At my wits end with beloved cat
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8 years ago
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8 years agoUser
8 years agoRelated Discussions
A tribute to my beloved Shasta and Ispahan
Comments (16)I've had to put down two cats this month, Professor Hyssop, who had multiple illnesses and is now buried beneath Professeur Emile Perrot, and my beloved Marlena, who was 21 years old. Marlena was a "blue" like your Zeus. She has a little garden of two Lili Marlena's, Marie Bugnet (because she had silver toes), a Phyllis Bide that climbs into the smoke tree. Marlena raised countess kittens, skunks, bunnies--and human hearts. She hated it when people got angry and would weave back and forth until they lowered their voices. She guarded my showers, she travelled with me, lived in three countries and visited all but five states. I feel completely orphaned, and so, I think, do my remaining 14 other cats. I think the difference between losing a person (except a child) and a critter, is that with people there is always bagagge: good times and bad, hidden agendas, obligations, expectations, things you both coulda/woulda/shoulda done differently. With critters, there's just love and mutual trust. I've lost both my parents in the last 2 1/2 years and four cats, two of whom, Aidan and Marlena, were the rocks to which I'd tied the kite strings of my life (to paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald). I was very close to my parents, but I grieve more for my kitties. Thank you, Robert, and everyone else for opening your hearts. I raised Pablo from a bottle. Even now, when he is 10 years old, whenever he wants a little snack or a cuddle, he puts his paws around my neck and sucks on my throat until I find him a "special" or kiss his tummy....See MoreI am about to quit growing tomatoes!! I am at my wits end!
Comments (16)Cool, Worth. I like to make peace between our native Lepidoptera and gardeners. I asked a while back if planting cilantro really did work. I think if it does, it will be the best way to build that bridge between us and insects. if hornworms only stayed on their side of the fence, no one would ever have incentive to kill them. they are large, high-profil insects which have big appetites. If you think a hornworm is voracious, try feeding out some Cecropia or Polyphemus cats! Sheesh! Cecropias get nearly 5" and a Poly is only 4' at the longest, but thicker and heavier than a tobacco worm. Well, Carolyn posted how cilantro does not always work. Maybe even mere coincidence. I have NO cilantro and still NO hornworms at all! Last year, I regularly combed my neighbor's tomato plants and found only 6 or 7 larvae--all of which were parasitized by the dreaded tachinid fly. This fly [an introduced species, has not only taken a huge toll on sphingids, but has been responsible for the extinction of a few saturniids and is still taking a huge toll on existing species! My neighbor told me just 30 years ago, hornworms were everywhere. I can believe it. Nature is out of whack and the virtual local extinction of the beautiful Io moth only proves it! I used to find Io's like you find hornworms--30 some years ago. I always reared Io's every summer. Now, I haven't even seen a wild Io in 15 years! Yes, hornworms are quite pretty. Not as ornate as our sat cats, but remarkably designed and strategically camouflaged. Green, the color of most plants, caterpillars and even some birds--is also my favorite color. Another hornworm and non-pest, is the ash sphinx, also found in Austin, and the ofen colorful white-lined sphinx. Unfortunately, disease, not insects, has destroyed much of my crop and if I don't get hornworms soon, I'm just going to abort about half of my plants!...See MoreI am at my Wit's End!
Comments (11)Well I know the voles tunnel but I have actually seen them chewing off plants and stuffing them in a corner but not to the extent I am seeing it right now and I don't think a voles could scale that bolder. I didn't think of a rabbit becaude I have never seen a rabbit use the rough leaves of a helleborus or smelly plants like salvia greggii. It is usually grass or grassy leaves that I have seen them line a nest with and I have never seen them haul this debris to an inside corner under the siding but then again anything is possible. Yesterday I sprinkled flour all over the surface of that bed to see if any footprints showed up and of course NADA! I haven't tried a Hava heart trap yet because whate4ver it is it is trap shy just by the way it avoids any wire enclosures I have out there. Penny...See MoreMy Beloved Mother Passed Away
Comments (4)My hearfelt sympathies and prayers go out to you and your family. I can feel the closeness you have for your mom and she for you through your writing, which is beautiful to say the least. Prayers go out to you in this time...See MoreUser
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