Hide 'n Seek

Daisy has all sorts of places she likes to go.  Some work as 'safe places'.

Ooopps.  The cattle are in the corral.

I'll hide under here.

Hello?  Anyone?  Can you move these cattle so I can get out?

Cement block laying

This is the second time I have seen Daisy laying in this cement block.  It can't be comfortable, can it?

Barn loft

Daisy got a new spot in the barn.   The hay supply is dwindling so there aren't many hay bales left to lay on.  So on Monday I discovered Daisy climbing up into the barn's loft.

Daisy somehow got on top of the stack of ten straw bales (1).  From there she got on one wall (2).  Then she crossed over to the second wall (3).  Finally at (4) she was able to reach up and get through the hole to the barn's loft.

 

Then Daisy looked down from the hole and meowed at me.  When I climbed up to get her down she played her game of walking up to me then walking away when I reached for her.  I left her but she then would meow and meow.  So I went up a second time and this time caught her and brought her down.  There is nothing in the loft except dust.

Me?!  In the barn's loft?  You must have gotten me mistaken with another cat.

Btw - the old coats over the windows were to block the sunlight from yellowing and drying the hay bales.

New toy from Las Vegas

Tammy and I brought Daisy a toy back from Las Vegas: "Weasel and a ball".

A small motor in the plastic ball moves the ball around which causes the weasel attached to the outside to be drug and flopped around.  Olaf and Kathi said their cat "Tapsi" was initially afraid of the weasel and ball but now ignores it.  So I wonder what Daisy would think of her new toy.

At first Daisy would just watch the ball and weasel move around the floor.  She would tolerate the weasel and ball when it would roll up against her.

Then she laid down to watch.

"Ok. Enough with the photos."

When Daisy did begin to play with her new toy she would bite on the weasel and get a mouthful of fur.  Sometimes when she was biting the weasel the ball would keep rolling and then begin to roll against her.  Mostly she just keeps a careful watch on the weasel and ball when it is rolling around. 

Here is a 2 minute 19 second video of Daisy's first look at her new toy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxAxd-uvLtY

Clean Kitty

While Tammy and I were in Las Vegas for four days this week, Daisy stayed in the house.  We left plenty of food and water out for her and put out a second litter box I have.  Jan also checked on Daisy.

So Daisy has nothing to do but play with her toys, sleep, and wash herself. We weren't sure how Daisy would do with both of us gone but she behaved. The house was in one piece when we returned.  The only thing out of place was one small rug rolled up and moved around the corner.  Odd.  She had never disturbed that rug before.

Daisy was happy we were back.  In the evening she lay by Tammy and had Tammy pet her.  She would move her head around so Tammy could scratch all over under her chin.

"Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty, little ball of fur, Happy Kitty, Sleepy Kitty, purr purr, purr."


Since she wasn't outside for four days getting dirty Daisy had plenty of time to wash herself.  And she did as she is now white and no longer gray on her face, belly and feet.

More napping by the wood table

Such a cute kitty!

Checking out the well

Water trough

Daisy likes it when I fill the cattle's water trough to the top.  A few times she had to hotfoot it through the fence to get away from the cattle guarding their water supply.

Here is a 11 second video of her drinking from the water trough.  Notice that when she sees that I am recording her she quits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrvZTRneyWc

Luggage kitty

Tammy and I are in Las Vegas for a few days to see the sights and to visit my friends, Olaf and Kathi, from Germany who are also celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary.

Daisy wanted to come too.  As Tammy packed the luggage Daisy snuck in the luggage.

Sorry Daisy.  You have to stay home to watch the ranch.

Thunder and rain

We had our first thunderstorm of the season.  Sure got Daisy's attention.  In the video Daisy went to one of her "safe places" - by my car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQaO5558S_Q

Water, concrete and a rest

Even though Daisy's water dish is changed often she still prefers to drink "wild" water outside. This is not the first time I've seen Daisy drink leftover rain water from the downspout.  But it is the first time I had my camera with me when she did this.

No Daisy isn't smelling the cow manure.  While I was filling the cattle's water trough she sat in her concrete spot.  Then when I got my camera out to take a picture of her in the concrete Daisy decided to slip under the fence and come over to me.

After a busy morning, surveying her domain.

More corral kitty

This morning Daisy sat behind the cattle head gate while I fed hay to the cattle.  She knows where it is safe inside the corral.

Brave kitty in the corral

Daisy is pretty good at judging when it is safe for her to go into the corral and when she needs run.  I've seen both instances.  And Daisy trusts my fences.

Here is a 51 second video of Daisy coming into the corral.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5cPZo2dli4

Exploring and sleeping

The other day I went down into the house's crawl space to open the vents for the season.  This is the first Daisy knew about the crawl space and naturally she was interested in the area.  She kept circling the opening trying to look down.  Before she could fall in I lowered her into the crawl space so she could explore to her heart's content.

After a bit I checked and it looked like she was done exploring so I got her out.  I went back to eating lunch.  After which I found Daisy had jumped back down in the crawl space by herself.  I let her be and later she reappeared.

My prior cat wasn't too fond of the crawl space and she wasn't able to get in and out of the crawl space by herself.   I guess I should call Daisy - "Supercat".

A day after Daisy's crawl space adventure I caught a mouse in a trap.  Overnight Daisy had retrieved the trap with the mouse from back by the washing machine.  The next evening another mouse was caught in the same trap.  What's going on?!

So Monday I opened the crawl space opening again and let Daisy go in and out much of the day.  She needs to earn her keep and not sleep so much.

By the way, Daisy was trying to help me with this blog post but she fell asleep on my mouse's cord making it difficult to do this post.   "Wrong mouse Daisy!"

Watching and dodging

Friday night Daisy braved being out in the open pasture and kept me company as I worked on a fence.

Later seven deer came into the pasture from the north.

Then the deer headed over to the middle pasture.

Here is a 17 second video of the deer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1kpDg1kH3Y


After the deer left Daisy wandered about and eventually back to the corral.  As I looked over to see Daisy starting to walk from the corral over to the hay shed a huge owl came from behind me and glided to this tree.  As the owl came flying in Daisy took off and ran for the stuff next to the hay shed and hid.  The owl then glided up to the large branch sticking out a little more than halfway up on the right side of the tree.

The owl hung around a while waiting and watching.  Then suddenly when I glanced away it was gone.  They are so quiet when they fly!  I looked and looked and went over to the corral but I didn't see the owl or Daisy.  Then I seen the owl glide up to near the top of one of the large box elder trees by the house.  The owl was alone.  Whew!  Daisy was safe.

Mouse catching

Daisy has been busy catching mice. She is up to 19 that I know of.  The other day she caught one near the garage after a day stalking it.  I found a couple of dead mice on top of the hay bales in the barn. Daisy is venturing further into the hay field in search of mice.  Tammy enjoys watching Daisy's slow motion moves as she is stalking mice.

And here is an instance where Tammy and I watched while Daisy "played" with a mouse she had caught by the patio.

The mouse was getting tired of playing so Daisy let it rest and catch its breath.  The mouse eventually would learn to just sit there so at first Daisy pretended to look away and the mouse would make a break for it.  Later Daisy would walk away until the mouse tried to make a break for it.

"No, Mr. Mousey... you're not allow to cross the garden hose."

Later... making a run for my boots.

Nope.  Hiding near the boots is not allowed.


At the end Daisy hugged and cuddled with the mouse.

Here is a 1:59 video of Daisy and the mouse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wq2A6m-JFs


Oh.  And I found a bird Daisy caught a day or two after 'playing' with the mouse in the previous photos and video.  Notice how the bird feeder is now crooked.