Thumper AKA fuzzy butt!

[PaGal]

Lisa...We love it here. We enjoy being surrounded by nature and the few neighbors we have are just great. We are so happy we found our home.

I'm not too girly about it but when I have the choice I allow my husband to do the killing. I always feel bad even when I feel it must be done because even if it is a spider, it still is a life. I captured a small snake last fall. Our one cat was sitting on a cinder block intently watching the ground. I became curious as to what had her so riveted so I went to look and there was a small snake. We don't want to kill them unless they are poisonous so I decided to catch it and put it into a cooler until I could find out what type it was. I spent at least 30 minutes trying to catch the little gut. He kept darting under things like our trash can and I had to keep moving the objects out of the way. I was also being careful as I did not want to injure him. Well, when it got to the point that I was feeling things were getting to be ridiculous I finally caught him and placed him in the cooler. As so as he touched the bottom he started to furiously shake his tail which made my legs go weak. The only snake I know of that does that is a rattle snake and I had never seen this behavior before. My legs went weak even though he was safely in the cooler, I had not been bitten and at no time during the chase had he acted aggressive and his tail clearly did not look like a rattlesnake tail would.

It turned out to be a northern water snake and they do shake their tails when threatened but are not poisonous. It's funny how just the shake of the tail could bring out fear when I did not feel any fear prior to that.

I have been enjoying him flopping lately as well. I always try to carefully sneak up and look him over well since I rarely get to see his underside. I love his fluffy white belly and it gives me the opportunity to look for anything that could be wrong. The funny thing is half the time I will be able to walk close but then as I am ever so slowly and carefully starting to squat down one of my knees or some other part of me will crack and he'll jump up.

 

[PaGal]

Chris...Thank you. I love just about every bunny out there, I mean really is there such a thing as a bunny that is not cute? If there is I haven't seen it yet but some I prefer over others and I do love a bun with a lighter belly. Oohhh and big ears and of course the big feets.

I just don't get some parents. The girls have like 3 games they can play on the computer but there time is limited just like with tv. They do watch a lot of cooking shows or animal shows so at least they are not watching shows that do no more than rot the brain but most of their free time is spent reading or being outside. I see those same parents at the school for special programs like awards ceremonies where the children are given certificates for things such as all A's on their report card and these parents will be texting through the program. Why show up if you can't stop for a little while? The kids realize they are not paying attention.

 

[PaGal]

What a weekend! Friday was spent cleaning and getting ready for the cook out. I also got to finally dye my hair. Yay!

Saturday we had the egg hunt and cook out. The kids were searching for hours before giving up. Hubby found the last one on Easter. We had 14 people show up. All of them drag race 4 wheelers or dirt bikes. The kids all got to run around on theirs. It was in the 70's and sunny so the perfect day, not too hot and not too cool.

Sunday I gave the kids and Hubby the Easter baskets I had made for them. We spent time together. Hubby and I cooked our big meal: Ham, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, green bean casserole, potato salad, deviled eggs, baked apples and chocolate cake with chocolate icing.

 

[PaGal]

I haven't been able to start on Thumper's new cage yet. Hopefully I can find some time this week. I did swap out his metal feeder for a plastic one that attaches to the side of his cage. I never liked the metal one but it worked for when he was young and we traveled. It could hold about six days worth of food although we were never gone more than a day.

Little fuzzy butt has annoyed me! We had to have a gate blocking our bedroom because our door would not shut tightly at the beginning of winter, I think the wood just shrunk. Thumper was able to open our door because of this. Well I was really excited because the door shuts tight again so I got to take the gate down. Until that is Thumper started chewing the carpet in front of our door so the gate is back up. He only chew when I go into the room shutting him out and only when he is wanting to play but I now have a small hole of missing carpet. He didn't eat any thank goodness but still...

 

[whitelop]

When I just read about the snake and it shaking its tail, I got a little dizzy. I have this seriously irrational fear of rattle snakes. I'm pretty lucky I can walk through my yard without freaking out. Every time I see a hole in the ground I have an internal flip out because I always think there is a rattle snake in that hole. I think we do have rattle snakes, but I've never actually seen one. Thank god, because I think if I did, I might have a heart attack and die. No joke.

We watch a lot of national geographic stuff at my house. I like to watch that stuff better that stuff thats violent around my son. He's almost 2 but I still think it wears off on him. So we watch stuff about the dark ages and stuff about the deep sea and sharks. That way MAYBE some of it will seep into his brain and he'll know what the plague is by the time he's 3! hahaha. Plus, I love that stuff. I think one of the best things I just watched was about wolverines, it was AMAZING! They're my most favorite animals.
(My cat just ate hot sauce. LMAO that was the best thing I've ever seen. Not a happy cat.)

