Oh yes, that's a move I've experienced way too many times, lol.
Heidi Chronicles: Where Are Those Silly Raccoons Anyhow?
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten you. Things have just been pretty heavy her. Tonight I worked until 8PM, then went by the grocery store on the way home - because I only had a very small amount of cat food left by Sunday and Widget managed to get into that. Arg!
By the time I got home, I was exhausted. That's when I learned yet another reason why I shouldn't feed the cats at the front door - as if I needed another reason. I came dragging up the walkway to find 3 'starving' cats trying to trip me up on one side of the entrance and a very excited dog jumping up and down on the other side - and I still needed to drag the groceries inside and put them away, fix and eat dinner, feed everybody, and take out the trash and recycling - when all I really wanted to do was crash.
So, unfortunately, I won't have time to talk tonight, but i will do my very best to get back her tomorrow to do so. But I wanted to stop by to let you know that all is well. Back soon.
Thanks for checking in, I was starting to be concerned.
It is a busy time of year here as we get ready for spring and the monsoon season, so I just guessed that you were busy too.
Wow, monsoon season...and we complain about a little mud here...
Thanks for putting that into perspective, JuneyBug!
I am dreading it. DH says that we are going to have to figure out new ways to dress as we will be sopping wet from the thighs down every day if we dress like Americans. I have been "on the lookout" ever since he said that and have seen that the locals use those cheap plastic rainsuits over their clothes, so that may be the way we will have to go. (yecch, how uncomfortable that must be)
Juny why don't you get some lightweight breathable rain-suits, that's what my DH and I use to fish in the rain with. We used to wear the cheapies and they were very unconfertable to wear for long periods of time.
Ah Ha! There are different kinds? Good! I will be looking for them. I guess that I will start in the fishing section of the stores. Thanks!
Your welcome! Hope you find some good ones to keep you nice and dry;-)
Hi again, Everyone!
KyWoods: Thanks for thinking of me. I figured I should check in (last night) since it had been more than a few days, and you guys have no way of knowing whether I'm out playing and having lots of fun or just being lazy or too busy at work or whether something more nefarious has become me. Didn't want you to worry.
June: I swear I think it's monsoon season here, too. Just kidding. It does rain here virtually every day lately (for a couple of months now). Since it's winter and most of the plants are dormant, there isn't anything to soak up all that water, so it stays soaking wet and yucky outside all of the time. Even on the rare occasion when the sun comes out for a few hours, it can't possibly dry up all that water - and then it rains some more.
A few years ago I signed up with a service that sends me emergency emails pertinent to my area. Normally, that means I would get an email every few months when there is a storm warning, but for months now I've been getting inundated with emergency emails, several a day every day, because several rivers in the area are above their flood level and have been for months on end. Those particular rivers are not close enough to be a threat to me, but I'm so frustrated with having to delete a torrent of emergency emails every day, not to mention that I have to open them all and read them just in case one should happen to be about something else. Every day it's "River X is above the flood stage. Flood stage is 10ft. The river is at 17.5ft. Moderate flooding is occurring..." I'm so not kidding this is every single day for several months now. I'm glad we aren't still having droughts, but some kind of balance would be nice.
So, June, what are monsoons like? Does it rain constantly or intermittently? Torrential downpours, constant light rain, or a mix? How long has it been going on and how long does it usually last? Is the ground saturated and squishy (like here)? Standing water? Does it effect things in everyday life like driving, etc? Are there any serious dangers like potential mudslides and such? (I think you might have mentioned a while back that this is a possibility.) Sorry about all of the questions, but since we don't have monsoons (or nothing designated as such), I'm curious.
Glad you were able to get some help with the rain wear issue. I can't help. I can't even remember to take my umbrella with me. I either find myself swimming across the parking lot cursing because I have a half dozen umbrellas in the garage, or I stash a small one in my bag or backpack and then forget it is there, get soaked, and then find it later while looking for something else. Hope you have success in your search for a good rain suit. The hunting and fishing section sounds like a great place to start. If it were me I would probably (1) google rain wear, rain suit, etc to see what comes up, (2) do a search on Amazon - even if you aren't planning to buy there, you might get ideas, (3) now that mcash70 has steered you toward hunting/fishing, you might consider starting a thread in the hunting/fishing forum(s) to ask what they use and wear they get it. Just a few thoughts.
Everyone: I know I need to change threads - soon. I might have to get out a pencil and draw a raccoon pic on my LCD screen for that.
I read your question about litterboxex. I bought one from Wal*Mart that's electric. It cleans and empties it into a plastic container at the foot of the box. Very easy to replace. I put a grocery bag under the container and just lift it out and replace. I gave about $116.00 for it and it's worth a lot more than that! My cat can't figure out how or why it's doing it and he doesn't trust it to get it right! He gets back in and starts over!
Not much going on with cats or raccoons right now. Just endless rain which keeps me indoors. Here we have a mix. Occasional downpours. But mostly endless drizzle, just enough so everything stays hopelessly wet and you don't want to go out there. If it were cold enough here, with all this rain, we would be buried under a ton of snow by now. If it were cold here, we would look like a flat version of the alps. There was some talk of possible snow tonight BTW. I need to check to see if that is still on since it is raining even as I type.
Well, it's 40F now. Low of 35 expected, but the weather report does mention possible mix of rain and snow. Of course, at these temps it won't stick.
