Some gratuitous cat pictures

It's been such lovely weather this Spring that we have spent some time sitting outside, and sometimes I've taken my long lens out with me. And then the cats come and hang out with us...

Portrait of Sunshine

Portrait of Smokey

Smokey languishing

And prowling

Meanwhile, Sunshine has taken over the old barbecue table...

Smokey is watching the birds

Calm; before...

The inevitable storm...

Gratuitous Cat Pictures

Because it's been far too long since we had a Cat Post.

Sunshine Noir

Sunshine in the Sun

Cat Nest :-)

Something interesting is up this tree...

Smokey poses for the camera

Contemplating bugs in the grass

Surveying his domain

Quality controlling the comfort levels of the bench

Investigations

Of course, it doesn't take long before the tank gets investigated by Cats.

Some of them investigate more closely than others...

Sometimes, they stop fighting

And sit near each other. But not _too_ close ;-)

Sleepy Cats

Prepare for cuteness!

Here's Smokey, all sleepy and spark out.

He even chose to ignore the fact that Sunshine jumped right up next to him. Usually that would be greeted with growling.

Another night. Mine, all mine...!

Last night. Sleepy Sunshine.

Extra sleepy.... head back; well out of it...

This behaviour seems to intensify when the weather is cold and rainy out... I think they like the warmth :-)

Role Reversal

In which we find Sunshine is climbing a tree, in pursuit of some unseen creature which was capturing her attention...

While Smokey is taking a snooze, leaning on my leg; a rare occurrence! He usually likes to be nearby, but maybe it's getting cool enough now that he wants some extra warmth? Who knows. I'm not complaining :-)

A brief interaction

Smokey discovers Sunshine is outside. 

Smokey walks past Sunshine. She is just sitting, watching, apparently unconcerned. 

As soon as Smokey's back is turned, she jumps onto the wall, following him. 

Smokey turns around. "WHAT?"

"Seriously, what's with the all this following me about?!"

Then Smokey turned to me, giving me his best "what did I do to deserve this?" look...

Coexistence

Let's see how these two are doing. Sunshine has been with us for several months now, and both cats are finally getting used to each others' presence, even if they don't like it.

This was a month or two ago. There was mutual growling going on here.

A couple of weeks ago, with Smokey asserting his position. Sunshine was just sitting there.

They're using the same sleeping spots these days, although not at the same time. Sunshine here had the temerity to get onto Smokey's tower, and you can see the look he is giving her! However, both cats settled down for a snooze shortly afterwards.

The other day, I took my computer into the sun room to work for a while. I ended up being accompanied by both cats... Smokey sat inside for an hour or so which was lovely.

Meanwhile, Smokey is sleeping on the guest bed again. He's spent all summer in the sink, which is cooler, but now the heat is going away, he wants his comfort.

And Sunshine is getting a taste of the outdoors. She loves to roam the front courtyard. She is telling me all about what she can see from the top of the wall, here.

CreatureCam

We got ourselves one of those trail cameras the other day. We've been talking about getting one for ages, to see what nocturnal visitors we might get from the animal kingdom. They have motion detectors and infra-red flash/sensors so that if anything passes by, day or night, it should get photographed. I am discovering that one must be careful about where the camera is pointing; grasses waving in the breeze will result in 300 pictures of an empty lawn! However, point it in the right place and it will reveal nocturnal activity.

Here are some visitors, from the first week or so of camera ownership...


First up; it seems that Snowman is still making his rounds, although we haven't seen him by daylight for many months now. We saw him two nights in succession.


Here's a Roadrunner just in front of the tall grass (click for a bigger image on all of these).


One night we caught this fox.


And we get deer all the time, of course.


This one decided to photobomb the camera last night (he better not have been eating my plants at the time, either!)


Two nights ago, something broke through the cat flap to eat the bird food in the sun room. I suspect this raccoon is the culprit...


And of course, Smokey gets picked up doing his rounds :-)

Cats

Gratuitous cat post.

Smokey

Sunshine