An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for Critters
It Could Be Worse….
….there could still be seven of ‘em! I had hopes, after a few days of their absence. I should have known better! You’ll notice, of course, that Mrs Peacock has returned as well. sigh….
I HATE THOSE FREAKIN’ BIRDS!
Oh Fer The Love Of Pete!
There’s nothing like an uninvited guest on a regular basis. 
I just happened to glance out the kitchen nook’s window, and caught a snippet of some color that is not part of the deck. Yep…there he was…all snuggled up and comfy. Once he got a look at me looking at him, he evidently thought I was going to come tearing after him. Pfft! This ol’ woman doesn’t go rushing off after stupid birds on only 4 hours of total sleep. In other words, I’m flippin’ tired! And I’m really tired of chasing those darn birds!
Gotta fix that!
I noticed that Mr Peacock was all by his lonesome. Where was the Mrs? No where in sight!
The way I’ve figured it…as long as they stay on the back deck, where they can no longer do damage, we won’t have a problem with them. They seem to like our deck, snuggled up in the shade. Once they go around to the front, where we are working hard to spruce the place up, and start their dance of destruction, we WILL have a problem, and eventually, will deal with their invasion!
But I STILL HATE THOSE FREAKIN’ BIRDS!
We Are NOT Amused!
It started out as a reasonably pleasant morning. A bit chilly for my tastes, and had to turn the heater up, but other than that….no problem. Well, I could have used another hour of sleep. After yesterday…a humdinger of a Monday, the extra hour might have improved my frame of mind. It really is the pits when you stick yourself in the eye with mascara, then dump a full cup of Dr Pepper all over the place at the ladies meeting. sigh…
I went to get my last cup of coffee, and lo and behold…………….
Will it never end? Will our lives be consistently plagued by them? Will I ever catch that evil fowl, and snatch those tail feathers off his hind end?
Then, I looked up, and TA DA! They evidently didn’t believe he was serious about them vacating the premises. EVIL! Just plain EVIL!
So, it was time to do the ‘infamous ol’ broad peacock dance’….which entails me hobbling behind them, doing my best to herd them towards home. Not the easiet thing to do, lemme tell ya! We went around the house. We went across the yard. We danced through the field, several times, when finally, I do believe the male, at least, got the message. There would be no eating of recently potted flowers for them! At least, not today….so far. He waddled himself back down the hill towards home.
The female, on the other hand, not the brightest of God’s creatures, thought it might be fun to play hide and seek around a tree. First, we went one way, then we went the other way..round and round. Stupid bird! Eventually, I suppose she decided she wasn’t going to win this game, and headed off after her mate. Wise decision!
Have I mentioned recently…..I HATE THOSE FREAKIN’ BIRDS? Well, if not….
I HATE THOSE FREAKIN’ BIRDS!
A Loss In The Family
If you’ve been coming around here for a while, you may remember me mentioning Rocky Moose. Rocky was one of those cats that was on the verge of being on ‘death row’. My son in law rescued him, and he became part of the family. I always had to get a dog outfit for him for Christmas, which of course, annoyed Ick to no end. Rocky? He didn’t care one way or the other!
Rocky was a big boy. Let’s face it, there was a reason I called him Rocky Moose.
If ever there was a more mellow, and patient, cat, I don’t where he/she is! Rocky went to sleep this afternoon, and did not wake up. He will be extremely missed by the entire family, and many friends.
Rest In Peace My Moose Friend
One Of Us Is Goin’ Down….And It Ain’t Gonna Be Me!
