A Day Of Varmints

The phone call this morning meant success.

Crawford disappeared at about the exact same time this varmint began terrorizing all the potted plants on Bulbarella's deck. For close to two months she would wake up every morning to another plant dug up and cast aside in the search for snacks in the dirt. When the green cherry tomatoes began to get chewed up and spit out it was time for me to take action. I didn't want to hear about it anymore.

Was this varmint responsible for Crawford's disappearance or the result of him disappearing? There is no way to know for sure. The trap is reset tonight in case there are more. The corn worked great as bait. Maybe I'll even get me some sweet corn from the roadside vegetable garden this year.
 
I hope ten miles is far enough.

We simply couldn't have a wild varmint wreaking havoc on the decks on a nightly basis anymore. There were new babies coming that needed a little protection to get them off to a good start.

Meet Dina. Not fond of that name, but she is Bulbarella's kitty and that name is in the book she is currently reading. Maybe the next book will have a better name.

Grey, white and black. I have never seen this combo in a cat before. She purrs and is not afraid of people at all, unlike the last two wild kitties I brought in from the wilderness and raised.

This is Button. Goes with Collar. I only wanted one he kitty. When I said I had been to the shelter to pick one out, Bulbarella said she wanted one too, a girl kitty. Button had two sisters with him. Two new kitties was plenty. Sorry sister number two.

For now they are living with Bulbarella inside until they are properly bonded. This is already so much easier than it was before. When they are bigger supervised outdoor time can begin. Button is already showing a very good skill base with his fake mouse. Most impressive.

I was washing dishes at the kitchen sink when there was a loud crash at the window. This poor Ruffed Grouse slammed into the house and broke its neck.

Beautiful bird. He died quick.

Just like the plant life, the animal species up here are rather abundant. We pretty much have them all. Someone is going to need to help the new babies figure this all out.

Miss Collar has met the new babies. She kept a close eye on them and hissed if they hopped too close. That was a good start. I didn't see any signs of impending aggression. Getting Miss Collar to bond with them is going to be a whole order of magnitude more challenging. She's a wild thing.

And at the end of the day I cleaned out the nest in the glove box of my truck and put glue traps inside the cab. Three cats is plenty, but even that is not enough to catch all the vermin we have around here. We do good just to keep things tamped down a notch.