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Friday, February 28, 2020

venting today... just a little

Here's what happened Thursday:

When DH was leaving the house to meet a friend for lunch, he came back inside and asked me to come outside. I did and there sitting on the driveway across the street at 11 am in the morning was a big fat (handsome) raccoon.  DH says "Isn't that a bit strange... him being out there laying in the sun in the front of the house with cars and people passing?" I agreed it was odd... and that he was probably sick or had been hit by a car (although he didn't look injured).



You might have to enlarge this


So I watched him for a while after DH left. He didn't leave, just lay there and occasionally sat up. Finally I called Animal Control and told them what was going on. They said that there was a lot of distemper going around... and most probably he was sick. But they would send someone around to check.

After about 20 minutes, AC showed up and I pointed to where he was still laying.  The man took out his pole and rope and went over.  But his approach startled the raccoon, and he immediately got up and started away. The man chased him around for a bit, and finally gave up - telling me he ran up a tree - which he probably did. I had gone inside (admittedly after laughing a bit watching him running around and thinking, he's never going to catch him. Apparently the animal wasn't that sick.)

OK... now the venting part: While the AC man was a few houses down chasing the raccoon, I saw an SUV stop and call him over. He walked over and apparently he and the woman driver talked... for a bit. Later when he returned to his truck, I went outside again and said that I guess the animal wasn't that sick as he seemed to give him a run for his money. We both laughed. 

Then he told me that the woman who stopped to talk was complaining to him about my cat. I looked at him and said, "I have a cat?" (meaning an outside cat - Ghost has never gone outside) . But before I could say anything more, he said, "You must feed the feral cats...?" And I said, "Oh yes, we do feed the ferals..." and he said that's what she was complaining about. He told her that AC had been working with us for years. Not sure how he meant that to sound... but truth be told, we do bring them feral kittens when we find them, have had ferals neutered and spayed, belong to Feral Friends, etc. 

Anyway, after he left, I told DH that our 'poodle friend' from down the block was complaining about us. She lives about 4 houses down and owns a big standard black poodle which she walks on one of those adjustable leashes and allows him to run all the way up to our front porch (even walks around our car in the driveway on the side) to let him chase the ferals who sometimes sleep under the car or on the porch.

Both DH and I have asked her not to do this on our property. We would like our area to be considered a safe place for all critters. Her response was that her dog wouldn't hurt them... and I said that maybe not, but scaring them was mean and we'd appreciate it if she wouldn't allow it. Guess she didn't like that. 

Anyway, I'm venting because it irks me that someone wants to tell me that I can't feed or protect the wildlife. I know the pros and cons and have lived here in this house for 35 years. Our kids and grandkids have watched generations of wildlife come and go. We have done the 'catch and release' programs and what it boils down to is that if something is hungry, we're going to feed it. And if you like for your dog to chase ferals, then do it on your own property.  That's my philosophy - take it or leave it.

What do you think? 

Here's a picture of one of the feral cats sleeping up on the fence. He's a sweet one, only about a year old, but a big cat. He's one that would make someone a good pet. However, he's wary enough not to get too close... 






Well, that's my story. Thanks for visiting. Comment if you'd like. I acknowledge and appreciate different opinions... as long as no one gets ugly.

Hugs,
Rian




This post should stop here. I think it's going to pull up a lot of white space and I don't know why... if you do, please tell me how to eliminate it. The white space shows up when I do a preview, but not on my actual posting ???

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Friday, February 21, 2020

this and that...

Hi again! I'm back... somewhat. Have been kept very busy lately with all kinds of things going on.  Some good, some not so good. But all in all, we're fine. Life goes on. 

Several things have happened since January. Some I don't want to get into now, but others are just everyday annoyances. Our old Maytag dryer died last week. Then this week, the dishwasher decided it was going too. Thing is... we can't really complain as both have lasted way past their expected time - over 20 years. 

I'm back playing with clay again. Here are a few of my spring projects:


cheeky chickens again of course

a rough sculpted bunny 

left side of rough sculpted bunny

You may not notice but my cheeky chickens are now the cheeky chickens 2 model... with actual sculpted wings. 

And this next pic you may think is a bit weird, but I had a bunch of unused clay sitting in a pile and as I looked at it, I saw 2 baby birds sitting on top of each other. So I roughly carved them out... but it may not be something others see. However, I like it.



baby birds

That's about it. I have 2 glazed vases and a pink pie bird in the kiln which should be ready by class tomorrow. We'll see how they came out. If decent, I'll post pics later. 

Also I've read The Outlander books years ago... and watched the first parts done for TV a while back. However, now that the next season is out, I've lost track of where we left off. So now I'm watching it all over again from season one... hoping to catch up. It really is a good story. It's one of the few books converted to movie/TV where they did an outstanding job (IMO anyway).

And last here, I'm sending a pic that one of our neighbors took of a bobcat hanging around her house. We have bobcats and coyotes around due to the greenback that runs through the areas... as well as several parks close by. They are a threat to feral cats, wild rabbits, squirrels, and small pets. But the truth is, our houses were built in their territory...



bobcat
He really is a handsome specimen...

OK, thanks for visiting. I really appreciate my fellow bloggers  coming by. And I have been reading your posts, just not commenting too often lately. It's been a strange 2 months... 

Hugs,
Rian




Wednesday, February 12, 2020

a quick post...

lost cheeky chicken?


A while back I talked about mysteries in our house where I couldn't find one of my cheeky chickens that was capable of sitting on something... but that I knew it would turn up eventually.  Well, it did!  Apparently it was hiding among the Aga chickens... don't know how it got there... THAT will remain a mystery. But as I was cleaning up the other day and wiping down the Aga, I noticed it. Now it sits upon the cast iron frying pan where I can see it.


One mystery solved!

************


And I 'm still not ready to do Julie's memory post yet... 
but I did come across some old pics of when our house was full...




   Top pic shows when we had seven...  and this pic showed how they liked to line up together...  now all gone
 but Ghost  (gray)    

I hear all the time from people who tell me their cats don't get along. We've never had that problem. I guess we were lucky.


As always thanks for visiting... and for all your lovely comments on Julie's passing.  We are coming to terms with it. And Ghost who has never been an only cat is still a bit confused.


Hugs,
Rian