respublica

Getting kind of tired of this

Almost every morning around 6:30 two raccoons come bursting into our backyard and play for at least half an hour. Where they go when they realize it's time for daytime sleeping is what we do not know. But it must be close by.

These two are even more bold than the raccoons we had a few years ago. In that time we had constant raccoon activity, so much so that our next door neighbors bought us a stuffed raccoon and put it on our front porch. It's been there long enough that the toy is faded from gray/black to gray tan. They also got such a kick out of this that one December they brought us a wood yard decor.

Even the stuffed raccoon is weary of this.

We've just decided to stay out of our backyard in the early morning.

Raccoons at play

When I woke up this morning Dale called me from the deck and said, "you have to see this." The "this" turned out to be two young raccoons playing with each other like puppies. Their games went on and on and on. It did not bother them that we were watching and laughing and our neighbor coming by to watch didn't matter to them either. All over the yard they tumbled, stopping to chew on a bush or sniff a flower now and then.

But, where I drew the line was when they ventured over to our cantaloupe vines. I have been baby-ing one last, green, cantaloupe and did not want them messing with it. It isn't big yet, but grows a lot each day. And of course one of them found it after being tackled by the other one. He pawed at it and sniffed it. This is when I shouted at them to get away. They stared at me for a long moment and went right on wrestling. I guess the melon is still ok, too unripe for them for now.

They played long after we thought they should have headed for whatever bed they sleep in during the day.

Funs over, go away.

And we will soon be off

We are heading out to our daughter Katie's today with an overnight stop at Dale's mother's in Paris, Illinois. We have not been to Katie's place since the summer of 2019 and we are nothing if not overdue. The Covid put a complete stop to these family visits and we are interested in how things look in Maryland. Things which include the two grandsons, the yard and the two cuddly Aussiedoodles.

I love dogs, miss having a dog, and so am kind of thrilled to see these two girls. They are actual sisters, but born 18 months apart to the same parents. First came Sidney who we have met and last year came Dottie who we haven't met. They also have a cute rabbit named Snowball.

For love of a dog

We laughed at this because it rings so true. Thankfully when we had a dog, we did not need to do this.

Two dog stories

Yesterday Katie, Charlie and the two boys got a new puppy. They already have a young Aussie Doodle who they love and learned of a puppy of the same breed coming available. I thought, oh boy, two young, energetic, loveable, huggable, Aussie Doodles. After not quite 24 hours, Dottie the puppy and Sydney the veteran, have had a blast.  Want to know the most amazing thing about this new puppy? The place they adopted here from was the same person who sold them Sydney a couple of years ago. She brought up the file and learned that these dogs are actual sisters! Not from the same litter but they have the same father and mother. How cool is that?

One the ride home from the adoption.

And meeting Sydney for the first time both dogs take a big sniff in the grass.

Then a solo walk to learn the surroundings

Then a bit of snuggling with the boys.

It's a really good thing Katie and Charlie have to work from home next week, the energy level in the house will be off the charts.

And, one more dog story. A man in Portland Oregon was taking his Christmas lights off his roof-line when he turned around and saw his Golden Retriever had climbed up the ladder and was standing with him on the roof! His security camera caught the whole thing he noticed later. But, how to get the dog down the ladder? The man somehow carried him. Goldens are kind of like this, they want to be with their people.

Suddenly we're a cat house

Since we've been feeding birds in our backyard, cats have been showing up. I did not realize before this that our neighborhood had so many cats and cats that are allowed to roam the block. I've been shooing them out everyday recently.

How do they know we have birds feeding? Our backyard is fenced but that does not stop these cats. They're friendly enough, but rather arrogant about being asked to leave.

Raising chickens?

Back in 2009 the interest in having backyard chickens was growing, especially in Clayton. I attended several city meetings on this topic back then and came away surprised at the amount of emotion on both sides of the issue.

Is this still a thing in any local city? I'm guessing the chicken fad has faded. What was fascinating was all the safeguards and rules which were tossed around during these public hearings. When people spoke against having neighbors raising chickens it was usually the smell and noise. The pro chicken people insisted there wouldn't be noise (absolutely no roosters) and no smell. You can't have just one or two chickens, there must be at least four to allow them to huddle together in cold weather to keep warm.

Anyway, I believe this kind of thing is in the past. Chickens are a lot of work. There will always be that one big bird who keeps escaping and ambles around the neighborhood.

Where are all the dogs?

This story popped up today and it pretty much describes our experience since March. So many people spending so much time at home during the virus shutdown wanted a dog or puppy to make the time less lonely or dull. The result of this interest in pets led to a shortage and extremely high prices if any were available at all. The price of some of these puppies if available is unreal.

I believe this. Our humane society in St. Louis went from a place where you could almost always find a dog to adopt to practically none for months. Anyone raising purebred dogs sold out fast. Right now it is difficult to even find a breeder who bothers to update their website or Facebook page due to having no puppies.

You will find shelters with many Pitt Bulls or Pitt mixes, but it takes a certain kind of person to take a breed like this on and it isn't us.

I wonder how many of the people who got dogs in these times will tire of the work and cost involved, get too busy to care for them, and eventually give the animals up for adoption. I envision many sad and confused dogs in months ahead. But, our last two dogs were both given up by their owners. One was 6 months old and dropped at the Humane Society in St. Louis. Our last, Ferdie, was put out of a car on a bitter cold, snowy night in a Collinsville neighborhood. He ended up at the local shelter and then at Dirks Fund Golden Retriever Rescue where we got him.

Both those dogs, probably because of losing the security of their first homes, never left our sides and we could not have had better dogs than those. If you got a dog during the Covid19 and can't handle it anymore, take it to a place where a good home can be found. Don't just dump them.

St. Louis is pet friendly

Wallet Hub did a study on "where pets can enjoy the best quality of life without breaking the bank."  The company compared the pet-friendliness of the 100 largest U.S. cities using 25 key metrics. It's data ranges from pet-care provider rate per visit to pet businesses per capita to walkability.

Of all the key metrics I was most surprised by the fact that St. Louis was number 1 in the number of animal shelters per capita. St. Louis ended up as number 6 on the list of most pet friendly cities. The most pet friendly city turned out to be Tampa.

It's long been kind of sad to me that Collinsville has no dog park. For a while a very tiny dog park was put in by the Herr Funeral Home with good intentions, but it was just too small. I believe it's no longer used for that purpose. We no longer have a dog, but I often think about how and where I'd be able to give one a good run or walk or play.

Ferdie's last Easter

Last Easter we went to church and afterward went to brunch with Lizzie's family at Porter's in Collinsville. A different time than today.

Sometime during the afternoon I put some rabbit ears on Ferdie. But as the day went on we realized he was in quite a bit of pain and could not get up without help. We ended up at the vet the next day with a bottle of a certain kind of pain medication. It helped, but it was obvious he was going down hill. We had him for only a few more months.