap, he will get up and lay next to me.

Laying on my right side

A short time later, he moved over to lay on my left side and is watching the bird at the feeder outside the window.

As I write this post Rascal came over and is laying on my lap.  So I have to pet him now.

Another snowy day

Rascal came outside for a short time while I shoveled some of our recent snow.

My wind ornament

Looking at a train over a half a mile away.

Outside in the sun

While the day was cold - 10 degrees when I took this photo - the sun was out all day so it felt warmer in the sun.  Rascal wanted to go outside for a short time.  I watched to see when he wanted back inside the house.

Here he is sitting in the sun.  I don't know what he was looking at.

Norwegian Forest cat info

I saw a recent post on Reddit showing a beautiful cat.  I - and others - think it may be a Norwegian Forest cat, similar to Rascal.   This cat's fur is longer than Rascal's fur.  Apparently Norwegian Forest cats are a much more common breed in Europe, so I suppose some of them can have longer fur than Rascal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/rjer0f/what_breed_is_this_beauty_found_this_cat_in/

Norwegian Forest Cat – The Cat Fanciers' Association, Inc (cfa.org)

Here is a YouTube instructional video about Norwegian Forest cats.  While the video says Norwegian Forest cats tend not to bite or scratch you, when Rascal doesn't want to be petted, he can try to bite or scratch me.  As Norwegian Forest cats are not lap cats, Rascal usually only sits on my lap when he wants to be petted.  When I stop petting him he will then leave my lap.  Sometimes - like right now as I type this - he will lay and sleep on my lap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhS80xObrMI

Snow

Rascal doesn't go outside much these days.  A month or so ago I found lots of white fur in the backyard.  I think a neighbor cat got into a fight with Rascal.  Rascal now sometimes will go outside for a short while.  Often, as he thinks about going outside, he will smell the door.  Many times then he won't go outside. I look and often find the door had been sprayed.  Today I was outside for a little bit to take photos of the snow and Rascal wanted to come outside with me.  He stayed outside with me until I went back in the house.

Here are a few photos of him.

Usually Rascal like to nibble on grass.

Rascal doesn't wag his tail as much as Daisy did. I often knew Daisy's mood due to her tail moving.  When Rascal's tail is not moving he often has the end of the tail curved over and not completely straight.

Rascal helping with part of the fence rebuild

On my main Tall Pines blog I recently wrote about rebuilding the fence between my yard and the hayfield.  When I first started the work Rascal came out to "supervise" my work.  A little surprising as he doesn't like to get near the road due to the vehicles and their loud noise. But there was a quiet time of no vehicles so he came to check my work.

It took me around a month to rebuild the fence.  Later on, and as I got closer to the house, Rascal would only sit on the house steps to watch me.  He didn't come out to inspect my work.  I guess by then he realized I knew what I was doing.

Playing with an apple

I still haven't found the horse chestnut I gave Rascal to play with.  But today I found an apple and one of his toys in an out of the way place.  An apple?  So that is where the apple from the kitchen counter went.

Horse chestnuts

A few people mentioned the nuts I found may be chestnuts.  So I Googled chestnuts and discovered these are "horse chestnuts", not merely chestnuts.  Earlier today I nibbled slightly on one of the nuts and it tasted terrible.  Good thing I barely nibbled on the nut as horse chestnuts can be toxic.  Other than the bad taste, I had no other reaction to my nibbling on the nut.

https://www.anses.fr/en/content/learn-distinguish-horse-chestnuts-sweet-chestnuts-avoid-poisoning

Acorns?

Last week, as I was riding my bicycle downtown Kalispell, I saw some nuts on the side of the road that had fallen from a tree. I brought some home. I don't know what kind of nuts these are.  Acorns?

Rascal likes to play with them.  I let him play with one.  He batted it around and around and then down the stairs to the basement.  I went and got it and then put it into the dining room.  Days later I have no idea where the nut is now.

I cracked one nut.  This is what is inside the shell.  I haven't tried eating it yet.

Helping with re-fencing some trees

Last week I started re-fencing some small evergreen trees in the NE pasture before I let some cows into the pasture.  (https://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2021/10/re-fencing-some-pasture-trees.html)

Rascal "helped" me when I did the work last week.