The Tale of Tika

We have a particularly wild Siamese queen...very dark seal point...who traditionally has a couple of kittens, and brings them out at about 6 weeks of age. If you can capture them at that age, you're permitted to tame them. If you miss the opportunity, she'll take them back into the wild by 8 weeks and your window of opportunity is closed. It's taken a few years for us to figure out what her logic is...particularly when she "hides" the kitten(s), and when there's more than 1, will growl at you if you happen to catch her with them, then move them to a nearby location to make it a little difficult for you.

On Monday evening we discovered a small ball of Siamese kitten fur, and sure enough...there she was...The Queen of Siam...looking decidedly underweight. After a good look around, we were sure there was only one...at least only 1 out and about, but I couldn't get my hands on it. Oh well...it's early in the "game." We made sure Q of S got a good share of dinner. A storm broke with a great deal of fury during the night. I imagined that Q of S and the kitten would probably seek refuge in the shop. I didn't see any sign of them the following morning.

Tuesday, when I went back to work after lunch, I saw Q of S again...but no sign of her kitten. It had rained and stormed up until the past half hour, so everything was really wet, including Q of S. As I backed the car out, I could see a tiny white form in the tall grass way behind me...sure enough. The kitten's eyes were matted closed, and it was drenched and cold. It was wandering in the grass searching for its mama. I scooped it up and cuddled it in my warm hands. A quick rush into the house and a warm towel, and the kitten was hissing a bit but not too much. A little warm food and water, and it wasn't fussing much either. We had a bit more fussing once her little eyes were cleaned, but that passed quickly.

Today is Tika's 5th day in the house and she's starting to act like she owns her corner of the sofa. She likes to climb up onto the books to sleep, she appreciates having food and water nearby and if her mini litter box is handy, she'll use it. She doesn't have a lot of holding power yet, because she's still very much a baby, but she's doing fabulously with a little accommodation!! She spent the first 3 nights in the bathtub...safe, contained, and washable. Last night was her first night free on the sofa...and she passed with flying colors! I may get this animal thing yet!!

We've got Worms!

Red Wigglers to be more precise...a more desirable worm to have on the property, not internally! We picked them up yesterday and moved them into their new habitat, a Vermihut Worm Bin. The Worm Hut has a small footprint, 16" x 16" and fits nicely on the open air laundry porch off the kitchen. My plan is that the worms will take care of most day to day kitchen veggie scraps and in return give us worm castings for our garden. I don't know that I'd call them "pets" but...they're another addition to Rosewood Acres! More on this project as it progresses! So far, this project has the least physical labor involved and only a moderate price tag. We're in about $100 worth so far. I hunted until I found a reasonably priced worm hut...this one was $75 including shipping, and my worms were $25 at the ranch. Time invested...Let's see...assembly took maybe 15 minutes, would have taken less if I'd looked at the materials! It took maybe 5 minutes to assemble paper and bedding materials, half an hour to drive out to the ranch and back, and 10 seconds to pour out the worms. Gotta love something so physically taxing!

Welcome to Country Tails...

Welcome to Country Tails where you'll find all sorts of tales about our numerous tailed critters! We do have a few little friends here, and we're always adding a few, adopting, rescuing, fostering...and just plain getting suckered in!

Who all lives here at Rosewood Acres? There's Mom and Dad...that's us human folks...Then, there are the canines...Braveheart- senior doggy; Qannik (pronounced Kah-nick)- a rescued Samoyed cross; and Jasmine, a Shetland Sheepdog cross we adopted from the Mendo Humane Society. The kitties...sadly, here in the country we have a batch of feral kitties. I don't know anymore how many have been dumped here, but we feed them and tend to them when they let us, and try to tame them when we can. There are some we refer to with some element of affection...Mama Kitty...the Grande Dame...won't really let us hold and pet her, but will allow occasional petting as long as her feet are on the ground; Miss Kitty- a youngster who desperately wants to be a house kitty, but doesn't stick around very long; and then an assortment of boy kitties who love to play around our feet when we're out doing things. They don't really have names... Then there's the outer circle group. The ones who always watch what we're doing, come in to see what's going on, stay close enough to watch every move, ignore us, but Heaven help you if you touch one! Oh...and don't forget Tree Kitty! LOL! He got his name from spending a week...yes, a whole WEEK in a tree in the dog compound. We tried and tried to get him down...but it took a week for him to trust us enough.


Now for the slightly different pets... We also have a pair of chinchillas...Tawny and Prissy. They're a couple of little mischief makers! LOL! They have a 4 story cage in the bathroom where it's the coolest year-round (and easiest to clean pumice dust). We also have chickens...Crooked Beak and LadyBird...a pair of Silver Cuckoo Marans. They lay lovely chocolate brown eggs. We've gone through a lot of poultry, and are working to defeat Rocky Raccoon and company before we try too much again. It's pretty heart breaking to keep losing your flock. We aren't quite finished yet...there are still 2 more pets in the house.... Legoless and Takala...my corn snakes. Legoless is a standard "normal" colored male, and Takala is an "Okeetee" female...and she's gorgeous! This from a woman who was absolutely terrified of snakes 10 years ago. Go figure! LOL!

Of course there's a wish list... I want another horse. I can't help it, I do. I'm trying to be sensible about it...Fencing needs to be attended to first... I say "another" horse. I had one when we lived in the mountains. I had to sell him when I moved down here. That whole thing about broke my heart, and I've never really gotten over that part of it. So...I want another one. Sensible to me is...I either need a "for dummies" horse, or a miniature, or a rescue that just needs a place to live out their days with love and companionship. We'll see. I have a yen to raise some of our own meat too. I have to go about that very carefully... I get attached really easily, so I either need to select an animal I'm NOT going to adore...say a hog or steer...be very wary of lambs though! And I'm enchanted with the concept of having a milk cow...preferably one of the smaller breeds, with a calf to start with. If we can possibly figure out how to get the wild creatures to leave us alone, we'll add ducks back in. I've been advised to get a pair of geese. It could be an adequate solution! In the meanwhile, we're still trying to trap them and relocate them to another riparian area. We've moved 2 already.

And that...is Rosewood Acres Critter Scoop for now. Today I'm off to acquire a pound of red wigglers...they're pretty much all tail, and not much by way of being pets...or livestock...well...? Hmmm... I'll have to think about that. LOL! They sure aren't going to have names! However, their worm-condo is ready to occupy, so this is the day! Watch for posts though...this could be rich!