 

[whitelop]

When I just read about the snake and it shaking its tail, I got a little dizzy. I have this seriously irrational fear of rattle snakes. I'm pretty lucky I can walk through my yard without freaking out. Every time I see a hole in the ground I have an internal flip out because I always think there is a rattle snake in that hole. I think we do have rattle snakes, but I've never actually seen one. Thank god, because I think if I did, I might have a heart attack and die. No joke.

We watch a lot of national geographic stuff at my house. I like to watch that stuff better that stuff thats violent around my son. He's almost 2 but I still think it wears off on him. So we watch stuff about the dark ages and stuff about the deep sea and sharks. That way MAYBE some of it will seep into his brain and he'll know what the plague is by the time he's 3! hahaha. Plus, I love that stuff. I think one of the best things I just watched was about wolverines, it was AMAZING! They're my most favorite animals.
(My cat just ate hot sauce. LMAO that was the best thing I've ever seen. Not a happy cat.)

 

[PaGal]

I tried to shorten everything up because I had a long post going and my computer decided to send me to another page and I lost it all. I hate windows 8!!! We think my hubby might have brought home a pregnant cat. Yep, Isabelle might be pregnant. When he brought her home she was a good weight and had a soft, shiny coat so she looked well cared for. Since he brought her home he has been looking to stop by the home he got her at to ask if she had been spayed but every time he has been past there the man has not been home. We made sure to keep her in so nothing could happen and she has showed no signs of being in heat. We both know what that is like so there is no way she has been.

Well from the very first she seemed to have grown a round belly. For a while now we were thinking she is just eating too much. Although she wasn't skinny when we got her we figured she may be used to having more competition for food and so is over eating. That or she just really likes the brand of cat food we get. I noticed on Saturday that her nipples look large. I hadn't noticed them up until now because she is always laying like a meatloaf or just walking around us rubbing our legs or climbs onto our shoulders. Which she has stopped climbing onto us. Maybe because she's too round now.

She's only fat in the belly, doesn't look to me as if she has put on any weight over the rest of her body. So I am now keeping a very close eye on her. It's just kind of funny that she came here looking thin and by that night looked round. Will a cat actually eat so much that it could get that round? Why would they, it would have to be miserable feeling? I guess I am just hoping she isn't simply because I hate finding homes for animals and there are already too many unwanted cats around.

 

[whitelop]

Well you'll probably know soon. Cats gestation period is only like 34 days or something like that.

We got the cat once, I found it in my car and she turned out to be pregnant. She had 5 kittens. It started the same way, she was rail thin, almost emaciated. Then as we had her for a few weeks, she got rounder and rounder in the belly and only in the belly. Then she had 5 kittens. I noticed her nipples getting bigger and hanging down more when I held her. Then she started getting on the counter and getting food down, she really loved bread. haha.

I hope your cat isn't pregnant, because that always sucks trying to find the kittens homes.

 

[PaGal]

It did it again! I really, really hate windows8!

Morgan...you probably do have them down there. One of the girls brought home a paper from school that had all of the poisonous snakes found here on it. The paper had drawn colored pictures of each snake along with info such as length. It also had the same for the non poisonous ones most often mistaken for the poisonous ones. I love that paper and have it hanging on my fridge for quick reference.

Usually the poisonous ones have a triangular shaped head and the pupils are not round. The non poisonous usually have rounder heads and round pupils.

I saw a show a few months back on skunks. They are very interesting and best of all it gave the recipe for getting off skunk smell based scientifically on the molecules that make up the stink oil. Ha!

I saw one once on ravens and loved it although I already though they were amazing birds. It's the only bird I want one of.

That's what I hope, that the kids will learn and remember.

 

[PaGal]

I was just reading that it's about nine weeks. Hhmmm. I am prepared to get a box together for her in case and have towels on hand and I read up on the signs for when they are about to start so I should be good.

I went through this with a stray cat my mother took in that was pregnant. When the time was getting close I got out and read books about it from the library because my mother was freaking out and asked me to come over when she started. It was funny because my mothers an RN and boy was she bad when she started into labor. It was a very nerve wracking night!

The other cat we have showed up as a stray and had kittens. I found her right as she finished giving birth to the first. On our patio. I got a box all ready very quickly and moved her and the kitty into it. They were wonderful kittens even before their eyes were open they would head to my voice and even once they were running around as soon as I came in they would come running.

