As I mentioned last post, we've had the rainiest winter in Cyprus in 100 years. To give you some idea of how much rain, when we began renting the house we are in, we drained the accompanying pool, for the safety of the animals, and because we couldn't handle the expense of it. That pool is half full of water now and a lot of frogs have moved in. So feeding cats in the rain has been part of our life for months now.
In the rain, keeping the dry kibble we leave behind at all the feeding stations dry is a concern; where the cats will find shelter is also a concern. Cats that don't show for feeding are another concern. Wednesday it poured down rain like crazy. In addition we had forceful winds off the sea. Our large trash bins were flying around like kites in the front yard, and all the laundry I optimistically hung out to dry earlier in the day, was now in the back yard. My laundry pegs were everywhere.
The main kibble feeding station at the park. We leave the dry kibble and a bowl of clean water behind each day in a grotto we've forged through the shrubs; keeping it dry in the rain is impossible.
(Here is a little video I tried to make once to introduce you to Strike. I am just getting to the park and first seeing her. This is from a previous day but it will give you some idea of how strong the winds can be. You can't even hear my voice! I gave up on the video.)
My first task before leaving the house for the park on this rainy Wednesday, as it is on most days, was to get Morris out of the car so I could...umm... leave.
Morris has to be bothered to exit my car and enter the rain
Still raining when I got down to the park to feed the cats; those brave cats who showed up and I huddled up under a concrete gazebo located at the upper level of the park. Here is the gazebo in the back right of this picture on a finer day:
Daily, we leave a pile of kibble under the gazebo, too, for those cats who won't come all the way into the park. Since Moonpie has gotten so terretorial over the grotto, more of the regular park cats are taking their kibble up here as well.
Tweeny, Greyboy, and Blabby are waiting; that's Petey who is coming up on the left
Here we have Greyboy, Blabby, Gunther, Tweeny, and Petey; some cats didn't show.
Later I went down to the lower level of the park to feed Cindy. Petey came along for her ususal seconds. That's rain on my lens.
This cat milk was a big hit. Just a little something special for a yucky day.
It was dark when I left. The cats are just behind those shrubs.
Now that spring is coming, rain will be less of concern. The concern in the warmer months is making sure the cats have a water source - especially in the summer where the pattern has been no rain at all.
Here is a picture I made of Sylvia, a neighborhood feral cat we spayed in May 2011, (she's friendly now), who feeds outside our house. Sometimes Sylvia just stands in the rain, and it blows my mind. But you know, once you are wet, you are wet, and after being out there in it with them, there is something exhilarating about it. It makes you feel alive. It's the getting out there in it that is the hard part, as any dog owner knows.
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