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It is warmish today (45° now) and the latest you're-all-gonna-die snowfall is evidenced only by mounds of white where it was shoveled. The 'yard' for the most part is a spongy glop of muddy colloid of the clay family. Since the Olde Deere historically would start when it was warmer and then refuse when the temperature dropped, I ventured out to its lair armed with a new spark plug and suitable socket/ratchet combo to see if I could coax some life out of the Olde beast. Even with the new sparkplug I couldn't get the Olde Deere to even cough so I gave up the attempt. Any further attempts to resurrect the Olde critter will wait until warmer weather is the norm rather than the anomaly.

Since I was already out in the back I wandered the back perimeter of the (mowed) property and noted that the 'pond' that is closest to the was-a-barn is now full, the outflow of the 'pond' is flowing rapidly downstream toward the county ditch which parallels the road that forms the 'south' edge of the property, and the normal barely discernible rivulet is now a brookling babble, er something like that. I say 'back perimeter of the (mowed) property' because there are 78 acres here and the house, barn, outbuildings, and grassy part only constitute about 5 acres of that.

I also looked for indications of the presence of the latest cat that has shown up here. It is a tom, gray/black tabby with white undercarriage. I have to assume it has been hiding for a while because for at least the last two weeks our in/outdoor cats have been acting 'strange' when they go out. The last time they acted in this manner it turned out that Charlie Marmalade was on the property. Whether he was tossed out on a drive-by (which happens a lot out here) or is a neighbor's cat that is seeking to expand its territory we don't know but he is not a kitten. I'd say he is at least two years old maybe more. Size wise he's the same size as our in/outdoor males. This cat showed itself about two nights ago by confronting one of our in/outdoor crew as he made his way from the house to pass through the was-a-barn. Our cat and New Cat had a loud discussion about territory and New Cat retreated to the treeline toward the North field with our cat in pursuit. There are no indications that New Cat has taken up residence in any of the several shelters we have about the property, and it is doubtful that New Cat has found food (other than rodents) here since we don't leave food outside such that our place could be mistaken for a diner.

Since we aren't giving him any encouragement to live here we are waiting to see if New Cat shows up again. After all we already DO have our Resident Feral, Thomas T. Tomcat that we intentionally feed. But he belongs here..