 

[whitelop]

You're right, its more than 34 days, my brain isn't working with me today! haha. I thought about it after I wrote it and I was like "jeez you're dumb today!" LOL

I'm glad you've been through cat births before! One of my cats now, Smedley, had her kittens in my moms bed. haha. She had my fat cat Cali and her brother who we had to have put to sleep a few years ago. I swear, he was the smartest best cat ever. Cali is just a fat cat and Smed is the one who licked the hot sauce and she's my old cat, she's 13. They're so crazy though!
Then the little stray that had kittens in my house, she was such a good mama and those babies were so cute! She had one of every color! haha. They were so funny.

I LOVE ravens! They play games with each other and mess around. They're so smart and so funny! As gross as they are, I really like vultures too, they're pretty cool.

 

[whitelop]

You're right, its more than 34 days, my brain isn't working with me today! haha. I thought about it after I wrote it and I was like "jeez you're dumb today!" LOL

I'm glad you've been through cat births before! One of my cats now, Smedley, had her kittens in my moms bed. haha. She had my fat cat Cali and her brother who we had to have put to sleep a few years ago. I swear, he was the smartest best cat ever. Cali is just a fat cat and Smed is the one who licked the hot sauce and she's my old cat, she's 13. They're so crazy though!
Then the little stray that had kittens in my house, she was such a good mama and those babies were so cute! She had one of every color! haha. They were so funny.

I LOVE ravens! They play games with each other and mess around. They're so smart and so funny! As gross as they are, I really like vultures too, they're pretty cool.

 

[PaGal]

You'd love it here then. We've got plenty of vultures.here I used to live I had three ravens that hung around all of the time. I started putting food out for them. Not everyday or anything, I didn't want them becoming too dependant but they would fly to a field near by when I went out. Over time they stopped flying away and finally got to the point that the one would stay in the tree I always put the food under. One always seems to sit in a tree and keep a look out.

One time there was a huge ground hog in the yard and I watched as one of the ravens would walk toward the ground hog. His buddies were watching him also. When the ground hog would stop eating and look back at the approaching raven, the raven would start to peck at the ground. The ground hog would go back to eating and the raven would walk closer. The ground hog would stop eating and look back and the raven would stop and peck the ground, the ground hog would resume eating and the raven would walk closer. Until finally the raven was close enough and pecked the ground hog on the butt and the ground hog took off. Ha! That was some of the best 30 minutes of my life!

I remember the nine weeks because it said to make it easy to remember a woman goes nine months, a cat nine weeks. I feel kin of absolutely ridiculous searching such a thing but am actually surprised you cannot find pictures of cat nipples online. Ha! It's crazy that you can't. I thought comparing might help but I also figured that our other cat having kittens before might not be a good comparison. I'm not sure if the revert to their original size after they wean the kittens.

Oh I forgot, sheesh I'm scatter brained at times. The whole story about the ravens threw me off. Here we have ravens that come around a lot so I thought I would throw food out for them like I did the ones where I used to live. The only problem was as soon as the ravens showed up, so did the vultures. The ravens would not go eat but the vultures did. I don't have a problem with vultures but then I had a few eagles show up to. My hubby thought it might be best if I stopped then. He figured it wasn't a good idea attracting eagles to our yard if we plan to have chickens one day.

 

[agnesthelion]

.....

 

[PaGal]

I wish I had been able to record it as well. At that time we didn't have a video camera but did get one shortly after.

I like all animals and our cats are pretty wonderful. They are not stand offish like some cats could be. We can't have them inside because one of the girls has asthma and an allergy to cats. She can be near them and we have her wash her hands after petting them but cat hair in the home would be too much for her. They are litter trained and stick right by our house. They have the very large garage to be in so they are not in the weather and we do spend time in the garage every day so they get attention daily.

We will probably find homes for them as we do take good care of our cats and they do go to the vets so we have to limit what we have but it's always possible we would keep them if she only had a few. I am keeping a close eye on her, watching her behavior and such so hopefully I will know when her time comes. She is very friendly and loves attention so I am making sure to give her some treats and pets every time I am out there to make extra sure she will be fine with me being around during birth and around the kittens, if in fact she is pregnant.

Our dinner was just for the five of us but we will be eating it for the next five days or so which is just fine with everyone. Kids are funny, you would think they would get tired of eating the same thing for that long but they actually regret it when we finally finish it all off.

