Watching the Winter storm

Daisy spent all day inside the house today.  Not once did she moan to me about the weather and going outside.  When she wasn't laying near the wood stove she laid on the loveseat and watched the storm rage outside.

These photos were taken early this afternoon before the storm got worse.

Sunshine cat

While today was cloudy and grey, the previous few days were sunny.

Tearing up the house

I was sewing a pair of my jeans shortly after noon when Daisy came walking over with a mouse in her mouth.

"See what I caught?!"

I tried to get Daisy to go outside with the mouse but she dropped it on the floor in front of where I had been sitting.  The mouse immediately ran under some furniture.

Then I spent some time with Daisy trying to catch the mouse again.  Furniture was upended.  I put down items to block the mouse's path and escape routes.  We were all over the living room from one end to another.  Just as the mouse looked like it would get away one of us would block its path.  At one point we all stopped to see what the other would do next.  The mouse was panting as it caught its breath.

At one point Daisy laid down to watch me and the mouse.   In my efforts to get the mouse, the mouse went over and sat by one of Daisy's back feet.  Daisy didn't react.  When the mouse then decided to try to slowly climb over Daisy's leg, she flicked her leg and the mouse.  The chase was back on.

Eventually the mouse crawled into one of the baseboard electric heaters.  I worked on setting out items to block the mouse's possible escape routes.  Daisy laid there looking at the mouse through gaps/vents in the heater.  Sometimes Daisy would roll on her back and then stretch and look back at the mouse.  Sometimes she placed a paw against the heater to get the mouse to react.

The mouse then slipped further in the heater so as not to be seen.  After a bit Daisy wandered off.  I fiddled with the heater to get the mouse to move and become visible.  When the mouse was visible I used a scissors I had close by to pin and kill the mouse.

Daisy came back as I got the mouse out of the heater.  She patted the mouse to get it to 'play' and quickly got bored when the mouse wouldn't move or run.

I opened the opening to the crawl space and Daisy immediately went down to check it out.  She didn't find any more mice. Then we went outside.

As I type this Daisy is laying on a blanket on my lap with her head half hanging over my right side.  She is half laying on her back and her side.  She has her left front leg wrapped over her face and nose so I no longer hear her snore.  Her back left leg is up in the air by my keyboard and her other leg is under the table.

One plus one

This morning I found two dead mice in the house.  One mouse was caught in the mousetrap; the other mouse was laying in the hallway.  Daisy had stayed in the house from midnight till 5 am.  So Daisy caught the other mouse.   Today whenever Daisy went outside she first checked around the dryer for signs of mice.   Nice to have Daisy 'back on the job'.

More mouse in the house

Several nights ago Daisy kept eating as a mouse ran around.  As she was eating her cat food a mouse ran out from under the refrigerator.  It saw me and Daisy and ran back under the refrigerator.  Daisy had her back to the mouse and refrigerator and was furiously eating.   I told Daisy there was a mouse but she kept eating.

I checked around the refrigerator and the mouse ran out from under it.  It ran across the floor over to the dryer, ran under it and got away  Daisy had no clue there was a mouse.  When she was done eating she wanted to go outside.


Last night she noticed the mouse.  I was in the living room when I heard one of her cat food dishes rattle.  Daisy ran into the living room and looked back towards the dining room and her food dishes.  She looked startled.  She went back and checked it out.  Nothing.

A short time later she laid on my lap when all of a sudden she heard something and went to the dining room.  She ran around including into the far end of the living room.   But the mouse got away.  She spent some time looking for it before giving up, coming over to me meowing that she tried, but now wanting to go outside.

Last night I added some cheese to the mouse trap and moved it over by the dryer.  This morning I found a dead mouse in the trap.  The fourth mouse I trapped this year.

I reset the trap.  This afternoon when I was on the phone I heard the trap snap, then some bumping around.  I thought it was the mouse in its death throes.   But later when I checked, no mouse and the trap was licked clean of peanut butter.  I reset the trap with peanut butter.

This evening Daisy was interested in the dryer area and spent a little time watching it before she got bored and went outside.

So my 'mouse in the house' adventure is not over.

Mouse in the house

Not a lot of news about Daisy this Summer. We have our routine.  She spends most of her time outside.  Maybe a little too much time outside.  Often she is over at one of the neighbors searching for mice. Yesterday when we were walking out to the pasture to fix a fence Daisy got sidetracked by the need to check out the neighbor's 'stuff' for mice.   Over the Summer I have had to trap three mice in the house.  I first noticed the mice when I discovered one mouse eating Daisy's cat food.  I opened the house's crawl space so Daisy could search for the mouse but she didn't find it. 