As per my normal morning routine, I stagger into the kitchen with the intent of getting the coffee going, in the hopes that I’ll have at least one eye opened in short order. Naturally, all the cats followed me and took up various positions, one on the couch, one crunching some breakfast and two sitting at the window, with Mr Spot doing his occasional patting at the window when something is out there. Like he can dig his way out to get it? Heh. I figured it was one of the dogs that tends to wander around on regular basis. So, while the pot is filling up, I go to see what had his and Chubs’ interest.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
So…after the Mr chased ‘em off, what did they do? Why, they had to come around to the front, where I had just spent a small fortune on new plants and flowers to put on the porch. Previously, they had destroyed every single plant I stuck in a pot, along with the pots, or plopped in the ground. Nearly $500 worth of damage! And I’ve yet to see a dime from their owner! I wouldn’t have bothered this year if I had thought they were back. Well, not the originals, because….heh….they all went to peacock heaven! Want some feathers? 
So, you’re asking…why not just take these out as well!? Well, I’d like to give the guy a chance to keep his evil fowl …. on HIS property. If not, then, I reckon we’re going to add to our collection of peacock feathers! Hopefully, if we do have to send them off to wherever peacocks go when they’ve been blown away, the male will still have all those feathers attached. 
Hey…he’s the one who told me to shoot ‘em if they kept coming around! I took him at his word!
It is not amusing to see a short chubby ol’ woman, with a bad heart and a fake knee flying out the front door in her jammies, chasing those evil creatures away from my flowers! Thank goodness the Mr didn’t have a camera in his hand! We went all the way around the house….big evil, followed by little ol’ woman, followed by the girlfriend, who had the gall to squawk at me! HUMPH!
I finally got them headed in the direction of home, and thought that was it. I waddled m’self back into the house, sat down, look up, and who is looking back at me? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! So, we had to do the Peacock Dance….again!
I HATE THOSE FREAKIN’ BIRDS!
Why?
“Hooray!” I said, it’s my first time afar.
The scents we were passing were all new to me,
For it was my first introduction to this mystery.
As we got out of the car I embraced you with joy,
After all you remembered to bring my favourite toy!
You threw it once or twice, of which I retrieved,
But on the third it seemed you were ready to leave.
You threw it long and hard and I chased it like lightning,
But when I turned to bring it back I saw a sight quite frightening.
I gripped my toy hard as I tried to comprehend
What it was I did wrong to make our relationship end.
You walked back to your car as I sat there still loyal.
Why am I subservient and you so royal?
Your engine started, and you peeled out into the night,
You didn’t even care about my overwhelming fright.
As I sat in my pose determined you would come back,
The sun faded behind me while the surroundings turned black.
Day after day I stayed in that park,
Lying… waiting… too feeble to bark.
As I lay there dying thinking of you master,
I asked myself how I got into this horrifying disaster.
With my last breath of life, I whispered your name
Then I collapsed in a heap overrun by pain.
Why didn’t you love me master? Why didn’t you care?
Had I no significance, was I just a clump of hair?
I stayed there master and I waited for you
I guess taking care of me was just too much to do.
I’m gone now master, no more You-and-I
But what I can’t figure out is why you didn’t even say goodbye…
As you may, or may not know, we live out in the country. The number of animals we have come up to our door, just wanting attention, or food, is mind boggling. Many of them do live around the neighborhood, but are left to wander freely, with no concern of whether or not they get run over by some fool driving too fast around the curve.
There have been some, though, that I know have just been dumped off. I see them sitting at the corner, like they are waiting. They see a car coming and stand up. When the car passes by, they’ll sit back down, and begin their wait again. It tears me apart to have to leave them there. If I could, I would bring every single one of them home. We don’t have a fenced in yard, and there is a two lane highway behind our house. I just can’t do it. The Mr won’t allow it, and it kills me to see these adorable creatures left to fend for themselves.
I would very much like to find who does this to a ‘family pet’, and do the same damn thing to them. Take them out in the middle of no where, and just leave them. Let them know how it feels to be abandoned by someone they believed loved and cared for them. Yes, I know these are animals, but they are living beings, a creation of God, and we treat them like disposable diapers. This type of cruelty ranks with the physical torture some seem to think is ‘fun’, but the scars are on the inside, instead of the outside.
