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The Pied Piper of Proendos and the Doubting Tomases

10/31/2017

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I always thought they’d follow the food ... but there were doubters. They’ll never use them, they said. They’re creatures of habit, they said. 

I said, they like food!

The three feeding stations more or less installed, cats waiting by the door for their dinners as usual, I emerge with tinned cat food mixed with macaroni - yum. But what’s this, they ask - why is she striding in the wrong direction, delicious wafts trailing behind her?

The quick ones - ChubbyChops stands out, Jessie as well - follow, tails in the air. Others remain under the horreo, mystified. Huskie, a case in point.

I cross the large grassy courtyard, climb the wall to the upper terrace, to arrive at the feeding stations. The delicious aroma of tinned cat food and macaroni drawing 4 or 5 cats behind me. I place it in the bowls and the brave ones - those who are demonstrating their ability to cope with change - begin eating.
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The feeding stations themselves are nicely made by Tomás, a local carpenter, based on a design from the US for exactly that purpose. They are intended to keep the weather out while the cats eat, and the cats may well hang out there as well. Here’s Adam as Beast of Burden (that’s ‘burden’, Australians!)
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We’ve put them in a place where they can also just about see the place where Josefa puts down her cat food. And the idea as avid readers will know is to free up some territory close to our buildings for Señor Scruffy from the ‘hood in London, who will be arriving - although at this point he is oblivious to this fact - with his two long haired mini-me homeys Zita and Zaldi, and his bad tempered tabby sidekick Mizuki, in January.

But what happened to the cats who clung to the original plan of being fed under the horreo? I hear you ask. I admit we have not been hardline. A few stragglers have been fed in situ, but over the next few months they will be encouraged to get with the new programme.

Meanwhile here are are a few recent pics including Jessica crashed out in the sun, while a white butterfly enjoys the painted sage, Chubby Chops below. Bette Davis is lurking in the foliage. And some humans - Josefa and Adam next to Josefa's amazing veggie garden, plus someone in the tree!
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Badgers say yes, cats say no - plus fire in the hills, and cat flu averted (we hope)

10/3/2017

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I spent nearly a full three weeks in Galicia during September, and it was glorious. The weather was gorgeous in terms of warm sunshine, but the lack of rain was a definite worry, and people were talking about that. Soon after I arrived there was a bushfire just over the valley and I watched for a while as two or three helicopters went back and forth with water scooped up from the Cabe River. Apparently the Galician fire service has a reputation for being 'the business', and they certainly react quickly around here. They went to help in Portugal recently too, when there were terrible fires over the border. Here is a photo which is so bad (apologies) it has a paint-by-numbers look about it. But you'll get the idea!
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Chubby Chops has become a permanent fixture around the garden, in case you hadn't noticed, and I noticed that he had a bit of a cold. I will try to embed a video here so you can hear his chest (I kid you not - but you have to be patient!). If the video does work you'll see that he is trying to figure out if I have anything to give him! I spoke to a couple of very helpful vets about what to do and in the end we got some antibiotics into him via some syrup on his food. The verdict was it was probably cat flu and best to try and get it sorted before the winter. I am crossing my fingers that we have succeeded but I won't know until Adam and I are back in Galicia later this month. Thank you Jane for doing dose 5! CC is a sweet-natured fella who seems to know that discretion may be the better part of valour, and is quite the ladies' man.
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Speaking of which, Husky was neutered last week. He was a handful to trap and decant from trap to cage, but I managed it just about. He sauntered off in a relaxed manner when I let him go a few hours after the op, and was back for dinner that evening! 1 down, around 4 males to go ... Here he is:
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There have been lots of humans around lately and Cristina was Cat Feeder of the Month for September - yay!

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​We have all been dining on an abundance of grapes and figs, and I know for a fact that the badgers have been joining us in the latter. I have footage on the wildlife camera to attest to badgers, foxes and boars being a bit partial. What a shame cats don't eat figs! We have had a massive crop of them. In making the cat food stretch out however, I have started to adopt our neighbour Josefa's tactic of adding pasta ...  more on that, and maybe a photo, later. 
Finally, many thanks to some people who have donated to the Butterfly Cat recently. This will help hugely in the purchase of cat feeding stations, which are being built as a I type! Thanks Jennifer, and thanks Jane & Trevor.
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    Adam and Janey, London and Lugo

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