Caregiver's cats behaving badly.

And she may be crucial to flock discipline! Long live the queen!

smeshque and polarbear - when I left home, my step-grandma gifted me with a 2-volume, paperback edition of her favourite cookbook, and her mother's favourite cookbook: The Joy of Cooking.

There were instructions and actual recipes in the front for skinning and cooking squirrels and several other little animals that I could never imagine eating. I can't remember if racoons were in there, but probably!

Given the apocalyptic state of world politics, though, some part of me is wishing I still had that cookbook.

Afraid, Dorianne. Afraid!

There was an Onion article I remember about dolphins developing opposable thumbs; it quoted an Eminent Marine Biologist explaining how mankind had now definitely had it, with the closing message "and oh God we're so sorry about the radio collars - !"

Now that I know them better when I look at chickens I can't help suspecting that they're all thinking "we'll be back."

That might bring new meaning to the phrase, "hen-pecked."

My Dad was a hunter, and we ate squirrel when I was little. I loved it. But wouldn't dare eat one now. Maybe that is why I won't eat meat anymore, who knows
Doriane , I am familiar with that cookbook. We have one that even has a recipe for opposum, and skunk. Eeew! But I guess if one is hungry enough.
I think I would just eat tree bark and grass.

So dinosaurs had feathers on them Dorianne?

Our Raptor looks kinda like a Hawk too,but it's brown and has brown and white stripes on it's tail and it's about 1 foot tall.

smeshque - I know darned well if I had to kill ANY of my own food I would be a vegetarian, lol.

lu - They sure did, according to the evidence! Scientists have found something like 30 different types of fossilized feathers from non-avian dinosaurs so far, and think that maybe ALL dinosaurs had feathers, or at least had all the right parts on their bodies to sprout feathers - especially the smaller dinos.

This is one artist's concept of a feathered Velociraptor - the murderous lady 'saur from the 1st Jurassic Park movie.....quite a bit different with feathers:
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mesozoic/images/f/f2/Velociraptor_u4hjbq.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150305015635

Triceratops:
img.over-blog-kiwi.com/2/04/69/30/20170224/ob_67127b_parrotceratops-s.jpg

T-rex:
img00.deviantart.net/f2e4/i/2013/141/0/a/study_of_jp2_male_t_rex_head_by_cheungchungtat-d5wgewz.jpg

I haven't seen Jurassic World yet, but I hope they embraced our new information about feathered dinosaurs!

Yeah Dorianne, I am not one to kill things either.
I declared a rule here, that any animal that comes on the farm, if I name it, they don't get to eat it. So I hurry and try and name everything. So far it has worked. :)
We have a hawk that has gotten some of our pigeons. i hate to lock them up as they love to fly, because they are racing pigeons, but until winter is truly over that hawk just comes around like its a buffet. So I have been locking them up the last few days, they are not happy about it, but its for their own good.

Lol, naming the animals is a good strategy, smeshque!

I have never heard of racing pigeons before! How do you race them? Is it like homing pigeons, where they know to go to a certain place or to come home?

There are pigeons nesting on mom's balcony, under one of the chairs. I let them stay even though they poop everywhere, because they entertain the cats (who don't go out there - 6th floor and all) and their cooing is soothing.  I think they were nesting there last year, too - I found an egg with a hole pecked in it! Bruce watches their every move like it's the best darned Spielberg movie ever made.

Dorianne...Thanks a lot for all the dinosaur information.I learn something new everyday.
Aren't they're claw feet something else?!!!
And smeshque....sorry you have to coop up your pigeons.You are a good MaMa to protect them so well.What are their names?....Surely,people don't eat pigeons~~

lu - For sure, and their crazy claws make much more sense to me when I see them depicted with feathers! Plus the line from dinosaurs to modern birds sure seems much clearer. Look at the Velociraptor and then look at THIS fellow's amazing claws!

boredpanda.com/massive-bird-harpy-eagle/

What is a derp?
Are you sure that isn't a typo?  

Lu- People do eat pigeons, not anyone here though. My Dad would eat squab. Rich people do too. EEEW!!! The pigeons don't all have names, because they are safe, from being eaten. That is good, because after a bit, I start recycling names. :) Funny story, when we moved my parents here, we had their car, my suv, and penske truck. Well We boxed up the pigeons and put them in back of my vehichle. Well after a little of the travel, some of the birds started getting out of the box. So then I had pigeons everywhere in the car and I had to make sure they didn't get out, it was horrible, I cant even imagine what people passing by thought. Look at that crazy bird lady. :) but we made it and didnt lose one. Although I had a lot of cleaning to do.

