Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Ridgetop]

They are fairly common on eBay and since Duffy and the drug/grocery stores gave away the spoons with each bottle of whiskey, there were many thousands of them out in the public. They're properly referred to as a pre prohibition 'dosing spoon' and tho Walter Duffy's distillery folded well before prohibition, other distillers tried his idea and gave away little 'dosing' shot glasses with the same kind of measurements on them when prohibition came along .. they also tried to jump on the fed's mistake of applying the word 'pure' to mean it was a medicine and not booze, which didn't fly past the federal govt beginning in 1920 when the 18th amendment was signed into law..

If they are that common I will probably run across one eventually, and pick it up. Can't wait to find one.

Got the tomatoes and strawberries planted today. Only a couple plants but enough for us since we will be gone during most of the harvest. DH insisted we plant a garden this year even though I told him we would be gone this summer. He went out and dug up the beds, so I had to plant something. It started to clear up from a gloomy morning, got hot while I was planting the tomatoes, then clouded up and thundered and lightening for a while. But no rain! Very strange weather for us.

Took the trailer into the shoo last week for it's summer overhaul before going on our trip to Texas. Have a few things to repair and/or replace. When it comes back we will have to do a complete clean out. DH wants to shampoo the carpet as well. Probably should replace it, but I want to remove the dinette and put in chairs and a table instead. We don't need the extra bed space and the table/chairs combo would be more comfortable than the built in dinette. Maybe after this trip. Have to save the money for that. This trailer is just about paid off so I don't want to get another. We have kept it in good shape. We have lived in it and traveled for over 2 months at a time comfortably.

DS1 and I changed the rams' crayons today. Assuming the ewes do not re-mark (one or two usually do and they all might since it was in the 90-100 degree temps when we turned them in together) then the lambing dates would be:
Dorpers - Red collar GLD 8040 due 9/6; Blue collar GLD 7041 due 9/22; Green collar GLD 7088 due 9/22; bred to MOY M413
Dorsets - No tag due 9/13; Green Tag 4 due 9/24; bred to Lewis 160264

Sr. Games Bridge Tournament tomorrow. Took care of more problems today. Will open a bottle of wine tomorrow night to celebrate a year before I have to do it again. And running this is a volunteer position. I promised when my last child graduated high school and 4-h that I was done volunteering.


Deep breaths . . . .

 

[Mike CHS]

I think I will stay away from any Bridge tournaments.

 

[Ridgetop]

The tournaments are fun! Running them is pure H**L! However, it s over for another year. If I plan well, I will be out of town for the next one and someone else can run it.

Now on to the sheep sales!

 

[Ridgetop]

Took off today from bridge to rest after the tournament dramas. I just remembered that I did not write down the winners names so although I believe I have remembered 3 of the 4, I will have to detect the top 1st or 2nd place name.

Finished planting my mint, rosemary, and cilantro. That is the last of what I planted. The beans that were barely breaking through the earth day before yesterday are now 2" tall and have 2 leaves. I had forgotten how much more fun it was to plant seeds and watch them sprout rather than plant the sets. I will have to get more raised beds up and running so I can plant beets.

Got a couple of young feral cats from a neighbor. He was going to trap them and bring them over but got sidetracked by some "cat women" who insisted he have the cats neutered and get their shots first. He still has a couple more to trap and deliver to the feral cat program where they do this for free. If he wanted to do this it was fine with me since any litters of kittens around do not live more than a couple years what with the hawks, owls, coyotes, and bobcats. Barn cats have to take their chances but apparently although this gentleman felt that way the "cat women" disagreed. He said he felt hunted by them until he let them take away the young feral cats and do their thing. His neighbor feeds abandoned cats and her yard has become a breeding ground (literally) for these wild cats. I really don't care whether they are neutered or have their shots since I will not be catching any wild cats to try to give them any vaccinations. As long as they hunt and take care of the mouse and rat problem in the barn they are welcome. There are plenty of places for them to shelter and escape from predators in and under the outbuildings. They are currently in a cage in the barn while they get used to staying in the barn. We are feeding them until they can be released. Good hunting, cats! Live in fear, rats and mice!

Ok so DS1 and I moved the feral cats into a larger cage in the barn stall with the ewe lamb. It is farther back in the barn and we hoped they would be less stressed by the dogs. However, while Bubba loved Old Tom (who went on to his reward many months ago at 18 years old) Bubba apparently does not feel the same about the new cats. As we moved the cages into the other stall, Bubba tried to push himself into the stall. As Bubba stood on my foot, pinning me in place, DS1 kept demanding I move back so he could shut the gate! He was not impressed that I had been trapped by a gigantic dog hoping to get to and probably kill the cats. Finally DS1 got Bubba off my foot, I hopped back and he closed the gate. Bubba raced around to the upper side of the barn where he could stare evilly at the cats. I handed the bowls of water and food over the gate, andDS1 placed the catch cage against the larger cage door. Once the first cat was inside DS1 handed the catch cage over the gate to me and I started to carry it out of the barn. Suddenly I was knocked over by Bubba who wanted whatever was in the catch cage. I set the empty cage down and he grabbed the towel inside it and tried to drag it out. Leaving Bubba to kill the towel, I returned to the stall where DS1 was turning the other cat into the cage. Again he handed the empty cage over the gate while he placed the water and food inside. This time I was ready for Bubba's onslaught. As Bubba tried fruitlessly to find a cat in the empty cage DS1 came out of the stall. By now Rika was riled up too, since obviously there was something dangerous in the empty catch cages. Finally, we tried to throw the cat towel to Bubba but he was no longer interested in it. Followed by a lunging Bubba and a watchful Rika, DS1 and I carried the cages through the house to the front porch to leave them there for pick up.

