que pasa?

[sapphire]

No clue.

We've had enough wildlife in the house without adding additional access. There have been the usual mice and voles and the snake, the bird (??? how did that happen ???) and a squirrel.

[crfriend]

My favourite first-person spottings have been fox, deer, and turkey. I hear tell about bobcats and moose (in the immediate vicinity).

There is, of course, last year's robin's nest that was made in a potted fuschia on our back porch. We had to use the front-porch door for a few weeks lest we be accosted by angry parent-birds intent on defending their youngsters. (As far as we can tell, all of the hatchlings fledged and "flew the nest".)

I keep hoping to see a bear (there have been a few in the vicinity recently) some morning when I wander out to my car to go to work; the sad thing is that I won't be able to tell anybody (any more than I would if I saw a large cat)

[sapphire]

The sad thing, of which I was just reminded, is that rabies is endemic in this area. The last thing we need is for some infected raccoon or skunk to get into the house.

I just received a notice from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Massachusetts SPCA of an infected dog. A few weeks ago there was a report of a rabid cat in the Boston area.

So, no cat flaps and no letting the cats outdoors or letting the wildlife in.

[JRMILLER]

Diana,
Does this mean I should throw the raccoons out of the attic?

[Sarongman]

I'm looking after 2 houses at once, since my SO had to go to Queensland for elective surgery. As the two places are 10 kilometres apart, this has entailed some miles driven over the last two and a bit weeks. Thankfully, my sister is due back from England after three and a bit months next Sunday and I will pick Barbara up and drive her home sometime in the middle of this coming week. All the bills came at once- power, phone, insurance etc. and I registered the trailer this last week- needed 4 new tyres before it passed. Car to be rego'd this week. I know in England, the MOT test on cars is very rigorous, do they MOT double axle trailers as rigorously too? Still looking to move, so, a general tidying, maintenance and painting is also being undertaken.

Noting the way the thread has moved of late, I'll add that nothing fierce, fanged and furry is out in our neighbourhood, (barring foxes) however, I have had to catch and evict a few bats occasionally, being careful that they did not have a chance to bite as they can carry Lyssa virus which can, more often than not, prove fatal. A couple of years ago we had a black snake in the house, but, while venomous enough to kill a person, the lead time is enough to get you to hospital. They are not in the same league as the Brown, Taipan (World's most dangerous) Tiger, Death Adder. In the water we have Sharks, Blue Ringed Octopus, Coneshell, Stonefish. In the tropical forest we have the Gympie Gympie, a stinging tree that makes the stinging nettle seem like a Lavender. I'm not trying to put anyone off coming to Australia- after all, we don't have Grizzly Bears, Cougars or increasing Wolf packs ( Except, maybe in Scouts)

[Big and Bashful]

I have never heard of an MoT on a trailer here, but if a trailer had any obvious defect you may be stopped and be in trouble. I don't believe there are any regular inspection routines required for trailers but if I am wrong I am sure somebody will put me right.
They do have to be roadworthy, I nearly got done for towing a transit along the road because the transit wasn't fit for the road. (It was for scrap)

[sapphire]

Yes, John, you should evict the raccoons.

[JRMILLER]

Diana,
But it's Spring and they are playing house getting ready for the new babies! Only Snydley Whiplash could be so cruel!

As an aside, we really do have a lot of coons here. We used to keep our bird feeder right in front of the porch to the side of the house. Something had been raiding the birdfeeder every night. So, I hung out on the porch one night and waited.... A couple hours later, I heard a noise so I flicked on the lights. Lo and behold there were about 1/2 dozen raccoon babies on the grass below the feeder. There were four more stretched out along the shepherd's hook pole which supported the bird feeder. Each coon was standing on it's sibling's shoulders to form a continuous raccoon chain! All the other siblings were waiting below with anticipation while the very top coon jiggled the feeder to liberate the seed.

It was like a scene from a flea circus, except these guys were about the size of footballs!

They all cleared out when the lights came on, "rats, the gig is up" I thought I heard one mutter as they scrambled away!

