Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Joined: 10/29/2004
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Woke up to a cacophony of barn swallow chitchat. Man, can those little things talk. Spot was laying next to me, while Alex was on the north porch, looking in the door and calling.
All morning a bobcat has been in use just across our north fence, some mockingbirds got into a tiff, and Spot spent some time laying on my chest and chittering at a barn swallow tail he could see. The barn swallow was sitting on one of our wind chimes.
Then the wind suddenly became very strong, ripping the pool thermometer string away. WLToo retrieved it and put on a new string, while big raindrops fell for a few minutes -- not enough to register, but nice anyway.
It's been right noisy today. I'm exhausted already -- not used to so much noise. Think Alex and I will go lay down now.
Later, y'all.
"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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Our neighbor, who ripped out junipers with a bobcat yesterday, burned the pile today, starting at 0800. It was still glowing and blowing off cinders until about 2100. Luckily, the wind is from the south, so we weren't in danger.
Since the weather has warmed, Spot is making two or three patrols per day. All must be ok, since his returns are generally leisurely strolls into the house. Alex' patrols consist of walking about the driveway and porch, then sleeping on the porch furniture until I bring him inside for the night. Both cats know that if they come inside before a certain time, they get treats, so they're pretty good about showing up well before that time.
WLToo recently helped one of our writers' group members get his book uploaded to Amazon Kindle, and tonight did it again for another member. Our little writers' group is fast becoming a group of published authors, all of quite different genres. Amazing what the internet has done to fulfill people's dreams.
Spot's still on patrol this evening, walking from room to room. He's making sure those nasty flying bugs get a good paw smack, and chittering at the barn swallows trying to sleep on the north porch wind chimes and in the nests. Poor guy's going to exhaust himself. ![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/smile.gif "smile")
Mama Doe came up the slope as soon as she saw me this evening, but only ate part of the carrot. One of the green plants in our yard tasted much better. Hope she didn't destroy it, if it was one of our wildflowers. The two little yellow ones that I can't identify yet are blooming, a blue lantana is out there, and the Mexican hat is growing like mad. No bluebonnets in our neighborhood, since the deer just love to eat them, but all around us are fields of them.
Well, two cats are demanding my attention. Later, y'all.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Joined: 10/29/2004
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More wildflowers blooming. It's not going to be the massive spread of 2010, but quite respectable.
Saw another hummingbird a few minutes ago. This one has a very, very long bill and is really tiny, so I know it's not the one I saw last week.
Not much deer sign today. They might be taking cover, as we're due for some big thunderstorms shortly, running into tomorrow. We even have a flash flood watch, not that it bothers us, but it does affect the roads we might travel.
Alex and Spot are still a big jumpy, since yesterday was Advantage Multi day. For a few days after, they get nervous if one of us picks up a cat, then the other approaches. Spot did morning patrol and is asleep on his tree. Alex is trying to get me to give him more treats and is being a bit of a pest, but if WLToo approaches when Alex is patting me on the face, Alex boogies.
Wind just came up. Time to finish securing the outdoor stuff. Later, y'all.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Sigh. I hope third time is charm. Had a scare with my left eye, where I was getting lightning flashes in the perifery, with some floaters in both eyes. So off I go to the eye doctor. Luckily, it was just normal aging. But after reading about Richard's (Dixieflyer) detached retina, I was not about to take any chances. I'd like to be done with doctors for a while...
The cats stayed inside most of today, going out only after we got home late in the afternoon. A cold front arrived, so they were not out for long. They are now sleeping in my lap or next to me.
Mama Doe came to the house for some grapes a bit past prime human dining. Another pregnant doe was with her, and managed to snag a few grapes from Mama Doe. Mama Doe doesn't look very pregnant, but the last two years, she's dropped her fawn(s) in early June and late May, so there's plenty of time for her to get much bigger. Still, I'm betting it's another single fawn, since we're not even close to being out of this drought.
We have a new critter. Seems the Rio Grande chirping frog is expanding its range and we have some. The sound is like a small bird, or like tennis shoes on a wood floor. Initially, we couldn't imagine why a bird would be chirping at night, and we were surprised to find out it's a frog. Unfortunately, I identified it because one of us squashed one just inside the garage door, and I found it this evening. Well, where there's one, there are more. They don't need water to reproduce.
Time to give the boys their nighttime treats. Later, y'all.
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dogcomestoo
Massachusetts
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Joined: 08/19/2006
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So sorry to hear about your health scares. I'm so glad to hear that the heart and the eye weren't serious issues.
Thanks for the updates on Alex, Spot, and your neighborhood birds, flowers, and critters.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Joined: 10/29/2004
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We have three yearling fawns in the meadow today, and there are a lot of signs that we're about to become the fawn nursery again. Mama Doe is allowing other pregnant does to come into "her" meadow, so I'll not be surprised to see more than just Mama Doe's newborn this year.
Moved the mineral block from the meadow to right beside the water trough. If deer are going to live in our meadow, I'd prefer they be healthy ones.
Spot's getting awfully rough with Alex, so I'm having to intervene a lot. Spot just doesn't seem to understand gentle, possibly because of his previous people being rough with him, and also because he was an unaltered tom for nearly two years. Latest was Spot jumping Alex in the litter box, requiring me to clean up cat pee all over the floor. I put the cover back on Alex' box, so he can at least pee in peace.