Hopefully Bubba will become accustomed to the cats. Hopefully the cats are good at escaping from predators and large dogs. Hopefully the nice neighbor will bring us more feral cats. Apparently we will be needing a continuing supply of them.

Angel is still locked in the kennel, and looked like she was healing up. No limping. BUT she escaped yesterday. DH went in to get her supper bowl and she wriggled out the gate past him. Then she took off with Bubba to run and play! Terrific! He said she looked like her shoulder was fine when she started out running, but when he finally caught her after panting all over the field (him not her) , she was limping again. She will be incarcerated for an extra week since she probably damaged her shoulder again.
Bad dog! No biscuit! No pain pills either since we only had enough for 4 days. She will have to tough it out. Actually I was hoping she would miraculously come in season while she was locked up in the kennel. She is 6 months old. I have a feeling she won't do that for another few months since why would she make things simple for me. She will probably come in season this summer while we are out of town. DS1 will have to be checking her every day. Just what he wants to do all summer - check a bitch's butt.
On line sheep sale this weekend! I have narrowed my list of ewes to bid on and decided on my maximum bids. There is still the show and auction the weekend after this so I don't want to get too carried away this weekend. On the other hand, I don't want to end up with nothing after both weekends.

Since it is Mother's Day weekend DH, DS2, AND DD1 asked what I plan to do for Mother's Day. Probably wondering what I plan to cook for everyone. DD1 offered to take me out to lunch. I told her it had to be early since I plan to be bidding at the auction until 5:00 p.m. DS1 said he would cook dinner but it needs to be served after 5:00 p.m. which is when bidding ends, since I don't plan to be outbid by anyone at the last minute. I plan to be on my computer all afternoon! I hope to get some bargains like I did last year. I was outbid on one ewe lamb I really wanted. I thought I had the bid but someone got in and snatched her up at the last minute while I was checking my other bids! That is the problem with on line auctions compared to live auctions.

I love auctions.

 

[Bruce]

We don't need the extra bed space and the table/chairs combo would be more comfortable than the built in dinette.

What will keep them anchored when you are on the road?

Will open a bottle of wine tomorrow night to celebrate a year before I have to do it again.

Oh boy, running the tournament remote from Texas

 

[Baymule]

I feel sorry for your neighbor. We lived next to a cat hoarder at our old house and she fed all the feral cats. Of course, they bred and multiplied. Our dogs grew to hate cats and killed every one dumb enough to come into our yard. They barked at the cats that stayed maddenly must out of their reach-on the other side of the fence. I grew to hate them as well, since they peed on the corner of the house, the stench permeated the bedroom, they peed on the front porch and were welcomed home by the stench of cat pee and they pooped in the front yard and garden.

Why don't those "do-gooder" cat women stalk his neighbor and insist on trapping and neutering HER cats?

I hope your cats live long enough to catch rats and mice.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

I can't cope with people who hoard any type of animal.....there is a stray male that sprays both our front and back porchs..I send the dogs after the cat, but boy does that cat fly ...off the porch , sails across the yard....and is catching air over the fence......pretty cat though

 

[Ridgetop]

That is why this neighbor decided to catch them and get rid of them, His garden was filling up with cat poop and pee. The cat hoarder has a cabana in the back of her pool where they live and breed. They come over the fence into his yard to poop and pee! She told him that they don't bother her and she likes to feed them. He said that they bother him so he has started to trap them. Another problem is that they carry fleas and spread them around. Since all our tame barn cats died, our dogs don't get fleas so much and just a couple treatments take care of them. When we had tame barn cats they would snuggle with the Pyrs and the Pyrs got fleas so bad I had to have them shaved in the summer to treat the fleas. The house dogs also got them and I had to shave the Aussie and constantly was treating the other house dogs. If these cats disappear, we will go back to traps, and fishing little bodies out of water buckets.

We never had that many cats around. The kittens born would eventually disappear leaving only one or two survivors to take care of our rats. I think I would use an air rifle to get rid of excess cats if there were that many.

What will keep them anchored when you are on the road?

The table folds up and so do the chairs. There is a belt installed on the wall of the dinette area to anchor them in place when you travel. It gives you more room to sit and eat, and you don't have to crowd 4 people into a small banquette. When I use my computer at the banquette I feel like I am typing under my chin! It will be a long time coming though and I might just get something to act as a booster seat for my computer work!

Oh boy, running the tournament remote from Texas

 

[Bruce]

Can't you call the animal control people on the cat lady? There's got to be some requirement that one's animals not be a burden to others. It is one thing to trap and neuter and another to feed the kitten mill.

 

[Ridgetop]

I am not the neighbor of the cat lady. Thank goodness! Her neighbor is the one trapping the cats and giving them to me.

Here the Animal Control will loan you the cages but after you trap and capture the cats, you have to bring them to Animal Control. Animal Control also has a catch and release after neutering program. You can pay $35.00 to Animal Control and they will bring the feral cats to the adopter as barn cats after neutering, shots, and clipping off one ear tip. The ear tip clipping is to identify the neutered cats if they are retrapped. We adopted 3 cats 2 years ago from the feral program. They were pretty wild and lasted about one year. I don't care if they are feral or tame, except if they are tame, my grand kids can play with them. In the case of the feral cats, we hardly see them after they are released. We just notice if the number of rodents decreases.

There are several of these catch and release programs in the area since there are so many feral cats. By neutering them and releasing them, they help down the rodent population in warehouses, abandoned buildings, etc. Since they are neutered, they don't produce additional kittens so it works.