I decided I needed to thin the population so I employed a live trap with intent of relocating them to a galaxy far far away. The babies were eager and easy to catch, caught one per night, easy as pie. After catching 10 babies, there was a gap, my bait had been ignored for several nights. I knew the old man was about as I had seen him on the periphery during the bird feeder raids. So, I pulled out the secret weapon, a Wendy's "single with cheese with everything" wrapper stained with the secret sauce. Well, the secret sauce worked, the next morning I had him!

Normally as I approach a cage with a fresh coon in it, they are very aggressive and sometimes charge my hand as I reach for the handle. This particular coon, wizened with age and silver whiskers, just laid flat on the bottom of the cage and the look on his face seemed to suggest he was beating himself up over something. I suspect it was something like "I knew better, I knew it was a cage, why o why was I sooo stupid!"

I whisked the sorrowful coon off the woods to join the rest of his family where I am sure they will be better off than raiding bird feeders and the occasionally unprotected garbage can!

©JR Miller, 2008

[sapphire]

John,
Well, if you want to provide shelter for them to play house in, there are plenty of plans for feral cat shelters available on the internet.

Place the skunk shelters closer to the ground and the raccoon shelters up off the ground. Skunks can't jump, but raccoons can.

Line the shelters with straw and the critters will have a cozy nest.
Diana

[Kris]

My cats come in and out through a cat flap.

Incidently does anyone else know (without looking it up) who invented the cat flap and why?

Nick

I don't know who invented the "cat flap" or cat door, but here is one you might enjoy looking at!

Kris

[knickerless]

Isaac Newton (of gravity fame) his cat used to visit him in his observatory by pushing open a small window. This gave him the idea of the cat flap.
He went a bit astray with his next invention the kitten flap. it was a smaller version of the cat flap - but the kittens never used it - preferring to use the cat flap with their mother.

Nick

[Skirt Chaser]

It's been pretty flat here at the cafe.

That's what happens when you over moderate a forum

My other favorite forums are going through spring fever with regulars getting snippy with each other all over the place. I much prefer the Cafe's spring break slowdown.

Hmmm, what have I been up to? Hosting my sweet parents for a week then got sick for a week and now back to goofing off when not taking care of my father-in law. Since Quiet Man is 17 years older than I am (there's hope for you yet Cessna, young women like MUG men!) my father in law is almost 50 years older than me and I think of him more like a grandparent.

We've been going through the discussion that it is (past!) time for him to stop driving. With advanced Parkinson's he has diminished physical and mental capabilities that become clear as he defends his driving with "I'm still careful" as if that were enough. Thankfully I was able to use a Department of Motor Vehicles form for family members to make the state aware he needs to be reevaluated. I'm helping him go through the paperwork now where he has to give a doctor's assessment of his abilities. Understandably, he wants to keep driving and doesn't agree with anybody that suggests otherwise. I'm sad for him.

[Uncle Al]

We've been going through the discussion that it is (past!) time for him to stop driving.

Skirtchaser,

I know what you're going through. My mother finally quit driving
at age 95. This was in 2002 after I brought her down to live with
us. Things went pretty well for a while. Then she fell and broke
her hip. Unfortunately the down-hill journey started. She passed
away 20 days shy of her 100th birthday, in 2007. We had several
good years with her living with us. The hardest part is to become
the parent to your parent. It ain't no fun!

I wish you the best......you will have some trying times, but
you will survive.

Uncle Al
Duncanville, TX

[Skirt Chaser]

Glad you are back online, it is good to have an Uncle Al. Thanks for the reassurances. It means a lot to know others have gone through a lot more and came out okay.

[Peter v]

Always remember dogs have owners, cats have staff.

I am lucky i live on the edge of town and my cats come and go as they like. All fields behind where I live and the cats tollerate and share the fields with foxes and badgers. My cats are constantly bringing home various prey - mice, rats, birds even a squirrell once. A work colleague has a cat that brings home live fish. He has now bought a tank for the fish. He has no idea where the cat gets them from.

nick

Are they "gold" fish, from the neighbour?
It is pretty good for a cat to catch fish from a stream.....