Cats, birds, ducks....

.... and other things that go bump in the night.

Mickey has seemed to settle down a bit this past week.... a nice sprinkling of catnip on a cat-scratching pad is his favorite place to be now.   No one has had any 'accidents' lately.... and there have been no visiting cats on the porch since the week before last, as far as I can tell.  Gatsby has been sleeping outside, and very happy to be there.  Sweet Pea has been going out for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, but quickly runs to the back door when the barn swallows start swooping down near him.  Sweet Pea's reputation as a bird-catcher must have been announced to the bird world out there.  Mickey is the only one in the house at times, and he seems content with that, as long as he has his catnip.

I have vowed not to feed any more stray cats. Period. End of story. No exceptions.  Once you feed a stray cat, it's yours.  The cat will stay around, mark their territory (if it's a male) and they will remind you when it's meal-time.  And the inside cats will have a royal fit, and start marking their territory inside the house.   Male cats.  I have had enough male cats to last me two life-times now.  So.... no more feeding stray cats unless we truly want another cat.  (Note to self:  We do not want another cat.)

The ducks are back in the pond... sometimes two, sometimes four of them.  Can't tell if they're the same ducks that were here a month ago, but in my mind, a duck is a duck, and they sure do look nice floating on the pond.

The neighbor with the dogs that have been swimming in our pond at times.... the dogs haven't been around lately.  I drove up to that neighbor's house to tell him that one of his cows had gotten outside the fence, and the two dogs were sitting up by his house. One of the dogs had a bent paw, and it looked broken because when the poor dog got up, he couldn't put pressure on that leg.  I'm guessing that because the one dog is hurt now and can't run down the hill, the other dog is staying close to him and not leaving the yard until his buddy can do the same.  Dogs are so loyal. Even to each other.  Those dogs are too good for that neighbor. But they're his dogs. And in this state, you don't exactly tell anyone how to take care of their animals, pets, livestock, etc.

The wildflowers are still flowering.... the bluebonnets are going to seed, but they've been replaced by acres of yellow Texas Stars, red-orange Indian Blankets, and Queen Anne's Lace (it looks like Q/A Lace, but it's not as tall...... when you look out over our back pasture, it looks like it's been covered with snow.  Get up close to it, and you see the thousands upon thousands of white flowers.

The library..... we're waiting to hear from the contractor about the floor.  We've picked out the flooring but haven't ordered it yet.  I'm guessing that this may become a summer-long project because the contractor is very busy, juggling many jobs at once.  I have to laugh at that because when you watch the home improvement shows on HGTV, it seems that the renovations are completed within 24 hours.  The unbelievable magic of television.

My new laptop..... the old one died a horrible death.  This new one is faster.... it now has all the eMail addresses and websites from my 'favorites' file...... the speed is faster, the keyboard is smoother.... but it's still a computer with a mind of its own. Oh well. It is what it is, and what it is happens to be working.