Ok, now for the one small cute thing that happened last night. As I mentioned, I came home with a trunk full of groceries to find Kitty and her kittens at the front door crying for food and Widget on the other side of the door jumping up and down like a crazy dog - and me trying to carry my work stuff, purse, computer, and groceries through this mine field. On my 1st trip in I took my purse and computer. I put those down in the foyer and headed back out to the car for the groceries. When I returned to the door with the 1st armload of groceries and opened the door, Kitty ran out. I had no idea she had slipped in with me on the 1st trip and had stayed inside. When I returned with groceries I found Kitty and Widget in the foyer. Kitty bolted out the door as if to say, "i can't believe you left me alone in here with that annoying creature. I'm leaving."
BTW, I know I also need to do something about the kittens. I think the constant rain is part of the deterrent to doing anything outside. The whole world, our part of it anyhow, is just soaking wet and, well, yuck. I'm staying inside where it is dry and where I can practice denial.
Hi Audrey (is that right?),
Thanks for the info. What about odor? Does this mechanism help with odor? I don't mind scooping. My problem with the litter box is the odor. When Kitty was in the upstairs bathroom, I scooped before work and as soon as I got home but still could not prevent odor buildup in there. So does having the mechanism scoop immediately after the cat goes help to ameliorate odor problems?
LOL at the cat's reaction to the machine.
You can get little deo. pads to go with it. The containers have a lit, and you have to use a good clumping litter, I use Scoop Away. I don't have nearly the problem that I had before I got it. I'm not really able to scoop very much. Now I just roll my desk chair over to it and pull up the handles on the bag , tie it up and toss it! I use less litter that way, too. Of course I have a "giant" cat! He ways close to 30 lbs. I can hardly lift him!
That reminds me. It looks like I was right about why Kitty didn't cover her 'work'. The other day I was sitting on the bench in the front yard when I happened to see Kitty walk across the flower bed which is currently covered in several inches of pine straw. Part way across she stopped, squatted, urinated, and walked on. She didn't even try to dig a hole or cover anything, but then with pine straw it would have been virtually impossible anyhow. When I get out there digging with my trowel I find the layers (built up over several seasons) to be almost impossible to dig through. All those separate pine needles going in different directions tend to form a nearly impenetrable 'fabric'. My guess is that she probably gave up on digging long ago.
Wow! 30lbs. Kitty only weighs 8lbs. She is on the small and thin side. The odor problem here is made worse by the fact that Kitty doesn't dig or cover her 'work'.
Does she not cover it in her litterbox? That's strange! I thought all cats had that instinct!
Fly by run through....just to let you know I'm really here.
Fun kitty stories, I love reading them.
You are as observant of kitty life as you are of raccoon life, I think.
It's pretty obvious you love them all.
LOL @ Audrey's cat going back in to start over!
Yep, we definitely need a new thread...you can draw, too? That would be great! :)
Ruth,
About the horses with dark points somewhat analogous to Siamese, bays are pretty common. You've surely seen them but maybe just didn't notice the similarity in color pattern. I have no idea really if the coloring works like what you described for cats, the temp sensitive behavior. That is fascinating, BTW, that the color points work that way in cats. I had never run across that info before. As for horses, I'm inclined to doubt that it works the same, but I really don't know for sure. My best guess is that the dark points seen in bays is just a color pattern in horses, something turned on/off by a gene or genes. If I recall correctly (and it has been quite a while), that's why you cross a bay with a cream colored horse to get a palomino. The bay has the gene for the pattern at the 'points', and the cream has the cream allele that turns the main and tail white (instead of black). Another difference, unlike cats horses don't seem to have exotic point colors, no 'seal' or 'chocolate' much less lavender and blue. (There are coat colors of 'seal' and 'blue roan' and such, but not points.)
Bays run the gamut of brown and red shades with names like blood bay. Here is a blood bay: http://www.pferdeportal-online.de/rasse_m/morgan.jpg
That's, by far, not the best looking one I've seen though. I've seen (in person) some gorgeous blood bays with bright, shiny coats the color of an irish setter - and 'redder'.
Here is another. Note that this one has white socks, something you wouldn't see with cat coloring: http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphoto.asp?imageid=1851725
This may seem odd coming from the 'cat' side of genetics, but this is also a bay: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clydesdale-busch-gardens_c.jpg
Incidentally, truly black horses are rare. Most horses referred to as black are actually either dark brown or a dark bay. There are other horse colors that have dark points, BTW. Buckskins are sandy gold or tan with dark points. Duns, which frequently have dark points, are characterized by a dark dorsal stripe down the back (and sometimes have light, ghostlike, vestiges of zebra type stripes on the lower legs). Grays are often born dark almost black and then lighten with age. As young adults they may be a light to med gray with dark points. When older they may be white with dark points (one of my favorite color patterns) or even solid white.
Sorry to take us back to that subject, but I wanted to answer your questions.
Edited to fix link.
This message was edited Mar 6, 2010 12:35 AM
While we are on the subject, here is a buckskin: http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g161/defrostindoors/equine_science_health/JudgesCriminalJusticebyPJWamble.jpg
Here is a dun. Note the dark stripe along spine: http://www.friesianheritage.com/images/Stallions/Kit%202006.jpg
Grays run the gamut.
Here is a med gray: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/519392/
A 'white' gray: http://www.blackriverhorsemensassociation.com/images/New%20Pictures/gray%20horse.jpg
Another 'white' (gray): http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/images_colors/grayreg.JPG
Dapple gray: http://animals.timduru.org/dirlist/horses/Shire1-Percheron-DappleGrayHorse-EatingGrass.jpg
Almost white with black points (gray): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v459/megancham/Horses009-Dapple_Gray_Horse-by_Trud.jpg
I was going to try to finish responses 'over here' before changing threads, but due to the length of this one (and the difficulty of loading it esp for those on dial up), I'm going to switch threads 1st and continue the discussions over there.
So here is our new thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1079677/