2017-07-30 03:04 Things don't go the way I expect
Y (Kuma's owner)
Do you have pets? If you do, I'm sure you know what I'm going to write on the blog below now.
I have been keeping cats and I have three cats now. I want them to enjoy their life in my house and I bought cat toys for them. I bought stuffed toys of mice, a long fluffy string, several balls, kick toys and so on. To cut a long story short, I spent money on them and some of it was wasted.
When I began to keep cats, I was unsure if they would enjoy playing with a ball. My impression of playing with a ball is a dog, it wasn't a cat. I found soft balls which were selling as "cats' toys" and I bought some just for a trial. As a result of having bought balls, my cats enjoyed them. Yes, they did but only for a few days. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.
On the other hand, there is a different story about toy balls. Several years ago, my neighbour gave me a small Christmas tree and ornamental balls.
I was happy displaying it in the living room, and what happened was my cats hit the balls with their paws and they were very excited to play with them. The unbelievable thing was they enjoyed Christmas tree balls more than toy balls that were sold as cats' toys. My little Christmas tree was losing balls day by day and became a miserable appearance. I'm very sure that my cats enjoyed Christmas.
I sometimes realize the different ideas of toys between cats and humans. I always try to pick up toys that my cats seem to favour but I'm not succeeding. The toy balls I bought were ignored but they love Christmas tree balls.
A kicking toy hasn't attracted the cats' attention but my husband's sneakers are very popular to play with. One of my cats loves to play with the curtain in the study. Things don't go as expected.
One day, I was searching for a T-shirt on the internet and I found a funny printed T-shirt. One American cartoonist drew pictures of cats. There were two pictures on the T-shirt. The first one indicates that a cat's owner seems to be satisfied buying a cat tree for her cat. The second picture seems to show several hours later after she put the cat tree together, and the cat was having a good time in an empty box that had contained the cat tree. What an irony! But this would happen. I think every cat's owners experience it.
Now I found out that my cats love to play with a ball which I crumple from a newspaper. From my experience of living with cats, I maybe make cheap cats' toys without spending lots of money.
However, the simplest method of getting the right toy is going shopping with a cat. If I could I would like to go shopping with my cats and ask them what toy they want.
2017-07-26 04:52 What animals eat daikon leaves?
Y (Kuma's owner)
I grow vegetables in the backyard. I used to grow broad beans but I didn't sow them this year to avoid replant failure. I sowed snow peas, onions and daikons. I found a small space to grow snow peas where I haven't grown broad beans before, so I don't have to worry about replant failure.
Usually, I can expect lots of peas this season but this year is different. Some animals sneak into the backyard veggie patch and eat peas and daikons. I have no idea what kind of animals eat my veggies. It's about once in every three days, I find my veggies are eaten, especially daikons.
Daikon is a very popular vegetable in Japan and I love it. It's a kind of root vegetable, like carrots. You can buy daikon in big cities like the Gold Coast or the area where many Asians live but not in my town. So, the only way to get daikon is to grow them myself. Luckily, one of the famous hardware shops in Australia, Bunnings, sells daikon seeds.
One morning, I saw three kangaroos hopping in the backyard and I found some daikon leaves were eaten. There were two footprints of kangaroos left in the veggie patch. I was wondering if kangaroos had eaten my daikons? There are other animals that eat vegetables around here. Possums love to eat fruit and vegetables as well. I know they live here.
The daikon leaf has tiny prickles. I think snow peas are more delicious than daikon leaves but something seems to love daikons more than snow peas. The Daikon is not a native plant of Australia. I don't know what animals eat daikon as at least I guess that this was the first time to encounter daikon for them. For me it's unlucky, for them it's lucky to know the taste of daikon leaf. Daikon leaf contains plenty of Vitamin C. Maybe it's good for them.
My biggest concern is what are they? This area is a habitat of bandicoots, echidnas, kangaroos, possums and some mice. I think bandicoots eat mostly insects and I don't think they eat daikon. If I could I would like to take a picture of them. Currently, all I can do is put baskets on each daikon seedling.
2017-07-24 23:32 Free Accommodation for Wild Birds 2
Y (Kuma's owner)
Nearly a year ago, my husband made a bird nest box and hung it onto the tree in the backyard.
* Free Accommodations for Wild Birds [Sept.22, 2016]
My husband and I were expecting that some birds were going to use it. I saw two Pale-headed Rosellas visit the nest box quite often but they have never used it. I saw them peeking into the nest box and noticed that the hole of the nest box is too small for them.
The nest box is set on a branch high above the ground and it's not easy to replace it. Then, my husband decided to make the hole bigger without removing it from the branch. He grabbed a reciprocating saw and climbed the ladder. As you can see in the picture, it was quite high.
He made the hole bigger and added a small perch under the hole.
The renovation is done!
= The stylish nest box is for rent! =
One bedroom with high ceiling.
The entrance hole size is just a good enough size to go in and out, and there is a perch for supporting your kids when they leave the nest.
There is a beautiful forest and two water basins near the nest box and a human's house in front. Therefore, there is less chance of attack by aggressive ravens, and a safe place to raise your family.
The humans in the house keep cats but they are indoor cats and you don't have to worry about them.
No bond needed.
Available any time.