 

[whitelop]

Kids are funny like that. I love eating left overs from Thanksgiving and stuff. I don't really eat the turkey, but the other sides I eat and I love to eat it for days on end. Its so good! haha. I love ham and I would eat ham everyday if I could! haha.
I totally missed the picture of Thumper and him chewing on the carpet on the other page, I don't know how I managed that! He gets mad that you shut the door on him so he chews the carpet? AWW He wants to be with you! And I guess the gate is enough contact for him to be happy! haha.

At one point, the most cats we had was 12. Most of them were outside, it was so hard though. There were so many. I have 4 right now and two of them are old and the other two are younger. My barn cat being the youngest at almost 2. But I don't really miss having 12. The receptionist at my vets office feeds like 40. She has around 20 at her house but she feeds another 20 at another location. Its so bad. There are just TOO many cats. She gets them spayed and neutered and returns them to where they were. There are stays around my house too, I think someone in the neighborhood behind me feeds them, because I don't and I haven't tried to. BUT there is this HUGE cat, I saw it in our field and I thought it was a dog; it was the huge black cat. I'm glad it was just that cat though, because if it had been a dog I would have been inclined to go get the dog.

We have a pond, so all the birds that live in this area come to drink from it. The vultures are out all the time, we have a colony of them at an old condemned house like 50 yards from my house. They removed the windows of the house and filled it with hay for storage and now they don't use it anymore. But the vultures will sit in the windows or where they used to be and they will be in ALL the windows. That is one creepy sight. There will be like 2-3 in each window. But I have a one footed vulture friend, I think he remembers who I am because he never flies off when he sees me. They don't have much fear. We have a ton of crows that live around here too. They don't hang out on my side though, but across the street. We also have a pair of hawks and a barn of barn owls. So lots of rapture life here too! I have to yell at the owls sometimes, they're creepy and LOUD.

 

[PaGal]

I wish I had it on video too but that was long ago and before I had a way to record such things.

I love kittens too but I also love our cats. Ours are not stand offish like some cats are. They would be wonderful indoor cats but one girl has asthma and allergies so it's not possible. They do have a very large garage to be in out of the weather and stay very near when they do go outside. We will probably have to find homes for them as we treat them just like indoor pets with trips to the vets and all unless she had only a few kittens. Maybe then we could keep them.

The meal was just for us five but we'll be eating it for days which everyone is happy to do. We all actually wish we didn't run out when we do.

 

[PaGal]

Sorry I reposted. I had a nice long reply for Morgan that my computer dumped. I thought my reply to Lisa was on the same post. I had a similar situation with my ex. His dad passed and MIL was not doing well with it. All the kids talked and felt it best for someone to move in. The only one without a family was BIL and he wouldn't . We uprooted only to have him throw a fit a week later and MIL say it was best we move out. WTF!

I'm not sure trying to force the SIL to move up there would be a good thing. I get that she should be willing to but it is possible she would just make things worse if she doesn't want to help.

The MIL is difficult. Usually with those types they refuse to act until fits really hit the sham and there is no choice but to do something and unfortunately it's usually a real mess then.

Dealing with in-laws can be difficult to say the least.

 

[PaGal]

Morgan...I eat it all but the green bean casserole which I call green bean yuck casserole! Ha.

Even though the gate is up I shut the door as far as it will with the gate up because he can jump the gate and will since it's carpet on both side. I guess with the gate up he just feels it's hopeless. maybe he thinks with just the door shut that he can chew his was into the room. Who knows..he's a bun!

That's a lot of cats! I see different areas in the towns around here with strays and people feed them. It's nice that there are people willing to feed them but such a shame there are so many strays. The dogs are hard on me here because so many running loose are hunting dogs and you just have to let them be because they find their way back but when they stop by our house I do give them a little food and we keep a bowl of water out all of the time and we give them pets and sometimes they just seem to rest here for a while. One we finally called the number on the collar and the owner came. He had her in the woods and she refused to come to him. I guess she must have traveled all night to get to where we are from where he had her. No wonder she just contendedly layed around, she was pooped. I carry a leash in my vehicle in case I come across a dog running loose.

 

[whitelop]

I carry a leash and a bag of beggan strips in the car with me too! That way I can lure them in and leash them up.
Most of the time the hunters spend a good deal of money on the dogs they use to hunt, but I don't like that they leave them in the woods. I see it here too.
Its good that you let them hang around for a while. I do like that most of the time, the dogs have the plastic orange collars on with the tags riveted to the collar. I had a foster dog and I had to get her one of those collars because she wouldn't stay out of the water and I hated having to wash her collar. So she got a waterproof one! haha.