Pets in the Garden - Kitty Helpers

Over at Gardening Gold Wild, Nan Ondra invited us to talk about pets in the garden as the subject for February's Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop.
With our 12 barn cats and 2 pampered house cats, I almost always have at least one kitty helper, and usually more than I really need.

Reuben and Peige (brother and sister) are a couple of my faithful shadows. Peige is a fence hugger.

She's always looking for a cuddle....

....but is sometimes content to just act as lookout.

Speaking of which, Murphy, self proclaimed King Cat and protector, seems to think of the birds' feeding tray as his own personal lookout post. I have to keep explaining to him that it's off limits.

In early spring, with the return of warmer temperatures, the barn cats begin to spend more time outside in the yard. Tink and Murphy like to hang out in the lilac bush.

Some of the others think the daffodils make a fine jungle for romping in. Here we have Cleo, Jasmine and sweet Kaspurr, who sadly is no longer with us after meeting his match with a ferilizer truck last spring (story here).

Our driveway is a busy place and some of the kitties are not too smart about moving out of the way of vehicles. They really embarrass me sometimes when a vehicle approaches and they just sit like lumps, apparently believing that no harm can possibly come to them in their driveway. I have to race out, arms waving madly, to shoo them out of the way.

Miss Molly (formerly known as Max. Some long time readers may remember her story) hiding in the daffs.

When the kitties decide to play a game of chase through their 'jungle' they make me rather nervous, but surprisingly they do very little damage.

Pretty Tink is never far from me when I'm in the garden.

And Jasmine likes to keep an eye on things.

We haven't made any specific design modifications to accommodate the cats because they pretty much do their own thing. And I don't worry about them eating poison plants because they seem to instinctively know what not to chew on.

Cleo spends a lot of time washing herself while Molly waits patiently for her to play.

Now Tink, you know the rules. That's not your tray!

Molly sits on the Lily Garden fence. She's usually somewhere close by when I'm weeding or digging.

Uh oh. That tray really is a popular spot. It's a good thing the birds have other feeders.

Willow followed me over the bank this sunny day as I snapped wildflower photos.

And dear Phoebe came along too.

They love those fences!

Miss Olivia is Phoebe's little girl.

And there's her sister, Isabelle, on the porch, with Jasmine on the steps, soaking up the sunshine on a golden September afternoon.

The kitties do sometimes use the flower beds to do their business, especially when a bed has newly added compost. Of course this is firmly discouraged when they're caught in the act, but cats will be cats, and while scooping poop isn't my favorite thing, I'm willing to put up with a little inconvenience for the pleasure of their company.

We have a saw mill and there's always a pile of sawdust somewhere for them to dig in, which helps keep them away from the gardens to some extent.

Summer and winter they entertain us with their antics and lavish affection upon us. I couldn't imagine our garden without them.

Just the other day I was out taking pictures of the frost on a very chilly morning, and of course my faithful helpers were there with me.

These past 2 days have been wonderfully warm and sunny, and quite a lot of the snow has melted. The temperature almost reached 50ºF/10ºC today! Isn't it funny how 50º feels cold in the fall, but warm as spring approaches? It's all relative I suppose.

Molly sits on the plant table soaking up sunshine, waiting for the time to come when she can spend more hours outdoors on days like today.

And Jasmine dreams on the back of the couch.

Do you suppose she's dreaming of being surrounded by colorful, sweet smelling blooms?

Fun & Games with Bailey

Bailey's "folks" are back from their vacation, so he's gone home, and Jasmine seems to be missing him. The morning after he'd gone she wandered around meowing, looking for him. She has all the barn kitties to play with, but she's the only house cat and I guess she enjoyed having company in the house.

The barn cats & Jasmine playing with Bailey's cord. Here we have Madelaine (Jasmine's sister) on the left, then Pete, Finnegan, Bailey (tied), Jasmine and Cleo.

Bailey is an indoor cat because Wes and Sandy lost their last kitty to the road. They live at the bottom of a steep hill and some people don't use much common sense when they come roaring down the hill, so it's a dangerous place for cats to live. When he does go outside Bailey is tied by a long cord to a weight, so he gets a little fresh air, but stays safe.

We did the same while he was with us, and the cats were completely captivated with that cord! It was the funniest thing to watch.

Hey, were'd my people go?

Notice that Bailey has extra toes on all 4 feet. His back feet are huge! He was born in our barn 2 summers ago to Sheba.

Here she is in June with Fiona , one of her spring litter of 3. This is the kitten whose picture I posted back in May with the pictures of the little fawn.

The cats played with the cord for hours.........

And Bailey enjoyed their company...........

............for the most part :)

Jasmine can be a bit bossy sometimes.

The black kitten on the right is Gus, another one of Sheba's kittens from this year's litter.

Jaz & Bailey played together indoors too.

When afternoon feeding time comes..........

the cats get pretty anxious to see me heading toward the barn......

Could you hurry please Mom!

Max thought he should stay and keep Bailey company.
Come on Max, or you'll miss out!

Pepper says, "Bailey, are you coming?"

No, he has to stay behind.

Jasmine, you keep Bailey company, OK?