If you can’t afford your pet, who actually is a family member, find a good home for him/her. Take the animal to a no kill shelter, find someway to make sure he/she will be ok. DO NOT DUMP THEM OFF ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD! Believe, if I EVER see someone do that to an animal, they better haul ass because I will make sure everyone in the county knows just who they are!
Nosey Weasel
Welp, the dogs all have to check him out on a regular basis. The cats don’t care one way or the other. Today, the ferrets were let out while 2 of the dogs were outside. One of them, Nickie, has a high ol’ time chasing Haley around the house. It really is hilarious. A good sized dog apparently terrified of an itty bitty rodent. Heh.
Well, since Nickie is the nosy one, she had to check out that thing in the swing.
In case you are wondering, that fuzzy thing that won’t hold still is Nickie, the ferret. The male, Stephan, couldn’t care about that tiny thing. Heh.
Help?
Brat has had this cat…well, she’s suppose to be Short Person’s, but that’s not important….since she was about 2 months old, and as the cat has been getting older, she’s been losing fur on her stomach. Well, now that it’s pretty much bald, guess what she had hidden under it! A bloomin’ tattoo!
Obviously, said feline wasn’t all that happy at being held in such a position, but oh well. Heh. The issue is…what in the world is that, and why would anyone tattoo a kitten’s stomach area? Can anyone tell what that is, and has anyone ever heard of tattooing a kitten? I’d guess that someone might do it as an identifying mark if the cat ever got lose, and lost, but since they’ve had the cat since she was itty bitty….just doesn’t make any sense.
Killer Kitteh
Burial At Sea?
We have this one cat, Mr Spot, who has an unusual attachment to a stuffed possum. That possum has been presented many times to us as his trophy ‘kill’. He gets much praise for being such a mighty ‘hunter’. On occasion, during the day, he’ll tote around his possum, toss it up in the air, chase it around, and have a high ol’ time.
Well, this morning, he evidently was tossing it around in my bathroom. Yup….Mr Possum went in, and it was toes up for him.
sigh… But of course, it was MOM to the rescue. No, there was no CPR performed on said soggy possum….just a bit of wringing out. He is now doing the dryer dance, and hopefully, he and Mr Spot will soon be united.
They say cats don’t have facial expressions? I beg to differ! The look on that cat’s face was priceless! LOL
(And yes, the pictures are a bit fuzzy. Kind of hard to get a clear shot when you are chuckling. 
)
Majestic!
You may have seen this before, but I just think it’s SO cool, had to share it…again!
‘Challenger’ is his name (in honor of the lost space shuttle crew) & is cared for by the non-profit American Eagle Foundation (AEF).
He’s a ‘human-socialized’ bird accidentally raised by the people who rescued Him – after being blown from a wild Louisiana nest in a storm as a baby in the late 1980′s. Declared ‘non-releasable’ by federal and state wildlife Authorities, he was trained by the AEF to perform educational free-flight demonstrations at high profile public events.
He’s the first Bald Eagle in U.S. History that learned to free-fly into Stadiums, arenas and ballrooms during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. The celebrity eagle has appeared at numerous major sporting events like the World Series, Pro-Bowl, All-Star game, BCS National Championship, Fiesta Bowl, Men’s Final Four, etc.
This eagle named Challenger has also flown before 4 U.S. Presidents!
Shared by the Mr.
Had No Choice!
Swiped from Lori on Facebook.
The Boys
Maybe this is why I don’t sleep well…..I’m trapped by felines! sigh….
The Boys Wanna Play
Bird Watching
That bird sat there for a good 30 minutes, and the cats sat right there staring at it. I seriously doubt they’d know what to do with it if they got a hold of it. The bird finally flew off (after leaving a birdy gift, of course), and I’ll be darned if those cats didn’t try to follow it…..through the window! Heh. Silly critters.
