I gathered the trash to put out this morning. I don’t like to put it out too early because it might attract critters or too late because it might get missed by the trash collection, which is very early in the morning on Fridays.
When I opened the door, around 3:15 AM, to toss the trash to the curb, I noticed we’d had a night visitor.
Say what?! Puma? Coyote?
No, nothing so dramatic. From the size, it had to be one of the feral cats in the neighborhood.
The snow, while not much, was sufficient to capture the evidence of a night visitor.
Dougy makes his escape.
That Dougy! Of course he had to slip past me while I took the photo of the pawprints!
There I stood, in a knit shirt, walking shorts, barefoot and my kitty’s making an escape into the bitter cold!
I reached down and put my hand around Dougy’s middle. “OK, snoopy, you’d better come in! It’s much too cold out here for a house kitty. Or me!”
Thank goodness you were able to capture Dougy without you or him getting frozen.
I am fortunate that he is just snoopy, not intent on getting away!
I suppose the opportunity was to good for Dougy not to give it a try, especially with proof of territorial invasion to check out. My usual time up is 4:00 to 4:30, you’ve got me beat.
You got it exactly right! Dougy has always been my little explorer,though, starting with the veterinarian’s examoination table when he was a kitten. While Andy rested at one end, being a very good kitty, Dougy sniffed around the edge till he finally got the nerve to jump off the table. From there, he made a round of the office before I caught him again.
You have short nights ! But Nature is beautiful in full nigh.
In friendship
Michel
I’m a night person by nature, or early morning person, depending how you view it. I agree! We have roughly 3.6 hours less night on January 1st than you do at your latitude, and 5.6 hours. It’s the difference between about 7.7° of latitude – I’m at the same latitude as northern Portugal or the middle of Italy, which is south of Amiens by quite a bit.
What a silly boy- glad you caught him 🙂
Me, too! He is fast and stealthy, but I know he is inclined to make a break this way, so keep my eyes open. Fortunately, he is always easy to catch because he’s always so engrossed in sniffing something when I reach down to pick him up.
I’m glad you caught the little explorer!
Me, too. He’s very stealthy, and it would be easy for me to miss the fact he’s slipped out if I wasn’t aware he will do this. He doesn’t go very far very fast because he has to sniff everything – I mean EVERYTHING! – before moving on.
Wo hoo visitors! I like visitors. A moose was caught 2 blocks from our house last month. Mom didn’t think they’d come this far into town…well, surprise mom! We have forced air natural gas heat. It’s really cold up here and electric heat is a hard way to keep it warm and expensive…or so a friend of mom’s with electric heat says. Mom usually likes the bedroom cool as it is but when the temperature drops to -20C- -4F and lower….it’s downright cold in the bedroom.
Shoko
I like it cooler in the bedroom, too. And, yes, the really cold days are a stress on the heating, which is why I wrap myself in a comforter in wintertime! Though I don’t pay directly for the electricity, it is reflected in the price I pay for this apartment: It goes up every year!
That’s one of the problem’s with renting. It’s -23C here so it’s very cold outside and naturally the heat clicks on occordingly. It’s very cold for this time of the year. We usually get this weather in late January. There is hardly any snow so I will probably lose a few perennials this coming year.
At 11:18 AM (this moment) it is -5°C here. I’m toasty warm inside!
That is a much more pleasant temperature…think I am getting climatized.
It’s the same temperature here at 8:35 today that it was later in the day in the first report — minus 5°C. Must be getting warmer here….!
It’s starting to warm up here a bit -10C..It feels warmer…there isn’t the sharp cold coming from the walls and windows.
Positively balmy…LOL!
This is why you see peeps out at -3 C in t-shirts and shorts. You wouldn’t catch me doing this though. I’m too much of a cold thing.
Hey, I live in the t-shirts and walking shorts zone myself! I think you get used to the cold to some degree, and, unless you have a good stiff wind pulling the wind chill index down below a comfortable level, a sunny day is, well, a sunny day! LOL! The climate in Western Nebraska is classified as a Cold Steppe. Sounds brique! And it is! You know there is only one tree between here and Fargo to break the forcew of the wind….! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-arid_climate#Cold_semi-arid_climates
Oh the silky fur on his tail, the beautiful fur all around – Dougy is really a beauty!
Dougy says, “Thanks!”
Any possibility of having a puma for a visitor?
Remote but not impossible. A young one was killed about 11 miles (about 18 km) from here, and other places in the area have had reports of them. They generally are very rare here, however.
Wow, it is close for the animal, 11 miles. Keep your kitties inside!
I do keep them inside, though Dougy is sneaky if I don’t keep an eye on him. He tends to follow his nose, and that leads him outside if the door’s open long enough. Usually, it isn’t since I know how he is!
The main threat to small animals around here, my neighborhood, though, is vehicle traffic on two major roads. Though traffic in the neighborhood is slow, on those major roads, it is highway speeds or fast in town speeds.
Yes, the worst enemy of pets and wild animals 🙁
🙁 …and how!
Oh yes 🙁
You must have your house set pretty warm.
It has electric heat, with controls for each room. tghe living room always heats up too much (low 80s) for me, and I spend most of the winter trying to get to a comfortable level in the lover 70s. The kiotchen is lower 70s, my bathroom is about the same, my bedroom always seems a bit in between those two, and the guest suite I heat just to the level necessary. Since it is next to the living room, if it is too cold in the suite, I think it affects the activity of the heating in the living room, probably a reason I always have so much trouble getting the heat level consistent there. I usually make up for being cold by wrapping myself in a comforter or wearing a hoody.