What's Been Troubling the Cats

This fellow. And all of his family and friends, it seems! We have been going through startling amounts of cat food lately, and last week I surprised a rapacious family of raccoons in the barn after dark. They had pried the lid off of the cat food, and were helping themselves. When I was little, I thought it was really cool that raccoons wash their hands before eating, but, as it turns out, that fact is less swell when they are using your cat water bowl as the sink.

So, we turned to our friends Stas' and Jane, who are always a little more prepared, tool-wise, for country life than we are. They are also incredibly warm and generous, and grow wonderful produce on their farm. We borrowed a trap and a gun, and have caught coons each of the last three nights. As you may have guessed, Joe has to do the shooting. Unfortunately, once they have been caught, they drop the menacing act (Miss Priss seems to enjoy marching around the cage in a slightly inappropriate display of pride, given the circumstances!) and put on cute and intelligent faces. Such is the country life.

Winks the Cat has been missing for two weeks. We are hoping that the raccoons intimidated him into leaving, and that he will be back when the coast is clear. That is probably wishful thinking, though. We miss him around the homestead. Such is country life, too.

Christy