The weather here is not exactly optimal, but very comfortable to work in. At this time of year there are a couple of pressing jobs to do. First of all the chip path replacement had to be completed. This is the last meandering stretch old chips out, down to the root cloth: The chips were then dumped and evenly spread. Out at the main path one can look through the arch, past the Sedum and further to the meandering pstch. As I was saying earlier it is the time of year for the annual canal bank cleaning. It is iur responsibility to keep the sides of the canal that borders on our land free of plants and so forth. This is the beginning, the giant stand of Miscanthus and the stretch of bank to its right. we will slowly work our way around the border of our allotment. There are a couple of fall flowers that appear each year. Colchicums from Norway: …oh yes, and then there was the matter if the harbinger of bad luck, the black cat. We saw this chappy on the way to our lotty. An odd sight on the allotment complex. It is feral, but welcome. In this case the bad luck was for a vole that the beast had caught and was eating. Well done, black cat.
We have a black and white cat that comes into our garden. I'm afraid I'm not in the least happy to see it though as it uses our flower beds as its personal toilet.
Cats be cats, and you can't keep them out of your gardens, and you can't keep them out of your hearts. Timi likes to roll around in the path to the workshop, she catches the occasional mouse, and likes to lie on the garden table and get a good tummy rub.
Eileen, I know what you mean there. Folks who live in the city, sometimes have that problem. Jane, it is difficult to keep them out of your heart if they show you a modicum of attention. Our complex has always had a feral cat of one sort or another. You cannot touch them and they run away when you talk to them. Still, I am glad that they take mouse or rat. Having said that, I worry about the birds though.
Sjoerd, birds are safe around here. Timi watches birds, drinks out of the bird watering station, and occasionally makes a futile leap at a bird. She hasn't caught a bird, and if one accidentally died of old age I'm sure she would bring it to us to get revived! Eileen, Timi comes in to use the litter box, and then goes back out to lie in the grass and bird watch!
I gottit Jane, but here it is a feral cat. They are not as mild-mannered as domestic sweethearts. If they do not hunt, they do not eat. Timi is different, she has the humans wrapped around her finger and under the thumb, see what I’m sayin’?
Timi was feral. Born to a feral mama, five feral kittens who learned that humans provide food and water, and slowly learned to accept us. If you want a cat to hunt for its dinner, do not feed it! Feral cats learn to "work" humans and getting a bowl of food is sooo much easier than hunting!
Feeding ferals sounds good, but on our complex with its rats I am afraid that it would only attract more rats. Well, there are enough rats and voles to keep that black beauty full for quite a while. I was thinking of nominating him for a commendation.
I'm sure the feral cat would appreciate a commendation, but if a medal is involved, where would you pin it?
Oh Jane, I completely furgot about that. I guess it will have to be a pendant on a chain or something…hang on! Then the vermin could hear it coming. Perhaps in a box then, like a military medal. Either that or the cruel use of an adhesive, but it may not please the beast.
Our two cats are indoor cats. They're the first totally indoor cats we've had, but there are hawks and colored around here and I don't want them to be wild beast dinner. The grey one is Kendra she grabs my jacket any time I leave it down. And the black one is Minney. She loves the winter blanket stash, so I stacked them up and gave her a pillow.
Willow—Your cats are lovely. When I had two cats they were indoor only ones. They lived to be 19 and 20, respectively. I really like cats.
Hiya Cayu— great seeing you. The cat—I call him “Bart Zwart”, seems to be doing his job. We now see him in many different places over the complex. Now that I have begun cleaning our veggie plots, I see little paw prints on our soft garden beds. I hope he keeps up the good work this winter.
