The Neighborly Visits

Rocky and Ricky came calling again last night. I knew only because I heard someone on the deck looking for leftovers. I'm pretty sure the conversation went along these lines.

Ricky: "Shit. Where are the seeds? They were here last time."

Rocky: "Ma said you wasn't supposed ta swear no more."

Ricky: "Who the hell is gonna tell her? Hmmmm?"

Rocky: "If Ma asks, I gotta tell her da truth."

Ricky: "Why are you talking like you have a cold"

Rocky: "Duh, I doan know. Bu' da longer I dalk, da more I soun' kine-ah stooopid."

Ricky: "Shit."

Ollie the Owl: "I heard that. I'm telling your mother."

Rocky: "Ohhhhhh, da-nooooooooooo."

It got quiet after that point.

This, of course, is when my brave cat Amber will come out of semi-hiding and look out the window to see if the coast is clear. If so, she'll go into her, "I know I can catch them if you'll just let me out, Shonda" routine. I know better. Amber couldn't catch a cold even if she was in a room filled with nothing but many, many strains of the cold viruses. She'd get out, run around like she was crazy for a couple minutes, then hightail it next door to hang out with the barn cats and smoke some alfalfa seed behind said barn.

Thankfully, Susie never asks to go out, although he seems to think he does. The last time he did get out, he waddled around for a half hour and then when I called to see if he wanted in now, he waddled as fast as his big old butt could propel him. Kelly was an outdoor stray, so she could take care of herself. But, she has yet to even make signs she wants to go out. Here is a cat who knows what a hard life is like and is thankful the food supply is now steady and reliable.

The war with the squirrel neighbors seems to be at a standstill right now. Mom's been too busy cleaning the carpets to worry about them. Grandma's not been feeling well, so she hasn't been watching them as much, either. Actually, Grandma can't see well anyway, but she can enjoy hearing the birds. We have a hummingbird feeder attached to a window, so she can see that. She also sees the bees that like the feeder. I'm waiting for the ants to show up like they sometimes do.

Anyway, I know the squirrels are active before the raccoons because the squirrels can climb to the feeders without making the posts or trees creak from their lack of weight, unlike the raccoons. The squirrels are also more skittish in the evening. Once in awhile, Ollie will give a hoot, which is apparently the unwritten general alarm for squirrels to go home and enjoy some serious story telling about how so-and-so barely dodged the BB pellet from ol' lady Stimer. Right. This coming from animals that end up killing themselves when they fall out of the trees from laughing so hard at Mom.

I'm having difficulty with these web sites and getting them to take you directly to the proper place. A "copy and paste" manuever works. In the meantime, I'll keep trying to fix this problem.

This web site shows a squirrel going through an obstacle course to finally be rewarded with some food.

http://www.maniacworld.com/squirrel-obstacle-course.html

This site has more squirrel videos. I didn't see any of my mother shooting at them, but who knows when it might show up. If you wait until the end of the ad, you have access to even more squirrel videos.

http://www.buzznet.com/tags/squirrels/video/3226661/thieving-squirrel-steals-bird-food/

So, we say good evening to the squirrels and raccoons and wish them a good day tomorrow, when the battle lines are drawn fresh in the sand and when the last one standing is clearly the one who dodges the pellets the best.