Wildlife and Other Critters

Remember O.C.? Her name has now been officially changed to "Cleo - Queen of the Raccoon Hunters", but she'll still answer to just "Cleo". The appointment has been made. In a couple of weeks she'll be de-clawed. She's going to be an I.C.! Hubby gave the 'command' this morning to make the appointment. Oh, and just in case, she's to be kept kenneled up until then because he doesn't want her to be hurt. I knew he was a marshmellow inside... it just took awhile this time for it to show itself.

Me: I thought we were at our limit
Hubby: But she's such a nice cat
Me: You told me she was going to be the outside cat
Hubby: You don't want her getting hit on the road or killed by a raccoon, do you?
Me: Noooo... but YOU told me this wasn't going to happen!
Hubby:...
Me: Remember, this is your decision. You wanted this. I didn't ask for it. Okay?
Hubby: She's such a nice cat...she flips and flops and waves her paws at me...
Me:... uh huh. She's got your number, doesn't she?

On a related note, a neighbor had his cattle get out a day or so ago and the DNR have been investigating (DNR = Department of Natural Resources). They think they may have been spooked by a cougar! They're finding evidence of one in our area - roaming the creeks and timbers. We live next to a crick in a timber. The winter we were building our house Hubby and I spotted some very large cat tracks and wondered at the time if there could be one in the area, but really had no evidence. Now it appears we may have been right. It makes sense, I mean we have lots of deer and other wildlife for them to feed on. I'll have to watch myself a little more closely when I'm out in the woods... and make sure the puppies don't get too far away.

Also on a related note, we've had twin fawns in our backyard. They are the cutest! They run and play with each other like a couple of puppies. It's so funny to watch... The other morning they were playing around and something caught their attention in the woods, so they bounded off around the corner of the fence and along the cornfield heading for the thicker timber. A few minutes later we saw what had spooked them... "mom". She came out of the timber and went chasing out after them. It was just like a couple of kids... !