Wordy Wednesday: Our new visitors!

Miss Marble writes:

There are two new visitors to our deck, our house, and our yard!  Tigress and I don't like them very much, because they eat our food and one of them gets pets from our family.  Our purrents say that one of them will learn to take turns with us and the other one will find a new home within the next couple months.  I certainly hope that turns out to be true!  I had to go out the door to the other dimension (aka the front door) this morning, because my door was blocked by the intruder who gets pets.  Mommy had to pick me up and put me out in the other dimension, then give me pets to let me know that it was still the same place.  No, it's not!  It's the other dimension!

 Panther writes:

Aack!  The lady took pictures of me!  I really don't like the flashy box, but learned last night that the red light means the white light will flash.  I freeze when the red light comes on, wait until after the white light flashes, then go on about my business (mainly getting pets from the lady and twirling around her while she talks to me).  I've been hanging around this new house since July 4th.  The people think that I either was dumped or ran away because of the fireworks.  I obviously know all the important things that a housecat should know, like what doors, collars, lights, people, and toys are, so I was an owned cat very recently.  I have a collar, but that is from these new people.  The tag is made especially for me, and says "Am I yours???" on one side and "If so, call xxx-xxx-xxxx" on the other.  The people named me Panther because I'm all black with gold eyes.  I'm shorthaired, and between 8 months and a year old.  I am not fixed, so if I truly am a stray or a dumped cat, that will be the first order of business (along with testing to make sure I'm free of any diseases).

I'm a very friendly boy, but I love to play, so I was showing off my ferociousness on the tomato cage!  I headbutt any hand that pets me, talk like a Siamese, and love to brush up against the people.  I'm a very strong boy, so my headbutts really push the people's hands!

If you are in the Hazel Dell/Walnut Grove area of Clark County, Washington, and know where I belong, please let the people know by commenting on this blog post.  If you are local, please share this information via blog, Facebook, etc., to help me find my home.  Thank you!

Our second new visitor is the raccoon in back.  He or she is a new kit, born about 12 weeks ago (probably), and just started coming with his mom.  His mom is one of last summer's kits, born to R.K., so the new kit is the fourth generation since we've lived in this house (three years).  He's very smart, and even likes to play with the toys JJ left behind!  The plastic saw is one of his favorites.  He'll spend a few minutes turning it over and over in his hands, trying to figure out what it is and what it does, then he'll bite it and put it down.  Daddy gave the outside cats a hotdog that had fallen on the floor inside, but the cats didn't want it.  The kit found it and figured out it was food after rolling it around for a bit!  He also likes the blue scoops from the weather station.

R.K. brought a birthday present to show Mommy yesterday!

R.K. writes:

It was about this time last year when my mama raccoon brought us by to see the human home and food source for the first time.  In fact, the feline kits came by one year ago yesterday for the first time!  Well, I thought I'd continue the tradition.  Yep, that's right:  this half-blind raccoon who thinks she's a kitty had kits!  I've got two healthy furballs, and they're a month or two old.  I'm not telling exactly how old they are, though.  They're about 1/4 to 1/3 my size, and I'm still nursing them, although one of them tried the cat food tonight.  I was so proud!  They played on the deck while I ate, except when the sensor light scared them.  There's space under the deck, so they ran down there when the light was too much for them.  They had a lot of fun playing on the deck, though!  They both investigated (and exclaimed about) the ladder that's lying on there, and had fun jumping in and out of the squares.  One played with the rope that's attached to the ladder, tossing the end up and catching it.  The other found a dead mouse that Tigress had presented to the humans.  My silly kit picked the mouse up and couldn't decide what it was!  It held the mouse between its front paws while standing up, turned the mouse over and over between its paws, then walked off with it to the edge of the deck.  Five minutes later, it was still carrying the dead mouse around, trying to decide if it was food or a toy!

Our entry for the Bird & Squirrel Watching competition

Thanks to the Furry Bambinos for hosting this competition! At our old house, we had lots of things to watch: birds, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, dogs, and the other cats. So here's some pictures of us looking at them, and some of them looking at us.

Carbon (l) and Rori (r) squirrel-watching

Here's who we were watching! Yep, he's eating the ferals' kitty food.

Rori watching and growling at the dogs in the neighbor's front yard.

Little Bit (l) and Starla (r) looking at each other. View from out the same window as the top picture.

Our raccoon friend, who later brought her three babies to eat and play on the porch.

Baby Possum, whose mommy brought him when he was kitten-sized. He came back as an adult (as pictured) to eat almost every night.

The raccoons and possums were very polite and always let the feral cats eat first. They would watch us, and watch our humans, but we always told them that it was just fine for them to eat the food. We'd rather they ate that than stinky old garbage! We loved the outside friends, and miss them, but now we've got a whole new backyard to watch!

Feral Friday by the Trailer Kitties

Food bowl rollcall:

Shadow, Spongebob, big-head Tom kitty, Precious, Siamese cat from over the fence, Marble, raccoons.

Newsflash: Mama raccoon had three kits around the time Little Bit had her kittens, and she brought them last week! Mama raccoon was very watchful as her kits played around the porch, but it was broad daylight and they were all enjoying the sun. :) The baby raccoons are now about 13 or 14 weeks old, and probably about the size of a large cat.