I had to set Daisy's food on the counter when she wasn't eating it and then set a trap with peanut butter to catch the mouse.  The mouse had such a light touch that it would lick the peanut butter off the trap without triggering it.  Finally I pushed part of a peanut in the trap's curl and then caught the mouse, followed by two more over the next week.

No mice for a while.  Until last night.  I was on my computer and Daisy was laying on my lap when I looked down to see a small mouse by my computer tower.  Excitement ensued.

Daisy grabbed the mouse and then dropped it in the middle of the floor.  She caught it a few more times.  She wouldn't kill it; she wanted to play with it.  Before I could open a door for her to take it outside the mouse got away from Daisy.

Then it was a game of lifting furniture to find the mouse.  Before Daisy could get it the mouse ran under another piece of furniture.  When I lifted the loveseat Daisy laid down to watch the mouse as I held the loveseat up by one corner.   Kill it Daisy!!!   The mouse made a break for it and we tracked it through more furniture.

Eventually we both lost it.  After a short search Daisy got bored and wanted to go outside.

*sigh*

So I am now back to putting her cat food up where a mouse can't get to it.  I reset the mouse trap with fresh peanut butter.

I told Daisy she needs to catch that mouse.  Instead I found a dead mouse from Daisy on my front step this morning to show me she is catching and killing mice.

Sleepy afternoon

On this hot day both Daisy and I took naps this afternoon.  Me, for two and a half hours.  Daisy, most of the afternoon.

Warm day

The temperature reached 82 degrees today.  A bit warm.   Daisy was warm too.  This afternoon she stretched out on the cool concrete.

Railroad cat

Last week when I was watching Sugar's newborn calf Daisy joined me.  She laid on top of the railroad ties next to me.

Rainy day cat

Rain.  Rain.  Rain.  It doesn't stop and the forecast is for rain every day for the next week.  I'm not getting much done and my goals for Spring activities are way beyond schedule.

Today Daisy and I spent most of the day inside while it rained outside.

Snow and water

The other day when I checked on the cattle Daisy came along with me.   Note: the pile on the other side of the fence are actually fence posts taken from fences I had rebuilt.  I keep tossing the old posts on the pile.  They can't be used for fences but someday I will find a use for them.

My neighbors, Calvin, his wife and son were outside in their pasture and we chatted.  They also had one of their dogs with them.   Daisy hung back for a while but eventually she wandered over as she just had to check out the son's ATV.  Their dog was well behaved when Daisy walked by and she briefly sniffed noses with him.

We all walked to towards the river and Daisy came along.   Part of their pasture is under water.  The son drove his ATV around to the far side.  Then he and Calvin would call their dog back and forth.  The dog would take a straight line and run through the water, some of it chest deep on the dog.  Daisy climbed up a tree near us and stood on a few branches to watch the dog 'act crazy', and also to avoid getting wet then the dog came our way.

After Calvin and his family walked back to his house Daisy and I walked the rest of the way to the river on my property.  Daisy loves water.  The other night she even sat up on the house roof in the rain as it drizzled lightly.  But she is not so sure about the river.  I think that is because the water moves and she can't wrap her head around that fact.  She looks at the water but with a puzzled and cautious look.

Daisy also walked across some snow with me.  The snow was soft and often she would sink in the soft snow.  The second photo shows her front right leg sunk in the snow up to her chest.  At times it was a struggle for her but she was game to try.

In the evening Daisy insisted on laying on my lap as I used my computer.  She is actually sleeping in the following photo.

Three mice

Our precipitation has changed from snow to rain the past few days.  It is almost constant.

Wet!  Wet  Wet!!!

Earlier when I talked of lots of snow, my uncle Larry said they were getting lots of rain on the Coast.  I should have clarified that when I complained of snow, that didn't mean he had to send his rain my way.

We still have lots of snow but now we also have lots of standing water.  And mud.  I had to use my pickup's four wheel drive to drive out of my yard yesterday.

Even with all this rain Daisy caught three mice yesterday: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night.

Yes, she got wet.  But she also caught three mice.

Today she is taking a break and has spent most of the day inside with me.  Right now she has commandeered my computer chair to lay on and I am stuck sitting on a wooden stool as I type this.

More roof action

82 inches of snow so far this Winter.  14 inches base left on the ground.  Lots more snow predicted through Friday.

Daisy is getting restless and tired of Winter and snow.   Now that the house roof is mostly free of snow she often goes up there to watch over her kingdom as the snow is making it difficult to get around.

A few photos from this morning.  Earlier she was laying here and dangling one paw off the roof at me.  When I went to get the camera she moved to this position.

