Doing What Cats Do

It is a gorgeous day today! Warm, light breeze and only a few clouds in the sky.The cows are back out in the fields too. They look grateful to be back out in the fresh air after being in sheds, eating silage all winter. The cows sort of keep me company when I'm out in the garden.My friend Elaine called and asked if I wanted to go for a walk. I'll always go for a walk, especially with a friend on lovely spring days. I tucked my camera into my pocket in case I saw anything worth photographing.
Just as we were setting out we were met by our cat, Julio. He was strutting to the house with a prize, a stoat. The thing was still breathing. Poor creature! I called out to The Man of the Place and he assisted Julio in making certain that the stoat no longer suffered. Julio and stoat

Look! The animal is so large that it drags on the ground. Julio came home with a few scratches on his nose the other day. Today a few more scratches have been added to the collection. I suspect now that it was a stoat that had inflicted the earlier damage as the new scratches sort of match the old ones.Wild primroses

Settign out on the walk we saw lots of wild primrose. Bluebells are starting to pop out and they'll be at their peak in a week or two.

Back home Julio is sleeping in a sunbeam now after having a post-battle wash. He is one mighty hunter!! That is what cats do. I can't say that I like when he kills things but I wish he'd hunt moles.Photo by Dean of DDD

I've seen a couple of beautiful Orange tip butterflies. They only fly in the spring so it is always a treat to see them.

Big Cat Sighting!!

We live in the country. Real proper countryside stuff is part of our daily lives. I have been keeping chickens for about 14 years. I have been seen out of a field by a annoyed cow and have helped with lambing. Even though we are not farmers, all our neighbours are farmers. We've got a dairy farm next to us on the south and to the north we have sheep. To the west of our house is a planted forest. It is a happy coincidence that our neighbours have a son, Gordon that is only eight weeks younger than our George. These two are firm and life long friends.

Monday night I took George up to the farm with his guitar and amplifier so he could play with Gordon (they are forming a band) and his newly upgraded drum kit. About 9pm it was Henry's duty to collect him from "up the road".

At 9.20 pm the kitchen door opened and The Man of the Place and our son came hurrying in with eyes as big as saucers. "We've just seen the big cat!"This is not our photo, but you get a good idea of what was seen crossing the road next to our house!

They proceeded to tell me about the very large animal that was crossing the road between us and Charlie our nearest neighbour. For you city folks, the animal was about a city block away from us. Previously the only large wild animals that have been seen by us are badgers, foxes and deer. The phrase "it wasn't a fox" kept peppering the animated descriptions.

I was told that it was the size of a mountain lion and a dark sandy colour. The guys were quite shaken and told me to keep the dog in the house for the rest of the night.

We first called Mike the Gamekeeper. I wish we hadn't because he was a real wet blanket. He kept saying how he goes into those very woods every day and has never seen any sign of it. He kept talking about an unusually large dog fox that keeps taking the lambs and that must have been what Henry and George had seen.

The police (yes, they were called) and Jimmy in the paper shop the next morning were just as sceptical as Gamekeeper Mike. Thankfully when speaking to our neighbours, there was no scepticism at all. Innes (father of Gordon) said that he has seen a half eaten deer carcass in one of the tall shooting platforms that are dotted through the forests around here. Charlie has seen a large cat like animal leap up onto a stone dyke that was far heavier set than any fox. Young Jack, a boy who lives on a farm not too far from here came back from a walk in the woods with his face as white as chalk and his pocket knife in his hand with the blade out. He had seen some large cat that scared two days growth out of him. Duncan at the farm on the other side of Charlie says that he has seen it and has had dead sheep and lambs that are almost entirely consumed.
IT WAS NOT A FOX!

Foxes are delicately framed creatures. The animal that my family saw and the animal seen by our neighbour was heavily set and had very distinctive cat like movements. Henry described a cat's powerful stride with the rolling shoulder blades thing going on.

Sadly the camera wasn't available to them. Not that they would even have had time to get it out and snap a picture. The camera was sitting in MY car.

Last night involved another nighttime drive through the countryside to get George from his jujitsu. We had the camera this time.
There were about five hares, some bats and an owl or two - no decent photos of those - and an actual herd of deer. The deer also moved away too quickly for a shot but you can see the eyes of some of the deer in this picture. That's the other thing. I have never seen so many deer! After years and years not seeing one single deer ever, the deer sightings are almost daily now. Where there is prey there will be predators!The lane was covered in those orange larch needles I was telling you about earlier. Lichen in the trees.

I guess I am going to be much more wary when I am walking Polly up towards the ponds and taking the garbage out to the bins at night is going to be much less calm. In fact, I think I'll just save that particular job for daylight hours. For now.

Something Nasty Under the Piano

This has happened before. . . I go around turning off lights and locking doors as I turn in for the night and as I walk through the orangerie I catch an unpleasant whiff. I think to myself that there may be something dead in here again.

In the morning, I steeled myself and had a look under the piano (the location of the last dead animal). In addition to a large amount of dust and a couple of cat toys, there was once again a dead shrew under the piano. Julio must bat them under there and not be able to get them out again. I got the cat toys and dead shrew out. The toys were returned to the cat and the shrew was thrown on the fire. Then I cleaned up the dust. Do you know how hard it is to dust UNDER a piano? Well, it's a bit more difficult than dusting the top of the thing.
Here is the space under the piano which is now free of cat toys and small dead rodents.

After I cleaned out under the piano, I found myself in dusting/cleaning mode. Julio, who was reanimated by the return of his cat toys was hanging around being helpful. He helped one of my orchids onto the floor. Remember this orchid? Well terracotta pots and tile floors do not mix.
It is on the floor near the other door. Julio is pretending that there is something very interesting outside and is pretending he doesn't see THIS!!
Close up view - grim, isn't it?

I repotted the orchid in a plastic pot and it is back on a windowsill minus the flowers. I hope next year this orchid will give us a show that is just as beautiful.

Julio Was in a Fight

The other day, when I was away, it was reported that Polly had escaped the confines of the garden by squeezing under the gate. She was playing with some unknown border collie. This collie has been spotted near the house a couple of times. It is shy and won't come near. I don't know whose dog it is but it looks to be a working dog rather than a pet. As you know the chickens had also escaped and had their evil way with my vegetable plants.

Wil of Paradise Driver had said in the comments that nobody knew what Julio got up to while I was away. He is right, we don't know for sure but we have uncovered evidence that Julio has been in a scrap. Some people in this house had said that it might have been Polly. I've never seen anything other than play between those two, so I am sceptical of this theory. My suspicions initially lay at the feet of that roving collie.

On Thursday when The Man of the Place and I went off to work, Julio was asleep on our bed. Nothing odd there, this often happens. When I returned however, many hours later, Julio hadn't left his spot on the bed. I sat down next to our cat and gave him a couple of strokes. There was a bit of dried blood in his nose and there was a big bite mark on his face. He wasn't looking or acting well. After a quick phone to the vet TMOTP, George, me and Julio were making the 14 minute trip back into Lockerbie. The vet met us at the surgery and proceeded to examine our dear cat.

There are all sorts of visiting animals here at Whitelees. In addition to Polly's border collie friends, we get cows, sheep, foxes, badgers, weasels, stoats, hedgehogs and the occasional feral cat. The vet stated that the injuries on our cat were very typical of a cat fight. This means that Polly and this other dog are off the hook.

Julio had a temperature and more bite marks were discovered. He was given antibiotics and an appointment to come back on Saturday morning. By Saturday he was back to his old self, moving normally and eating. We still made the appointment where Julio was given another dose of antibiotic PLUS his annual booster shots that were due to be given.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I am surprised that we don't have bald pink pets. You should SEE the amount of pet hair we clean up this time of year! I had emptied the vaccuum cleaner before I started and THIS is the amount that was in there afterward!

The weather has been glorious this weekend. I've spent a number of hours mowing the lawn and planting out flowers.

The Man of the Place has been pointing up the stonework on the house in preparation for a fresh coat of paint. The neighbours look over the fence to see what we're up to and to offer occasional bits of advice.