Dorianne- They are homing pigeons. So you train them by dropping them off short distances from the house. And then each week going farther and farther. They naturally return to home. When I was growing up my parents were California racing champs. These birds are all that blood line. My Dad took very good care of his birds, i try to continue.
So when they race, they have a little (I don't know what its called) thing attached to their leg. And you have these clocks, that you take that thing and put it in a capsule and in the clock and it lock in their time. They take into consideration everyones location and calculate for miles and then whoever has the best time wins. It is interesting. When I was little we use to take some pigeons to events and release them, people thought that was neat, because they go up in the air and circle for a bit, getting their bearings and then head for home. When my Dad passed I took some of his pigeons and released them, as a part of his memorial.
The biggest race they won was over 500 miles.
Well, sorry to bore, hope I explained well.
It is neat.
I am glad you have allowed the pigeons to stay. I bet Bruce would like to get up close and personal, poor guy. But I imagine keeps him entertained.

My squirrel is missing.....chased away by two roughian squirrels that took over. They even chase each other away!
That is it! I cleaned the porches off, took all the food away. No one gets anythng unless Ratatouille comes back and takes a peanut out of my hand.

.

Squirrels chasing each other is all about amore💕 ... could Ratatouille be nesting?

That would be nice, I hope so. She could bring her babies to visit. She is more of a reddish squirrel, the newer ones are spotted, greyish, with shorter thinner rat tails, and look all beat up, kind of scrappy-types.

Send - "Derp" is just a slang word used online to denote stupidity - probably came from "duh." Have you ever seen the web comics/memes with the "forever alone" guy? I think it came from there, or it might have come from the TV show, South Park.

Lu - I haven't named the pigeons....but I'd bet Bruce has named them....."Lunch" and "Dinner"! Maybe that's what I should call them, lol.

smeshque - It's not boring at all! I have always wondered how carrier pigeons and homing pigeons (is that the same thing?) were trained. Pigeon photography interests me, too....from the days before drones! Yes, the "pigeon window" is like a giant TV for Bruce, I think!  A starling is hanging out there now, too....

Tis the season for Squirrel Amore!  And Bird Amore, and Chipmunk Amore.....

Dorianne carrier pigeons and homing pigeons are different. Carriers do not return home, don't have homing device. They are taller and have a huge thing on the tops of their beaks. My dad use to raise them and sell them, he made good money off of his birds.
But again carriers despite their name don't know how to get home.

Aww Send...There's always one that spoils the fun for everyone.Those 2 squirrels that chased off Ratatoullie sound like real houlagin's .
If Love is in the air for Ratatoullie,it would be awesome if she had some babies on your porch,then you could train all of them to eat peanuts out of your hand and ofcourse,name 'em too.

Oh my gosh, Bruce left a poo beside one of the home support worker's shoes tonight! (She'd taken them off at the door and put on indoor shoes.)

He has never, ever done that. Not even once.

She is perfectly nice, and helpful to mom. She said she even has cats and dogs at home, and she wasn't upset. I wonder what prompted him to do THAT? Maybe it was because she doesn't pay attention to him when she comes in to help mom? She's not the only one, though.....I don't THINK....hmmm.

I gave him heck, and he slunk away.....but oh gosh, I hope he's not going to start that behaviour.....

Dorianne- I read somewhere once that cats do that when they are not happy about something.
Maybe he doesn't like another person in the house? I don't know.
Poor Bruce. He's just being a cat. He can't help it.
At least he didn't poo in her shoes. :)

Yes, thank goodness he didn't do that!

He is very friendly with people, even strangers, and he loves greeting the workers. I really think it must have been because she didn't pay attention to him or something. He's gotten used to getting some oohs and ahhs and a couple of pets from them. But it was 9:30 and the end of her shift, she was probably only thinking of getting home!

Bruce is fine. He knows he's done wrong. He is still staying near me, but not pestering me for attention like he usually does....

Dorianne, sounds like a territorial marking from something he smelled on the shoes.

This reminded me of a time when my then husband and I were having a majority disagreement. Later that evening my car peed in one of his shoes :P

Yesterday I went out to pick up dropped twigs from the big old maple tree. Came inside, before I knew it my cat was sniffing me from head to toe. I am sure there much have been animal scents on the twigs that transferred to my shoes and clothing.

It must have been something really unusual if it was territorial! All my friends who come visit me here have animals, and many of the home support workers.

I still think his ego was bruised, lol!

Dorianne, I have to agree with you. My friend had a big tabby cat that was my best buddy, she got a kitten, I walked in and Cleo was on his high perch, as usual, but the kitten hit me at the door, so of course I greeted the new member of the family, when I went over to give Cleo the usual love and hugs he bit me on the wrist clear to the bone. I know he was telling me not to touch him, I was a traitor for touching the kitten 1st. I never did it again and our love affair was restored.

A sad cat story. My family adopted a feral tom cat about two years ago. He was so social and fun to interact with. He continued to live outdoors as he was too wild to be in door and my daughter was terribly allergic to cat dander. At night, he slept in the garage. We loved him and named him Fluffy. He would hang around the backyard, stalked the chickens and pounced on them playfully sending the chickens running in every direction. That was his entertainment. He never hurt the chickens.

