The snow and ice are, again, lovely but dangerous. The bad gutter in front of my patio door is magnificent...and a big drag. The poor dog, well, she thinks she's camouflaged but only slightly. And Purrmeister cracks me up then he dives into the cat food bowl, feet and head first. Frankly, he's a really messy eater yet, as most babies are. But standing in the food bowl? That's a first for me.
What I don't have photos of here is the wild time we're having chasing mice all around the house these days. You see, when surrounded by corn fields, and then there is a harvest, well, the mice tend to migrate to warmer places looking for food...like in my house! Truly a 3 ring circus here right now. Mariah is an amazing huntress BUT never goes for the kill. She catches them, gently carries them to another part of the house, sets them down and ZOOM, off the little rodents run to start the chase all over again. It's a perpetual motion machine that changes from room to room....
Feeding time tonight: Red and Purrmeister are all ready for their bowls, meowing at my feet. I call Mariah, as usual, to join us. She shows up, all righty, with that blasted mouse in her mouth, again. This time, it's set down in the kitchen and dashes under the stove--safely out of reach of the cats. But it was like magnetic attraction: all three noses were pointing intently at the stove, frozen in time and space and all thoughts of eating were forgotten. What a tableau! I can pretty much count on lots of action until these rodents either die or are killed...and the cats? "Just doing our job, ma'am!"
11 comments:
I always like pictures of snow, but the cat looks like he knows right where he belongs. I hate when mice get in the house. My old dog was always better at getting rid of them than any of my cats ever were.
Whoa, those icicles look dangerous!! Beautiful photos, as always. ;)
we are starting to get those damn mice too. i hate them. wish i had a cat to take care of that for me. we are going through too many traps, getting expensive. have a wonderful day...hugz!
We have the mice problem every year too, believe it or not now we're starting to see squirrels too! For the mice I've been using no-kill mousetraps that I bought online, that helps. Not sure what to do about the squirrels though, they're too big to get in the traps.
That had me totally cracking up - gently catch the mice and move them to another room LOL I could see the whole thing!
Hmn...I bet if you stopped feeding them the mice would be gone real quick! Ha. I think the new baby has found Narnia in her bowl:)
When I was growing up we lived close to a wooded area and every winter we had plenty of mice coming in out of the cold. I can remember sitting on the floor and one running under my arm.
I also had a cat who used to catch all kinds of things, never killing them just injuring them so he could better play with and torture them :)
I had 2, count them 2 mice last winter and kittys were invaluable at stalking and letting us know where they were....bless them..the kittys...so excellent @ their job...:)))
I heard that if they don't learn to kill from their mothers, kitties don't ever learn to kill. My Grace is not a mouser and I'm not sure what Hobbes is or isn't. So far, he seems more concerned about kitty treats than anything else.
I LOVE your story of Mariah setting it down only to scurry away for more fun. Ugh. What a help!
Add the "polar bear" dog squatting and you had me chuckling. Good to know there are other houses as wacky as ours out there. :)
Wonderful little animal stories Karen! Love your gentle cat, Mariah, who just moves the mice around.
Our cats would probably have a hard time understanding her though. They are mousers! Calle hunts, kills and eats mice. Cajsa does the same. I don't know if Sara actually eats her pry, but I've seen her working together with Calle to catch small shews that they don't eat because they don't taste very good. They just catch them, kill them and leave them. I live with three killers! But thanks to them we do not have a rodent problem.
Wonderful winter pics.
I still haven't solved my technical problems, so I don't know when I will be able to post with new photos again.
Take care!
Anna
Great photos, as usual. We can always tell when there is a little "intruder" in our house. ALL the cats line up in front of the stove, fridge, cabinet, closet, whatever and wait for the little stinker to come out. The first time my Precious caught a mouse my daughter fought her for 15 mintues to try and get that mouse out of her mouth! Precious growled the entire time. What a hoot. Be careful with those icicles! If they come down all at once - OUCH!
Happy New Year!
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