Animal Day

Some animal lovers do not eat meat on Animal Day. We do and  we share. Our Steak Tartar was also enjoyed by Rouschka, Quincy, Chick and Chucky. Here is Chucky taking his share.

Curiosity

 Chick likes to be in the know - nay, she demands it. She noticed we were in a room she did not have access to. Unacceptable, of course. She worms her way in...

... to find Inge nursing Brownie. Brownie was attacked a few days ago, probably by a cat from the neighbours. She has no visible wounds and she can eat, drink & poop. If you hold her, she'll stand. If you let go, she falls. She cannot stand or walk by herself. We're hoping she will improve.
Chick does not hunt chickens - she and Chucky leave the chickens alone. But Brownie clearly did not like a cat - any cat - this close to her. Poor, traumatized Brownie! An indignant Chick was removed from these premises right after this picture was taken.

Bummer

Would love to take some action pictures - cats chasing things (birds, mice, bugs, spiders, each other). But I guess no feline cooperation  is forthcoming any time soon.

Boat Cat

Chuck has a new hangout: on the main sail (folded and resting on the boom) under the tarpaulin of the new boat. He spends most of the day there napping. I had taken a bad picture of him yesterday with my mobile phone but today I went back with a real camera. I woke him up inadvertently when I entered the boat, but he was happy to see me. So happy that while torn between greeting me or stretching first, he fell off the main sail.

The top picture was taken just before he started gliding. He fell only about 1.2 m (4 feet) which isn't much for a cat (I would not recover within seconds from a such a smack to the floor). I put him back on the main sail. He first thanked the tarpaulin for protecting him from the wind and then jumped into my arms for a hearty hug. My man.

AutoCat

Like a true mechanic, Chick is trying to figure out the working of the Land Rover.We expect her to come up with a solution to its problems as soon as she has finished thinking about it.

Love on a Ladder

Excuse me

I owe Chucky an apology. In my last post I wrote that Chick was the courageous one, sitting on the cart while while it is being pulled by Feye. But on this snapshot you see her brother Chuck sitting on the Feye's back. True, he is sitting on the horse's coat, but under that coat is a real, life, living, humongous horse. How's that for Burmese courage?

Hey Ho

Sun bathing on the courtyard. As long as it doesn't move, it's fun.



But when Feye is harnassed and starts pulling, only Chick is cool enough to stay on board and look as if this chariot was made especially for her.



Snapshot from the hip. Rouschka is on board now, too: ready for a family outing.

Behind the scenes...

Who's the shadow next to the dancing cows?

A Good Example?

What is with cats & high places? Does Chicky like to get away from her boisterous brother and the maddening crowds of Woudsend? Or she yearning for some good old fashioned devotion and should I place myself on hands and knees in the lower left-hand corner?

Whattheheck?

It's been a while since my last blog - not because of Chick and Chucky, haven't got any adventures any more, but because I have been too busy to document their roaming about the farmhouse. This picture was taken seconds efore Chick realised it is an ox sniffing her butt. She was not amused, but oxen are curious. They like to investigate and their sense of smell are key to find out more about the world around them.

In the Picture, too

Hurray! Clean Towels!

If Cat Heaven exists, I'm sure warm clean towels are an essential part of it.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Outside, winter is back. You can still see the grass through the snow, but the wind is cutting and cold. It is a day stay inside and fight boredom: Chuck has already chased his sister all over the place twice. We try to distract him with s shoe-string, but Chicky beats him to it: she jumps first at the rope. Now Chick and Chucky have strict rules about playing with humans:

-  one human per cat; and
-  first come, first served.

Since I'm taking the pictures, I'm not availbale for playing and Chucky has to wait untill Chick has finished playing with Inge and the rope. Chick is clearly not in a hurry.

Ennui

Yeah, we could play. Then again, we could just not play. We could go outside. We might stay here. Have a bite to eat. But then again, we're not that hungry. We could chase each other. Play with a string of rope. Then again, we could just sit here. Yeah.

Crooner

Elvis is not dead, he lives!

Challenge

It is difficult enough to keep one's balance...

... without others disturbing one's concentration.

Cat in a tight place

He jumped in. Turned around and peeked out. And didn't want to leave his paper bag. We carried him around and he was loving every minute of it. Purr, purr, purr.

Tough Chick

It takes guts to enter an arena with two other animals that big, especially if you attract their attention. Chick has guts. And she didn't budge - not until Hayke (the black horse) walked towards her and tried to sniff what she smells like. That was too much. There is only so much a lady can take. (This is the first time that Ox & Horse were together.)

Extreme Cleanliness

Chick was discovered in the dishwasher and photographed with a smart phone. The lower part of the dishwasher had just been cleared out and was still warm - clearly attractive for a cat who also likes the sauna.