Fluffy and a female cat from next door who we also fed became lovers (they were both neutered and spayed.) He was always licking and grooming her and slept next to her wherever she was. They were so cute.

Last Fall, we discovered 2 tiny kittens under our house abandoned by their mother. Those poor hungry kittens the size of a little rat were meowing loudly from hunger. They came out from hiding and eyed the food dish we left out for Fluffy. Fluffy came to the kittens and started to play around with them. A little while later, the kittens approached the food and Fluffy moved aside to let them eat with him. From then on, he adopted them. They followed him around for a couple of months until they were large enough to be on their own.

Then came that faithful morning when my husband went to the bedroom to inform me that Fluffy had died. He was hit by a car. I was heartbroken. My husband carried him back from the street to our backyard and buried him. My daughter made a tombstone out of a large brick with his name and date he came to us and date he left us. I cried for him for days. I am still sad thinking about him. Rest in peace Fluffy. You were loved.

Well, I guess the new little dog is mine now...we've made it through the "foster period" and I'll be going to finalize his adoption this week.

Learned a few things about him - and about his breed in general.

He has the WORST case of dog breath I've ever experienced in my life, second only to the time my brother's dog ate some "kitty crunchies" out of the litter box and then came up to me and licked my face. (I still gag every time I think of that.)
After doing a bit of research, it turns out this breed is prone to bad breath, even if there's nothing wrong with them. He's had a full medical workup, teeth inspected, the whole nine yards - nothing wrong with him. But I tell you, his breath could knock you flat.

He's very....flexible. He can do things to himself that if human men could do, they'd never leave the house. (Not sure how else to say that without getting more graphic.) And he's sneaky about it too, because he knows the humans don't like what he's doing - so he burrows under a blanket, and pretty soon, I see the tell-tale movement and hear the sounds that let me know he's at it again. I say his name once in a sharp tone of voice, and the movement stops. Then there's a big sigh and no more movement. I have to laugh at it a bit, but it's embarrassing if someone happens to be over when he does that! (I once had a chinchilla that did the same thing, believe it or not - and did so in full view of our visiting pastor one evening.)

I suspect at some point, he'll suffer the same problems that many long-bodied dogs do - he's constantly jumping up and down off furniture, despite my attempts to keep him on the floor. He's just full of boundless energy and wants to jump and run all the time - one of these days, his back is just going to go. I am working on keeping him in good shape so he doesn't gain weight, but despite that, the jumping is going to be a problem. Everything I've read says not to let them do that, but I swear, this dog has springs in his butt. He jumps into my lap, up onto the bed, up on the recliner....

He's a trash hound. I forgot to take the trash out yesterday when I took my daughter and her kids home after Easter dinner, and came back to find all the trash (including discarded food scraps from the meal) all over the kitchen floor. I knew it was the dog, because he normally comes to the door to greet me when I come in - and he was nowhere in sight. Comically enough, he was hiding back in the bedroom, on the bed with the sleeping cat. I think he figured if he was on the bed with the cat, I wouldn't know who did it and might blame the cat instead of him. Quite sure I know who did it, because the dog didn't eat for almost 24 hours after that incident and was very subdued, like he wasn't feeling well. So now the trash goes out before I go to bed and if I leave, it gets put up somewhere until I can afford to buy some gates to keep him contained, since he hates being crated.

He loves to travel - and rides in his own booster seat so he can see out the windows and be hooked in safely. Otherwise, he wants to be in my lap, which I refuse to do while I'm driving. I suspect his previous owner allowed this, because that's right where he wants to be if he's loose in the car. So I bought a little booster seat for him, and it has a hook that connects to his harness to keep him in the seat. Works pretty well. He tolerates riding in the back seat if he has to, but really loves to ride shotgun. LOL

I just have to get used to how little he is. That's tough to do after having a large dog for so long. He's SO quiet and sneaky when following me around the house - I have to keep looking behind me, because he's always there, and I'm afraid I'll step on him and hurt him. He's a lot of fun, and he's getting me out walking more, so that's good. And he is easier to care for as far as food and cleanup goes. I still miss my big dog, though. I'm sure I'll get used to having a smaller dog, it's just different.

Susan, what are you naming the little dog?

I have a friend who named her cat "Snacky Onassis." I wish I'd thought of it!!

Susan, your comment about what men would do if they could cracked me up.

I'm glad you have a new little friend. I hope you can solve his bad breath issues somehow. I guess they don't have breath mints for dogs or do they? I don't know. I've only ever had cats. Speaking of my cats, man they are a couple of love bugs. As soon as I plop myself down on the couch I'm covered in cats. Sometimes I put my laptop on my lap and my one cat insists and steps on the keyboard and I lose everything I was typing. I have to escape to my bedroom and shut the door sometimes just to get away from them. I wanted cuddly cats.............be careful what you wish for.

Ah, the classic dog question: why do dogs do that?

A: Because they can.