Two mice

This morning I found two mice on my front doorstep.  Daisy went outside at 6 am and at 8 am when I checked for her, I found two fat mice.  Two mice in two hours.

Yesterday I had shoveled the snow away from one side of one row of hay bales.  When shoveling I noticed a few mouse tunnels in the snow next to the bales.  I think Daisy took advantage of access and got the two mice.

Go Daisy Go!

Mouse in the house

This morning after getting out of bed I found a dead mouse in the middle of the living room floor. Daisy had gone outside after 3 am and came back inside after 7 am.  Half asleep I didn't notice if she was bringing a mouse into the house.  Usually she leaves the mice on the front step just outside the door.  I still have the crawl space open as that septic system is still frozen.  I think Daisy found the mouse in the crawl space before she went outside.

I need the snow to melt away from the big hay bales so Daisy can get the mice there.  I moved two more big hay bales out to the north pasture today.  As the tractor held the bale in the air I started to take the twine off the first bale and a big fat mouse dropped out of the bale. The mouse hit the snow covered ground and was stunned for a moment.  The mouse scampered under the wooden pallet the bale will sit on and got away before I could get over to kill it.  Daisy wasn't around.  She was sleeping in the house.

On the house roof

As a Christmas gift Donna gave me a roof rake for clearing snow.  It is very useful this year with all the snow we have received.  I used it to clear snow off of some roofs.

Daisy appreciates this as now she can get back upon the house roof to survey her kingdom.   This morning I found her on the house roof when she greeted me after I came back from a short bicycle ride.

First mouse of 2017

With this warmer weather Daisy is going outside more.   This morning I found a fat dead mouse on my front step and a proud kitty.  Her first mouse of 2017.

I think she got the mouse from the large hay bales.  Yesterday I moved two bales to the pasture for the cattle.  When taking the twine off the first bale a mouse dropped off the bottom of the bale and ran under the wooden pallet I was about to set the bale on.  Daisy wasn't with me to get the mouse.


Today when riding my bicycle I passed a woman with two kids and a dog.  And a very large pig.  They were all walking down the road.  The pig was not on a leash.  As I came up upon them the pig decided to go over to my side of the road to the ditch.  The woman ran over to stop the pig from going into the ditch as she was afraid it would sink in the deep snow and get stuck.

Snow

15 inches of snow fell overnight.  I had just started to shovel some of it from the driveway this afternoon when Daisy scratched at the door to come outside to join me.

Not many paths were shoveled yet so she didn't have many areas to explore.  Daisy wasn't interested in trying to jump through 15 inches of snow.

After exploring, chasing her tail around and around, batting some small snow clumps around, Daisy went back inside the house.  At 20-some degrees she started to shake her back legs as she walked as if they were getting cold.

The weather forecast is for the snow to continue.  Even picking up in intensity Sunday night into Monday.  The forecasters are predicting 1 to 2 feet more snow.  And 15-25 mph winds from Sunday night through Monday to create blizzard like conditions.  I'm glad the cattle have shelter to get out of the wind and snow.

Crooked neck

I spent three hours this afternoon shoveling more snow out of my back yard.  I still have more snow to shovel.

Daisy spent the afternoon inside the house sleeping.  Here is how I found her when I came back inside the house. She had opened her eyes when she heard me with the camera.   You'd think she would get a sore neck from sleeping like that.

More chair stretching

Daisy spends most of her time inside the house.  When she does go outside it usually is for only about five minutes.   The occasional exception is when I fall back asleep in less than five minutes.  Daisy spent an hour outside last night after she insisted on going outside and kept me awake until she got her way.  Yup, I laid down to wait for her and fell asleep within a minute since Daisy wasn't making noise to go outside.

It snowed a few inches last night.  I spent part of the day shoveling the snow.  I got three-fourths of the yard shoveled.  To do it all over again tomorrow as it started snowing again after dark.

Daisy is relaxing in my chair as I write this.  As you can tell I have the wood stove going and the house is warm.  Her eyes are open as she is thinking deep kitty thoughts.

Computer cat in a chair

Last night Daisy took the chair I use when I am on my computer.  I had to move Daisy and the chair to the side and then sit on an old wooden chair to use my computer.

Tonight Daisy is laying on my computer table as I type this.  She was on my chair earlier but I got it back when Daisy went over to get something to eat.

It is cold outside and getting colder.  Daisy insisted on going outside at 2:04 am last night.  I couldn't talk her out of it.  I intended to wait five minutes to let her back in the house but fell asleep.  I woke up after a half hour.  She was glad to get back into the house.  She has not been outside since, not even when I went out on the morning to check on the cattle.  Usually she goes out with me but this morning she stood at the door and sniffed at the cold air, wrinkled her nose and turned away from the door.