In my imagination Chick looks rather indignant at being caught. But perhaps she was just following the movement of some insect flying by, outside the dishwasher.

This image reminded me of something my great-aunt Han is supposed to have said: 'Cleanliness is good, but it should not deteriorate into hygiene' *


*'Properheid is goed, maar het moet niet ontaarden in hygiëne.'

Last Boat Trip 2012

It was an memorable trip - the last boat trip of the season. Chick & Chucky were a little hesitant, but decided to get on board at the last minute. Then they ran around for the whole trip. Jumping up and down, to and fro, in and out of the cabin. Until finally they could set foot on solid ground again.

Let's Call It a Day...

The painters left their scaffolding for the weekend, so we can work on the gutter. Or we - it's Inge really who does all the work. Chick and Chucky love to visit her up there. Chick can climb up herself, but it's too high for Chucky so we have to lift him up. Today it started to rain so we had to stop. Chucky looks like he felt it coming - his throwing away-gesture minutes before the rain actually started looks prophetic.

Identity Crisis?

Both Chick and Chucky love cars. When they see a car door open, they just have to hop in. Chances are, one day a visitor will drive away with one of my furry bundles aboard. Or both! This picture was taken when we were going to get two chicken and their hen house (of which I will make another picture later).

The dogs could come with us, but to have the cats joins us, as well, was just a bit too complicated. We had helped Roeschka to get in the trunk of the car (she is a very old lady and cannot do this on her own any more) and Chuck joined him.

Now the cats do not only love cars, they love Roeschka as well. Particularly Roeschka I think, because she is usually very calm. Especially Chuck likes to walk up to Roeschka and throw himself on his back at her feet. It is a cattish invitation to play, but Roeschka doesn't speak Cat, let alone Burmese. She doesn't recognize the gesture as a message meant for her. She just walks around him.

Another explanation is that Chucky is beginning to think he's a dog, too.  And when Roeschka got in the back of the car, Chucky, too, got a place on the dog-seat.

A New Home

It may be every cat's dream to live in an aviary, but Chucky settles for a hen house. Good for catching sparrows and other small birds who come in to eat chicken food when the door is open. Hennie, Puntje and Mr. Foppe like to roam the grounds during the day.


The protruding white box is for hens who want to have some privacy laying eggs or hatching. Lately the chicken prefer to lay their eggs in the manger in Willy Drie's stable. And we now understand, why:

No space! Chucky likes to doze here.

No Guts, No Glory

Not only dogs do evening strolls around here. Chicky is ready to join, and I've decided to bring Willy Drie as well. I guess you could say the relationship between cat and calf is non-existant: Willy Drie is too brusque and to big for a cat and when he would hit the cat with his head, he could seriously hurt her. Could, if cats weren't much faster than calves. It's a little sad for Willy Drie. He is very curious about any living being, including cats. Willy Drie and I found Chicky on our path. He moved his head towards her and sniffed. She didn't move till he was really close and then slowly moved away. Brave little thing.

All Is Well @Home

It's been a while since I last posted on this blog. The summer holidays are partly to blame for that, as is Willy Drie, who is taking a lot of picture taking time from Chick and Chucky.
It's not that they don't get a lot of attention - they are very good at making clear when attention is desired! We snuggle a lot. The cats love to join the dogs on their walk-around-the-sheep-meadow.But instead of following C&C around, I drag a little ox around and take pictures of him.
Here are two recent pictures to show C&C are fully alive and kicking. Figuratively speaking, of course:

While Chucky is chilling, Chick endeavors to grasp the workings of the printer in her office:

Subvertion

Inge usually irons when the cats are out-of-office. In any case - not in the house. This is a case of bad timing. As soon as Chucky came in, he jumped on the ironing board. It looks as if he is waiting for his turn to be ironed. He just loves the feeling of lying warm textile. Inge took a break and lost the battle: Chicky entered the room and took up her post on the towel - she loves towels. Ironing will have to wait until the coast is clear. Either Inge will have to find a cat-free zone, or she has to operate quickly and silently, while the cats are asleep elsewhere or out hunting.

Mr Invisible

We went on a vacation. Chick & Chucky had temporary new servants for a while to take care of all their needs. But now we're back and we're all picking up from were we left off. This picture is of a Chucky who is trying to get away unseen, playing Mr. Invisible. Chucky was sleeping peacefully in the grass - no doubt resting from yet another action-packed night - when Willy Drie entered the field. Willy Drie is a lively little bugger. He is eager to play - anyone will do (horses, roosters, dogs, cats, people) but his style is rather clumsy, not to say brusque, and he has a problem finding - or keeping - playmates. Especially playmates who are smaller than he is: