PRACTICAL PARSIMONY: Woodchuck, Other Animals, and Naked Ladies

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Woodchuck, Other Animals, and Naked Ladies

Naked Ladies amongst the Nandina and Wisteria

I was sitting in the car finishing a conversation before I took the church dinner leftovers to the hens for their dinner and locked them up for the night. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it--a woodchuck. I suppose that is what it was. For several weeks I had seen something go under the side of the house in tall grass as I walked inside in the evening or at night. Now, I could see it in the front yard about 6:15, and I did not have time to get a picture. It sat up and a cat, Sophia, tried to catch it.

Still, I sat there talking. Something bumped my car hard enough to startle me. Then, I heard the plaintive voice of a cat. I opened the door to find Sophia sitting there, just looking at me.

Finally, I got out of the car, headed up the driveway and past the house with a plate of lasagna, salad, tomatoes, bread, and a bit of cake. I never call "Delilah" until I get to the back corner of the house.

As I rounded the corner to the back of the house, Thelma and Patsy Cline headed toward me at a dead run. The little ones were being chased and swatted by Sophia! That is not the cat I thought had eaten my little one. Quickly, I got them all in the pen, dumped food, and locked them up for the night.

The Naked Ladies/Surprise Lilies/Resurrection Lilies caught me by surprise. Yesterday, there were buds. Today, these plus another dozen had bloomed. That is a coaxial cable hanging down, ready to affix the antenna to the house.

Sorry about the naked ladies, coffeypot.

Your turn
How would you dissuade a cat who wants to kill my little chickens? Aren't those delicate, beautiful blossoms?

10 comments:

Elephant's ChildJuly 16, 2014 at 10:47 PM
I LOVE Naked Ladies, and mourn the ones a plumber killed this year. I hope some at least of them regrow.
I have a pump action water pistol which lives (loaded) on my front veranda for use on marauding cats. It works - and is fun.
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LindaJuly 17, 2014 at 12:21 AM
EC,
My hens dug these up about ten times one summer. I kept burying them and they would kick them back ten feet. They survived and I bet your do too. Fingers crossed for your Naked Ladies.

I will be shopping for a pistol so I can have fun too.. I just found out this cat is NOT my friend's cat. That makes decisions easier!
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Elephant's ChildJuly 17, 2014 at 12:59 AM
I am sure that many of your readers would use a pistol, pistol. The water pistol is as far as I am prepared to go - but is very powerful. And effective. And not messy. And with a water pistol I shoot all cats (mine included if necessary) with no guilt.
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CoffeypotJuly 17, 2014 at 12:56 PM
Easy! Kill the cat!
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Riot KittyJuly 18, 2014 at 2:10 PM
I was super curious about the title of this post! I am not a gardener, if you can't tell...
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Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.

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The Cast

Fancy is my favorite hen. She is one of the three youngest hens I adopted. Because she is so gentle and friendly, she may be the one I rescued when she was being pecked to death after she could no longer stand. She got to live in the house in a box. Sometimes, I let her sit in my lap while she was convalescing. Now, she comes to sit in the swing with me, cuddling up to my body like a cat or dog. She died in February 2012.

Fancy follows me begging, complaining, needing me to do for her. She talks to me in various voices. She allows me to pick her up and carry her. When she became an adult, her head was a darker red and her body was light brown. Around her neck were tips of black feathers. It appeared she had a necklace of jet around her neck. When I showed this characteristic to a friend, he said, "Oh, you have fancy chickens and plain chickens."

Chessie has a broken toe. I broke it! She had a habit of jumping really high and almost sticking. A raccoon ate her in October 2009.

Thelma is the blonde. She is also the largest hen and the alpha hen. I suspect the gigantic eggs are from her. She often squats and presents herself to me. She is top hen, but I suspect she knows she had better be deferent to top feeder of the flock--me.

Louise is the auburn-feathered hen. She looks like the true Rhode Island Reds in pictures. She is almost as large as Thelma. Some days I suspect she is trying to be top chicken. When I got Pepper, I found out Louise is the Alpha hen.

Pepper came here from the same home as the first four. We were discussing putting red pepper on their food, wondering if it really would increase egg production. Pepper is the only name we agreed on. She is terrorized each day by Louise. Even after the worst was over, she was and is still filled with terror and very wary.

Linda is owned by four hens. They allow her to fetch for them. She loves them dearly, so she allows them to boss her around. Linda comes out in the rain to perform chores for them and make sure they have food and water. She begs scraps from all sorts of places to make sure they have fresh fruits and vegetables.

Parsimony is not a vegetable

Parsimony is extreme care in spending money. Stick around and learn about my random thoughts on accomplishing goals economically--dumpster diving aka safari, gleaning, do-it-yourself, sewing tips, recipes, and whatever is happening in my life.

Okay so maybe "parsimony" is not your thing. How about thrift, frugality or just plain saving money? I try not to go the tightwad route as that seems to imply others will suffer from my habits.

Some of my not-spending habits have very much been a part of my lifelong habits. Other habits are newly acquired and are an extension of my lifelong not-spending habits.

I am very imaginative when it comes to substituting or making instead of buying. I will tell you about making a heater for the chickens' water. Not one dime was spent since I had everything I needed right in my basement.

Practicality must rear its head alongside parsimony. For example, I will use the dryer in bad weather or because of allergies in the spring. But, I will not wash clothes in a tub as long as I have a washing machine or can find one.

You may hear more about my four Rhode Island Red hens than you care to hear. They lay delicious brown eggs.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Woodchuck, Other Animals, and Naked Ladies

10 comments: