Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Joined: 10/29/2004
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The local animal rescue gave me some very discouraging info - seems the local foxes' normal fare is so limited, due to the drought, that they're searching out cats for food. Given the utter silence about Bobbi, and the fact that she persisted in going across the fence, where a large gray fox traveled, leads me to believe the fox got her.
Spot travels no further than the pool deck, and Alex the porch. Also, we don't let them outside after sundown, so they should be safe from Mr. Fox.
We'll keep the posters up and the online lost cat notices, but I'm really not hopeful anymore.
Meanwhile, a bright green hummingbird buzzed us in the pool, looking for a drink. We bought a feeder and put it up, and within a few minutes had several birds feeding, of several different hummingbird types. Didn't know we had so many.
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Czarny, black cat
Rainbow Bridge: Spotacus, Alexander the Grrreat, and so very many more
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Joined: 10/29/2004
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The hummingbirds are highly entertaining. They even let us know when they think the nectar level is too low.
We overfilled it the first two days, so we've been experimenting with the level. Don't want to have to pour out sugar water every day, and we do have to change it daily due to the high temps here. The yeasts that will feed on the sugar are very bad for the birds, so a daily cleansing and nectar change is required.
This morning, we thought we had just the right amount loaded for a 24 hour period. In the last few minutes, several hummingbirds have come looking in the windows, then flown back to the feeder, then back to the windows. Added more nectar, and they were at the feeder before I got back inside.
Obviously, the amount I thought was right, and the amount they think is right, bear no resemblance to each other.
Meanwhile, the barn swallows decided to descend en masse on Spot, as he lounged on the north porch. They haven't bothered him, or even given the predator call, in weeks, so why they started again is a puzzle.
Still no sign of Bobbi Socks, but I'm not quite ready to give up. She's a survivor, as her rescue at twelve weeks showed.
Alex just came back inside. The heat's going to be real bad today. Time for a dip in the pool.
Later, y'all.
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Code2High
One hour past Nowhere, CA
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Joined: 12/21/2004
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Hummingbirds do tend to be fairly opinionated...
susan
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a wabbit, Fuzzy Wuzzy had a dandelion habit! RIP little Wuz... don't go far.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Not a sign anywhere of Bobbi. I still see phantoms in the dark, but when I go to look, it's not her. Dang it, I hate not knowing what happened to her.
Spot appears to know something; he's sticking right around the house even more than usual. Won't go to the mailbox with us, doesn't patrol the fence line. The heat could have something to do with it, but his attitude is different. He's determined to be a home body.
We realized today that Alex can't chew the dry kibble anymore, so he's now on an all gooshy food diet. The kibble is available to him, but Spot's the only one to eat it, now that Bobbi's gone. I remember now that Klaus mit der Krallen went to all gooshy food about this age. Well, Alex has always enjoyed gooshy food, so going all gooshy all the time is fine.
Another day, another scorcher in the Hill Country. The hummingbirds are really going after the nectar for energy, then eating flying bugs, so even without the barn swallows, we don't have flying pests. Mama Doe is coming up on the porch and looking in the windows, waiting for a handout. The two fawns (hers and Snort's), Snort and Mama Doe's 2010 twins are eating the grass around the house, which is about all that's left to eat. Time to go water it, in fact.
Y'all take care.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Spot is laying on a porch chair, watching the hummingbirds visit the feeder. One will occasionally hover and stare at him, and he looks back, but isn't interested in chasing or otherwise bothering them.
Alex is much happier with his all gooshy food diet. He didn't wake us up before dawn this morning, demanding breakfast. After yesterday's two regular meals and two cheese snacks, he was apparently well fed enough to sleep through the night. Ah, well, feed the old guy every few hours - we can do this.
Mama Doe had both fawns with her last night. Didn't see Snort all day, nor the twins.
Country life - I love it.
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dogcomestoo
Massachusetts
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You have found such a beautiful place to live and you enjoy it to the fullest. I love hearing about it- thanks for your posts.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Thanks, dogcomestoo. We're right fond of the place, even though it's been a "unique fixer upper."
The battle of the air conditioner is not quite over. It's working, but required a timing fix this week so it wouldn't recycle so often. The secondary pan has water in it, which is not good, as it could indicate a leak. So the repairman will come back on Monday. If the water has evaporated, all's fine. If not, he'll have the dickens of a time finding the leak.
Alex gave us cause for concern yesterday, when I found him sleeping in the "I don't feel well" kitty bed. He only uses it when he feels bad -- last time, he had pneumonia. But late last night, he decided to play, so whatever it was seems to be over. He's purring on my lap at the moment.
Spot's outside, letting the hot winds of August flow through his fur. A cold front came through, as we're only 99 at the moment.
A sparrow has landed on the hummingbird feeder a few times, trying to get some of the nectar. Really hacks off the hummingbirds, but they won't work together to drive it off, just buzz it individually, which doesn't work. The most aggressive hummingbird is smaller than my little finger, and does not impress the sparrow at all. ![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/rolleyes.gif "rolleyes")
Rodney's meds for his tremors are making him feel a bit off, so we're taking it easy today - easy being relative, since we're retired. ![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/smile.gif "smile") We did do the monthly grocery shopping and he was fine; just takes a while for him to adapt to this stuff. Meanwhile, I finished editing his science fiction novel, so he's doing the revisions now. I'm looking forward to seeing it published; it's quite a good tale.
Spot just dashed to the door and called urgently to come inside, and threw himself on the tiles. He's now eyeballing my toes with that "play with me" look. Must go find the baton toy.
* This post was
edited 08/12/11 03:21pm by Wanderlost *
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Code2High
One hour past Nowhere, CA
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Mmmmph! Poor sparrow, does it have water available nearby? Or is it just a little confused? Perhaps a sparrow raised by hummers...
* This post was
edited 08/13/11 10:56am by Code2High *
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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We have a swimming pool with attached spa, and a water trough for the deer. Plenty of water for the birds. With barn swallows, mockingbirds, sparrows, cardinals, roadrunners, mourning doves, and assorted other birds, I'm kind of amazed we don't have a whole pile of them sitting around the pool more often than we do. I do see a number of birds sitting on the edge of the water trough throughout the day.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Awake at 0330 this morning, and I watched a rabbit eat the coastal bermuda. Guess we're feeding more than just the deer now, so we'll water that patch some more.
It's sad to watch the wildlife going downhill, from the lack of food. A drought of this magnitude is a hard thing to experience.
Meanwhile, Alex is in my lap and Spot's asleep on a kitchen stool. They're not interested in going outside; the hot porch has no attraction today.
The hummingbirds are really thirsty today; they've already drunk the feeder down by half. Yet we only see the three tiny green ones now. The other two are gone.
A roadrunner is strolling by now; guess the heat doesn't bother him.
On the up side, WLToo's science fiction novel was published on Amazon's Kindle site. He's now a published author. Cool. Felines are involved... I have him working hard on the second one, so I can find out what happens next.
Guess I'll get back to my own book. Work, work, work -- you'd think we weren't retired or anything...
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