Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Murders 06/18/14

Hi pals, Puff Darby here,

Murders 1-4
Momma has been telling daddy that something needs to be done about the mice that have been invading our house.  Yes, we have had four mice inside and luckily Simba Blue has been on the job and has captured and killed the invaders.  Well truth be know, daddy actually had to capture and kill one of the mice that Simba so nicely turned loose on daddy's bed while he was sleeping.  I think Simba was offering daddy a mid-night snack, but you know humans, they don't always appreciate some of our gifts.  This mouse wasn't dead or injured so it went running across daddy's bed and of course Simba took off after it.  Daddy had been awaken by the cuffing type noise that Simba had been making so he got to see the mouse and Simba "go at it".  Anyhow, daddy ended up capturing the mouse but by the time he got to it, Simba had managed to fling it against the wall so the mouse was almost dead.  Daddy had to finish killing it and put it outside.

Momma told daddy that she was doing to stop putting bird seeds out for the birds as it draws squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and mice.  Daddy poo-pooed this saying he hasn't seen any mice but momma pointed out that WE HAD FOUR MICE IN THE HOUSE, how can you say you haven't seen any mice?  Momma added that if there are mice, snakes are sure to follow and she did not want to find any snakes close to the house.  Again daddy poo-pooed this stating that he has been here over two years and has yet to find a snake on our property. 

                                            Here is a male, black-headed Grosbeak- isn't he pretty?

This is a Hairy Woodpecker (that really what it is called) 


Here is a Western Scrub-Jay
 
I don't know what this little guy is but notice all the spilled bird seeds on the ground...
 
Murder #5
The place momma feeds the birds at is not more than 20 feet from our bedroom window and the fence to the courtyard.  The courtyard is supposed to be a safe place for me to go and do my business, but that was shattered today when daddy came up to momma and me while we were having a nice relaxing swing on the patio swing and showed momma a Western RATTLESNAKE he had just found and killed.  Momma of course panicked and gathered me up and took me back inside the house.  Upon further questioning of daddy we learned the snake had been found in the courtyard, right outside our French doors - YIKES!!!!!  Now momma is afraid to let me go outside, even in the courtyard.  Daddy says he will fix the areas under the fence so critters can't go under it.  He also pointed out that he has lived here for over two years and this is the first snake that he has encountered on our property.  All I can say is it was one snake too many.
 
Murder #6
As momma typed this, a hawk flew down and grabbed a dove out of the tree.  The gray squirrel that was freeloading on the last of the bird seeds scurried up the tree trunk but the dove didn't escape.  Feathers came raining down, so many that I'm willing to bet that the hawk had dove for dinner. 
 
 




21 comments:

  1. Wowee!
    A rattler, Yikes:((
    Silly me would try to snag it...I do try to catch the garden snakes here, even the large ones...but growlmy rescues them and puts them on the other side of our fence...something about needing them to catch the varmints.
    Shucks, don't I do a good enough job of that?? We sometimes have mice in our den... our kitties love that, the peeps not so much...

    Beautiful bird pics, you have some birds there that we do not...but we do have hairy woodpeckers. Don't want to mess with that beak!

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    1. Yup, if was a Western Rattlesnake - light whitish beige and it blended in perfectly with the dirt. It was right outside our French doors that lead to MY courtyard. Momma is panicked now and afraid to open the door to let me go outside to do my business. Daddy said the next time the humans go to Gallup he would buy some wire mesh to add to the bottom of the wooden fence but since momma is scared, she went outside tonight and shoveled dirt along all of the openings to temporary keep rodents and hopefully snakes out.

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  2. All dose burds look tasty - bet the mousies were fun for Simba Blue to catch.

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    1. Simba was doing a lot of sleeping during the day but when night came, he was sitting in the laundry room waiting to catch a mouse. He was having a blast "playing" with them until they died. Somehow I don't think the poor mice were enjoying the game as much as Simba did.

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  3. If ya need me to come over, I could help wif da mousie infestashun. I's killed me a mousie and rats before (dey wuz outside though).

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    1. Whitley, you are always welcome here...Haven't had a mouse in a couple of days because daddy sealed all of the openings with some of that foam spray stuff to try to keep them out of the house.

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  4. We could deal with the Mice and the chipmunks and the Hawk and even the SQUIRREL.... butt WE draw the line at the rattling Snake!!!

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    1. Not happy about the snake either...but we do live in a rural, forest setting and they are part of the community, like it or not.

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  5. Yikes! A Rattler!
    Be on high alert! Always! Yu know they like to find warm spots to snooze. But be careful around rocks they might be unner.
    Yikes!
    Please be careful!

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    1. I hope I never encounter a snake - we live too far from the vet to be able to get care should I get bit. I didn't even get to go swing on the porch swing with momma today because she didn't want a snake to sneak up on us. This whole snake finding has put us on high alert.

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  6. Wow Puffy, your house sounds like a crazy episode of National Geographic!

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    1. Yup, you're right Fizzy. Do you think I can make some money selling my story to them?

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  7. Wow, rattlesnakes are scary! Stay safe, Puffy! Now mom is worried about you.

    Love all the bird pictures!

    You don't always see mice in order to have mice. They are everywhere in the country. Mom doesn't often see mice until they are found in a trap she keeps set.

    Please be careful with that rattler so close to you.

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    1. The mice were bad because they carry disease, however, the snakes are worse. We felt safe all this time because we hadn't seen any on our property although the neighbor across the street did tell us she had found one snake on her property. We kind of thought we had escaped them but apparently we have not. I hope daddy can come up with a solution to keep them out of MY courtyard.

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  8. Your hood is a regular crime scene.

    Aroo to you,
    Sully

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  9. You should have seen when the one bird took out the other bird. I don't know if it was a hawk or the owl that daddy has been hearing but something came swooping down and grabbed one of the birds right out of the tree. Feathers came raining down but when momma jumped up to see what had happened, the killer bird had already flown off with it's dinner.

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  10. I can help you with the mice but I don't do snakes according to Mommy.

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  11. Thank you Jelly, but I think Simba is having fun "playing" with the mice. As for the rattlesnakes, I don't know what can be done because we do live in a rural area and they were here first.

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  12. Hmm.... rats and mice I kills, but snakes is sumthin' else! Here's some tips we found...
    http://www.wikihow.com/Rattlesnake-Proof-a-Backyard

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  13. Snakes??? OMD! Wun fur yur lives!!!!!! *scamperscamperscamperscamperscamperscamperscamperscamperscamper*

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  14. Be bery careful Puffy. Tells yur momma dat der is a wattlesnake vaccine yu can ged. Momma's fwends go hiking a wot an dey take der dog. So dey gotted her vaccinated.

    Wove Luna

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