Tuesday, February 22, 2011

CRISIS DU JOUR


Yesterday morning when I went out to feed, I noticed Snooky & Julius sitting under the salt cedar at the northwest corner of the courtyard.  I said something to them, & noticed Wookie frantically trying to get away from the barbed wire she was stuck on about 2 feet in the air.  

Years ago we had a brilliant idea to plant salt cedars all along the north side of the house.  I found out when I went to a nursery to ask about them, that if I asked again they would probably call the "plant" police to haul me away.  You would have thought I had asked for their firstborn son, they were horrified at my request.  

So we came home, & went down in the river where they grow by the zillions, dug up 5 as I recall & transplanted them.  Only one survived, & it's done quite well..............BUT.........there is one little minor problem.  I think another name for salt cedar is probably, "donkey candy".  They almost decimated it as soon as it got established & started sending out, "here I am, come & eat me" signals.  So John built a little barbed wire fence around it & it's been there for years, no problem.  Of course brush & weeds have grown up around it, & I would imagine the kittens were running & chasing each other.  If Wookie had short hair she probably would have bounced off & went on.  But her long hair got stuck, & there she hung, poor little girl.  

Although she isn't really wild, she is definitely unhandled.  John had on gloves so he drew the short straw.  She tried to bite a couple of times, hissed & all that, but for the most part was pretty cooperative under the circumstances.  I ran around & finally found a pair of dikes sharp enough to cut thru the wire.  Brought her in the house & was afraid I wouldn't be able to get it out, but finally did.  Let her go & she was out running & playing with the boys in no time.

BUT, this morning she was laying in the outdoor crate, acting punky.  So she is now at the vet awaiting, clean up & a couple of stitches.  And I would imagine 10 days of antibiotics, so it looks like she is going to get her wish, to be in the house, at least for awhile.  I haven't decided whether to put her in the kitty condo again, or just let her in the house.  She'd probably be better off in the condo, without our 3 cats sticking their nose in her business. 

This afternoon we're going to take the remaining stock tank fish to a new home.  I put an ad on Craigslist & had about 5 people interested in giving him a new home.  So I picked what I hope was a good one for him.  He will be in a newly renovated fish pond with 3 other fish.  

Now on to getting John to put in the Ritchie waterer.  Now he is telling me he can't do it until spring, because he will have to pour concrete.........Hmmmmmm!  As I recall we poured the concrete for the garage in January & it snowed 5 times that January.........!!!!!  It is getting cold at night, but I would think the concrete could be covered is necessary. 

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