Then I put Spot outside, where he dashed off after a bird. A little while later, he wanted back inside (pretty windy today), and a few minutes later came over to suck up. Making him go outside, rather than him choosing to do it, seems to worry him, so I may use it as a disciplinary method to keep him off Alex. Between that and a spray bottle, he might eventually learn to not get so rough with either Alex or us. But it will be a long process. Good thing we have tile floors....
We need a less breezy day. Time to spray all around the house, to keep the scorpions and assorted other creepy crawlies from joining us inside. Until then, I'll keep my "flip flop of doom" handy.
A neighbor just killed a scorpion in her house, and another killed a rattlesnake on her porch. Interesting--we haven't seen a single snake since we moved here, and now she had one on her porch.
Only 13.5 more days before I can get back into the swimming pool. I'd be there now, except the doctor said not for the whole six weeks. I soooo want to swim.
Time to finish working. I'm editing a play and really need to finish it.
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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My favorite new thing is a company called "Cat Faeries." Here's a link.
http://www.catfaeries.com
They make flower essence blends, like Bach Rescue Remedy but their own blends of different flowers. I've been giving them to my cats, who have been dealing with issues since bringing Cleo back into the household. They work very well there and have really improved the overall energy of the cats, as I've been backing off on other things I was using. It's a pretty complicated situation with five of them, but I'm very happy with the results. Happier, mellower kitties with less conflict.
What's been more remarkable is that I have two bunnies, and Bonka is bigger, stronger, younger, and rowdier than Wuzzy. When she gets wound up, she'll mount him and gets very rough. He's got some problems with his back end and his urinary tract, and that's the last thing he needs. But he doesn't want to be separated from her, they are a bonded pair of bunnies, take them apart or even put a fence between them, he gets depressed. I was actually considering putting him down in part because of this problem.
So I decided to try the drops on them. First the blend called Houshold Harmony, then I added Territorial Rescue. Both improved matters. Then I added "Calm and Serene" and BAM... in the three months since, I've only had to deal with her jumping on him twice. It's like a miracle. I think it's more obvious because there's just the two, not as many players in the situation. In any case, I'm very happy that I found the stuff. It's allowing Wuzz to be with his friend and not get jumped on.
They also make a senior support formula and some others. Definitely worth a look. If I were going to get just one, I'd get the Calm and Serene, for sure. Because if we're all calm and serene, we're all good.
susan
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a wabbit, Fuzzy Wuzzy had a dandelion habit! RIP little Wuz... don't go far.
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Sue Bee
NW suburbs of Chicago
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Joined: 06/05/2009
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Wanderlost wrote:A neighbor just killed a scorpion in her house, and another killed a rattlesnake on her porch. Interesting--we haven't seen a single snake since we moved here, and now she had one on her porch.
I saw an interesting show about a fellow who raised a flack of wild turkeys (story here). He would take them flock out walking around his many acres, and apparently, the turkeys were quite adept at finding every. single. snake. Even as poults. He noted that he had never seem a single snake before on his walks, but realized how they were all over the place, all of the time.
(Shudders some about rattle snakes and scorpions)
Not that this has anything to do with Spot or Alex
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Thanks, Susan, I'll look there and see if they have something I can use.
Sue Bee, there are lots of turkeys around here, and I'd love to have some wandering about our property, but Mama Doe's a bit too territorial, apparently. Or we don't have anything they want to eat. A good tom turkey could sure keep Spot in control, and Alex would probably never go outside again.
Today was the first day Spot went all the way to the mailbox and back with me, since I was in the hospital the first time. He walked behind me most of the way back, in my shadow. It was pretty warm, and his coat is super dense, so he looks for shade wherever possible. It was funny to watch.
He and Alex spent most of the day on the porch, where it was shady and pleasant. I joined them for a while, reading and in general just being mellow. Sometimes the medication makes me very sleepy, and today was one of those days, so not a whole lot happened. I finished the play yesterday and sent it back, and will start on WLToo's third book tomorrow, assuming I don't fall asleep over my keyboard again...![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/sleep.gif "sleep")
Just before sundown, I went out to close the gate and watched Spot patrolling out in the meadow. He's so diligent about earning his keep, and such fun to watch. But when he came inside for the evening, he had a scratch on his nose. Not serious, but I have to wonder who or what he encountered, as I've not seen black kitty or the seal point Siamese mix in several days.
Going to be a beautiful night, so I'm off to stargaze. Later, y'all.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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A new critter's in the neighborhood. Spot caught a lizard today. It slipped away from him, and he grabbed it again. Then he let it go, and it played dead. I got a closer look and I realized I was looking at a horned lizard (known in my youth as a horny toad)! The little critters are a protected species now, and I've not seen one in over 40 years. So Spot got stuck inside the house until I was certain the lizard got away. He's still asleep in his chair.
It's a glorious spring day here. Lots of purple (looks purple to me but locals call it blue) lantana and so many different yellow wildflowers are all in bloom. The past two years of not mowing the meadow until after the last wildflower has thrown its seeds is bearing "fruit" this year. We have many more plants growing and filling in the bare spots. We'll start work on one of our rocky ledges this year, adding drought loving trailing plants to cover the rocks and create interest.
The barn swallows are having a very serious discussion on the north porch. No sign of anyone moving into the south porch nests yet, but when they do, it will be very, very noisy here.
I hauled stuff out to the compost heap this morning, and Mama Doe and Solo came along. I don't know if they found it palatable, but they didn't come back to the house with me.
Time to head down the slope under the pool and clear away the old Mexican hat stalks. Later, y'all.
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