Showdown coming at the ranch?

Stupid Woody the kinda sorta Himalyan guy, the other really hot stuff hunter at the ranch, is horning in on MY turf...that being Cindy's porch.

He's got his nerve...yeah he likes the brush and yeah he knows about the special grub she puts out. But dangitall I was there first.

May have to challenge him to a cat fight...but that would make Cindy really mad...and he's kinda big...

Mmmmmm...must ponder my strategy.

Wonderful surprise for breakfast

I found a bowl with kibble and warm cooked chicken livers mixed in...wow. Been out hunting mice all night and that really hit the spot!

Dey is red mice over in the chicken coop, even stealing food from baby chicks so I been on patrol all night. Gonna get me some of them mice I am.

But a warm breakfast really hit the spot.

Coyote chorus at the ranch...

Well well...seems the neighbors are really restless.

Friday, about an hour before sunrise, we could hear a coyote pack barking and growling, not just howling...and sure enough, here comes Cindy in her bathrobe, with her machete and flashlight, checking on all of us, especially the lambs in the pasture. But the sheep and alpaca were kinda annoyed cuz they were still sleeping ( and safe ) and didn't like the flashlight on them...then she walked around and checked on ranch dog Ben, the chickens...and looked for me n' some of the other cats.

Then there was a different howl...a real coyote chorus and she realized they were hunting right across the road...and had caught something but off the ranch.

Anyway, we were all safe so she went back inside.

Cindy's kinda silly sometimes but we love her.

Cold nights at the ranch...

It's getting really really cold here...don't remember it being quite so bad but this is only my second winter here. There's lots n lots of frost, Cindy covers some of her plants, and she puts out extra food. I was standing on the porch looking in her door, thinking it would be nice to be inside, and of course the two stupid dogs had to show up. I got up on her fence this afternoon in the sun and it felt better.

Cindy said she's working on a house and a bed for me...but she's trying to figure out how to keep racoons and skunks away from it.

Things can get complicated at the ranch.

Traps at the ranch!

Oh my...it seems we have raccoon visitors...and Cindy and Miz Terry our neighbor are out to trap them.

So me n' most of the barn cats, 'cept for silly Woody, been sitting watching this all going on. Sure 'nuff, first night Cindy set up a trap she got a teenage raccoon. Cindy spent a year trapping feral cats in Hawaii and she said it's kinda similar 'cept you need a bigger trap. But she knows how to camouflage it and where to set bait...

We all gathered around, hunkered down and watched, and sure 'nuff, the raccoon teenager got hisself trapped. Miz Terry put him in her pickup truck, and we heard he got taken out into the county park by the lake and let go. Good...he was stealing cat food and scaring the chickens....hmmm maybe he wasn't all bad after all.

So we figured we had us a pretty good feline show going on here...but last night, here comes Woody, our part Himalayan fancy pants ladies cat...and Cindy had put canned cat food in for bait, and even though we all told him to leave stuff alone...he got hisself trapped.

And when Miz Terry found him she started laughing and then she called Cindy and she got to laughing too...and Woody ran past all of us and didn't even look us in the eye. He spent the whole day out hunting in the pasture trying to be Mr. Tough Guy...lol.

I think I made a tactical error...

There's only one other intact male besides me amongst the barn and yard cats, a dude named Li'l Bit. Cindy caught me chasing Li'l Bit the other day and asked Terry why I was such a grouch, and then Terry ratted me out. Cindy thought that Terry had already caught ALL the barn cats...well, she almost did. And Cindy just hadn't checked...

I think I'm in trouble.

Canned cat food? For NOT chasing chickens?

Wow...for dinner tonight, Cindy brought out a big can of cat food and it was mine, all mine...she said she was sorry the chickes were hanging out and she knows they eat my cat food. So she's not gonna put anything out til after sundown when the chickens head for the coop...and she said I deserved a special treat for putting up with them.

I may have to reconsider my opinion of chickens...

I hate chickens

Stupid ranch chickens get out and go roaming around and they hang out on Cindy's porch...we are gonna have to lay down the paw law about this. That is MY porch...it's where I wait for Cindy, and sometimes I just sit there and sun myself.

Don't need no cackling, scratchin' stinky chickens. Now, mind you, as one of the ranch cats I do NOT hunt chickens. For one thing, they smell really bad, for another, I know how much trouble I'd get into for that.

But I could sure as anything scare one...

I just wish all 19 of them would stop coming around at the same time...

A Day in the Life of a Working Ranch Cat

Howdy. Howie's the name, hunting's the game...I am one seriously badass hunter of a ranch cat. Down here we got ground squirrels, we got all kindsa mice, and the occasional stupid bird. We also got ranch livestock, the really stupid chickens (they smell sooooooo bad...), our horses, goats, sheep, Alpaca, and llama...and they gotta eat. Unfortunately, the pests like the same stuff our pasture buddies eat, so me n a bunch of other cats are constantly on patrol. I actually love hunkering down in the brush and goin' Ninja cat...

I took a liking to Cindy as soon as she moved into her cottage...and it didn't hurt that she was always bringing Nutro cat food and cat treats home and putting them out on the porch for us barn cats. She even let me jump up in her car with her and sit on her lap and get pets.

Sure is nice to feel appreciated. And oh my paw...eating that good stuff is so much better than Alley Cat and other such stuff. Mind you, I'm still one fine hunting feline, but it's a lot easier to do that with a good full tummy.