21 October 2012
When Animals Misbehave
21/10/12 11:55
Marsha and I are in near continuous communication during the day, even when I’m at work. We send Instant Messages back and fourth about things that happen, or what to have for dinner, or if she needs me to stop on the way home and grab something. It works very well. This week though, she sent a note that really caught me off guard:
“I do not know how he did it,
but Geiger caught a bird
and now wants to come in
the house with it.”
This was really quite a shock. You see, we got Geiger when he was quite young and he’s been a house cat his whole life, so he wasn’t taught to hunt. He’s rather clumsy and obvious in his stalking. Sure he’s ferocious around bugs but larger creatures, you know something with more than a few brain cells are more than a match for him. I’ve seen him lose a battle of wits with a largish spider. We figured a bird was out of the question. Add to this that he was on the deck where few birds ever land and there is little cover and you’ll understand why we never even thought this was a possibility. Geiger catching a bird was just not going to happen. I just have to chalk it up to the most unobservant and addle brained finch in existence choosing that moment to land on the deck to try to make friends with Geiger despite what I expect was a couple of unsuccessful attacks. Darwin 1, Bird 0.
I asked Marsha for more details and then finally fired up FaceTime. FaceTime is Apple’s version of Skype. Soon we were talking directly to each other. She carried me, or at least my avatar on the iPad, out to the deck. There we found Geiger, underneath the daybed, surrounded by feathers, crunching away on a small, limp, black thing. Shortly after this discovery Marsha retreated, shuddering, into the house and I promised to clean up the remains when I got home.
Later that day I received several more messages from Marsha. Geiger was cleaned up and Marsha had let him back in the house. Geiger was however, strutting around like the Big Man On Campus. He was literally swaggering around Momiji as if to say “Look at me. I’M the big hunter in this household. Show me some respect.” Momiji was of course having none of it. Her attitude was along the lines of “Hey, one finch is nothing to brag about. Which one of us raised a litter of kittens while living feral? Sit down big boy before you embarrass yourself any more.” There was a bit of tension between them for a while but by the next day things had settled back to normal. Normal in that Geiger believes he is top dog, er, cat, and Momiji lets him think that, unless he bothers her whereupon she swats him, pins him to the ground and shows Geiger who’s really in charge. It’s a lot like Marsha and I.
By the way, when I got home I found five black, inch long wing feathers on the deck. I think Geiger devoured everything else. I would think the feathers would be a little dry but he didn’t seem to mind.
But this has been a week of strange animal news. There was the rancher near 100 Mile House that’s had trouble with an elk. The elk, I guess because it couldn’t compete with the other elk for mates or maybe he was just really nearsighted, took charge of a herd of cows. At first the rancher was just amused but now it’s been going on for a couple of years. There were starting to be tourist traffic jams on the highway near his field, and he was getting afraid that his cattle could be harmed by the elk’s more, um, enthusiastic attentions. This week provincial conservation officers removed the elk, transporting it a long way from the ranch and his put upon cows. The rancher though is not convinced that it won’t return. However misguided and ill advised it may be, love will win out in the end. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2012/10/18/20292496.html?cid=ETF
This weekend my sister Jean and her husband Ron are up for a visit. We’ve been relaxing, eating, talking, eating, wandering the yard, and going out to eat. She’s a Master Gardener and has been giving us advice on what plants we have and what to do with the yard, something we very much appreciate. Check out her web site at http://jean.aalseth.net Its been a fun weekend despite fall having landed on us with both feet. Wind, rain, cold (near freezing at night), it’s been just dark and nasty. But it’s been warm and happy in our house, and Barbara’s house, and Mike’s house. All in all a good week.
Even if Geiger did decide to vary his diet and ruminants are living together in sin.
Doug & Marsha
PIX Jean and Ron took these for us at the ocean. Don't let them fool you. This was Saturday morning, the only three hour stretch we had when it was nice outside. The first picture could be the motto for living out here.
“I do not know how he did it,
but Geiger caught a bird
and now wants to come in
the house with it.”
This was really quite a shock. You see, we got Geiger when he was quite young and he’s been a house cat his whole life, so he wasn’t taught to hunt. He’s rather clumsy and obvious in his stalking. Sure he’s ferocious around bugs but larger creatures, you know something with more than a few brain cells are more than a match for him. I’ve seen him lose a battle of wits with a largish spider. We figured a bird was out of the question. Add to this that he was on the deck where few birds ever land and there is little cover and you’ll understand why we never even thought this was a possibility. Geiger catching a bird was just not going to happen. I just have to chalk it up to the most unobservant and addle brained finch in existence choosing that moment to land on the deck to try to make friends with Geiger despite what I expect was a couple of unsuccessful attacks. Darwin 1, Bird 0.
I asked Marsha for more details and then finally fired up FaceTime. FaceTime is Apple’s version of Skype. Soon we were talking directly to each other. She carried me, or at least my avatar on the iPad, out to the deck. There we found Geiger, underneath the daybed, surrounded by feathers, crunching away on a small, limp, black thing. Shortly after this discovery Marsha retreated, shuddering, into the house and I promised to clean up the remains when I got home.
Later that day I received several more messages from Marsha. Geiger was cleaned up and Marsha had let him back in the house. Geiger was however, strutting around like the Big Man On Campus. He was literally swaggering around Momiji as if to say “Look at me. I’M the big hunter in this household. Show me some respect.” Momiji was of course having none of it. Her attitude was along the lines of “Hey, one finch is nothing to brag about. Which one of us raised a litter of kittens while living feral? Sit down big boy before you embarrass yourself any more.” There was a bit of tension between them for a while but by the next day things had settled back to normal. Normal in that Geiger believes he is top dog, er, cat, and Momiji lets him think that, unless he bothers her whereupon she swats him, pins him to the ground and shows Geiger who’s really in charge. It’s a lot like Marsha and I.
By the way, when I got home I found five black, inch long wing feathers on the deck. I think Geiger devoured everything else. I would think the feathers would be a little dry but he didn’t seem to mind.
But this has been a week of strange animal news. There was the rancher near 100 Mile House that’s had trouble with an elk. The elk, I guess because it couldn’t compete with the other elk for mates or maybe he was just really nearsighted, took charge of a herd of cows. At first the rancher was just amused but now it’s been going on for a couple of years. There were starting to be tourist traffic jams on the highway near his field, and he was getting afraid that his cattle could be harmed by the elk’s more, um, enthusiastic attentions. This week provincial conservation officers removed the elk, transporting it a long way from the ranch and his put upon cows. The rancher though is not convinced that it won’t return. However misguided and ill advised it may be, love will win out in the end. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2012/10/18/20292496.html?cid=ETF
This weekend my sister Jean and her husband Ron are up for a visit. We’ve been relaxing, eating, talking, eating, wandering the yard, and going out to eat. She’s a Master Gardener and has been giving us advice on what plants we have and what to do with the yard, something we very much appreciate. Check out her web site at http://jean.aalseth.net Its been a fun weekend despite fall having landed on us with both feet. Wind, rain, cold (near freezing at night), it’s been just dark and nasty. But it’s been warm and happy in our house, and Barbara’s house, and Mike’s house. All in all a good week.
Even if Geiger did decide to vary his diet and ruminants are living together in sin.
Doug & Marsha
PIX Jean and Ron took these for us at the ocean. Don't let them fool you. This was Saturday morning, the only three hour stretch we had when it was nice outside. The first picture could be the motto for living out here.