Friday, September 15, 2006, 16:47
The Smallest Hero
Who says heroes have to be big and strong?
In certain circumstances, small and cunning works much better.
First thing this morning, my little tabby Bobby Cat wanted to come in the house. She is essentially an outside cat, by choice, except in the middle of the winter -- then she is mostly an inside cat. Bobby usually spends most of the night outside, and then in the morning, she wants to come in the house for a nap.
When Bobby Cat wants to come inside, she jumps up on the porch railing and looks in the dining room window.
I was on my way to the door to let the cat in when, suddenly, Bobby disappeared. The next thing I knew, I saw her slinking across the driveway toward my rock flower bed (the one Dad and I built 30 years ago; the one that badly needs to be dug up and the stones reset and the irises and blue flags replanted).
I watched as Bobby Cat crept closer to the flower bed.
"Bobby must have heard something in the flowers," I said to Pixie as I put on my rubber boots.
I opened the door, and Pixie and I went outside. Just as I reached the driveway, Bobby Cat leaped into the flower bed and pounced.
"What is it, Bobby?" I said.
The cat backed out of the flower bed -- with large pocket gopher clutched in her jaws.
A pocket gopher.
In *my* flower bed.
Pocket gophers are destructive little creatures. If you don't live where there are pocket gophers, count yourself lucky. They live underground, dig tunnels underground, and can tear up a hayfield or a lawn in no time flat. When they dig their tunnels, they push the dirt to the surface. The mounds can sometimes be quite large if they have excavated a big tunnel. I've seen mounds one to two feet high and maybe four feet across.
In a hayfield, the mounds can ruin the hay when you bale it because the dirt gets mixed in with the hay. The mounds are hard on the tractor and the other equipment, making the field rough and difficult to drive over.
Pocket gophers also attract badgers. When pocket gophers are digging in a field, the badgers will sometimes come and dig gargantuan holes to get at the pocket gophers.
In a lawn, if you run over a mound with a lawn mower, even a small mound, you suddenly find yourself in the center of a cloud of dirt. Isn't so good for the lawn mower or the lawn mower blade, either.
And Bobby Cat caught a pocket gopher.
In *my* flower bed.
Bobby Cat's mother was a fierce hunter, too. When her kittens were babies, she once caught a grouse and dragged it into the barn for her youngsters. A full-grown grouse. I picked grouse feathers out of the hay for months after that.
I am of the opinion that all animals deserve to live their lives. But there's also the law of Nature that says "survival of fittest." And then, too, there is the law of Nature that says some are predators and some are prey -- and that sometimes the predators become prey and that sometimes the prey become predators.
Randy has been setting gopher traps in the hayfield. If he didn't, we would have a five-acre field of nothing but mounds of dirt. The gophers are hard to catch at this time of year. In the last few weeks, he has set the traps countless times and has caught three gophers.
In the last few weeks, Charlie has caught two pocket gophers.
And now this morning, Bobby Cat caught a pocket gopher.
A little while after that, the tabby cat wanted to come in the house again.
I opened the door for her. She sauntered inside, went to the living room, hopped up in the rocking chair -- and immediately feel asleep, exhausted, apparently, from all of her hard work.
I am surprised the pocket gopher was digging in the flower bed. There are no other mounds nearby, and behind the flower bed, between the bed and the road, is a grove of trees (mostly jack pine). Presumably, the ground beneath the flower bed is full of tree roots. Pocket gophers usually don't like to dig where there are tree roots. They much prefer the long taproots of alfalfa. That's another thing they do -- eat the roots off the alfalfa.
The township used to pay a $2 bounty per pocket gopher. A while back, the state legislature said that the townships no longer had to pay the pocket gopher bounty. I wonder what bounty I could get for Bobby Cat? Five cans of her favorite cat food? I suppose that means I would have to get 8 cans for Charlie, seeing as he caught two gophers. (I *know* he would like the cat food!)
And then there's Randy. I don't think he would care for cat food at all. Maybe a nice pan of brownies would be better a idea. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
Thursday, September 14, 2006, 21:37
Another Lovely Day!
It's another lovely late-summer day here at Rural Route 2. The sun is shining out of a clear blue sky, and it is warm -- temperature up around 80 degrees. And windy -- out of the south.
The wind must be absolutely just full of ragweed pollen. I took a break from reading the Dunn County Circuit Court Calendar on-line to check for cases where the person is charged with a felony and went outside to see if the horses needed more water and to let Kajun into the extra pasture for the afternoon.
As soon as I stepped outside, my eyes began to itch and water and burn, my face and arms itched and my nose started to run. And all of this in spite of my usual doses of three different kinds of antihistamines!
I think it is completely unfair that something you can't even see can make you feel that way.
We could use some rain, too. It's getting dry again. The weather forecast says that it might rain this weekend. I'm going to a craft sale this weekend. Part of an Octoberfest celebration. The craft sale is indoors, though, and maybe rain will be to the advantage of all the vendors. If it is raining enough to make it miserable outside, people may come inside where it is dry. Unless they stay away from the Octoberfest celebration all together because of the rain. Either way, more rain would be a *good* thing.
I noticed today that the five-leaved ivy is turning red. In addition to the hints of red in the hills, the five-leaved ivy turning red is a sure indication that fall is on its way. The five-leaved ivy grows all over around here, but it is the most pretty when it is climbing a fence or some pine trees. When it turns red, it makes a lovely garland decorating the fences and makes the pine trees look like Christmas trees with red garland.
One of these days I'm going to have to check my volunteer tomatoes again to see if there are ripe ones that need picking. I'm such a wimp, though, that right now, I don't want to stand outside in the ragweedy wind to see if I've got tomatoes! I have already made two quarts of salsa from my volunteer romas. I would like to make more salsa if possible ("Hint of Lime" chips, here we come this winter!), and I would like to can some stewed tomatoes, too, if at all possible.
And the next thing, of course, will be the wild grapes. I like to wait until we've gotten a frost, because then some of the leaves will fall off the grapevines and it is easier to find the grapes so I can pick them. I'm planning to make wild grape jelly,and I'd like to can some of it as grape juice, too, so I can have wild grape juice to drink this winter. That will really hit the spot on those cold, snowy days when I think I will never see wild grapes growing ever again.
Oh yes, it's a lovely day here at Rural Route 2. Too bad that the sun sets so early and it starts getting dark at 7:30 p.m. I would like this kind of a day to stretch out much longer than 7:30 p.m.!
LeAnn R. Ralph
