Well, I recall once my big tabby was terrified of a new kitten - he was reacting as though I'd brought a rhinoceros into the house - it was very funny to see, actually. Debra - Tristan, when he first came looked very sad, and slept a lot. I guess he had come very far to find us - but, he had never been seen in the neighborhood before - he just appeared on the back porch one night - very odd. Now, he is full of vim and vigor, sometimes a little too much so, especially at 3:00 a.m. - he has a penchant for knocking things off surfaces - naughty boy! Last night it was a ceramic vase, which amazingly didn't shatter. He is like a reincarnation of our departed Smudge, who had been similarly precocious, and we had to secure all manner of items to surfaces, or simply put breakable things away in cupboards. Mr Poole gives him a swipe now and again just let him know who's boss, but other than that, they all get along in my multi-cat household :)

Rickey, Of course it was Fred. Who else his age is out driving around visiting gardeners in the middle of the afternoon? LOL If you see Billy Fred, do see if you can find out what he knows because he may know more details. Nowadays, when I ask Fred "who" he is talking about, he often can't remember names and will say something like 'you know...that guy that lives over yonder' and, of course, I have no clue who he means. Having said that, I hope that when I am Fred's age (and I'm not sure what it is but think right around 90?) I still get around as well as he does. Sometimes I do have to get Billy Fred to tell me who his dad is talking about because, while Fred always seems to have his facts straight, he does have trouble remembering names now and then. I had wondered about those goats....about how he keeps them safe because I've never seen any kind of guardian dog like a Great Pyrenees out there with them. I heard a loud growling this morning from the woods oddly enough (and I was inside the house and it sounded like it was right there in the room with me!) and it about scared me to death. As far away as your house is from ours, it is odd we've both heard that growling sound recently. It isn't like we're so close geographically that we'd hear the same growl at the same time. I've never heard this sound before and I pretty much thought I'd heard everything there is to hear around here. The dogs were going nuts in their dog yard, and I ran downstairs and didn't see a thing, but the cats were on the porch wanting to come inside. After that growling sound, I canceled my plans to work in the yard. James, I feel like much of what you say is true, but we have both good and bad government employees and always will. I know sometimes the local wildlife people seem to say whatever the 'official' story line is but their eyes and body language are telling you something else. Our local law enforcement officers are pretty good about telling us to 'do what you have to do' to stay safe, because they know they can't be everywhere at once. They also come as quickly as they can when called, but with only 1 or 2 or 3 county deputies/reserve deputies on duty at a time, their response time can be frustratingly slow. Game bird, I promise, if you tell me you see three dinosaurs crossing the road, I'll believe you. And. on a funnier note....Chris was 15 when we moved here and had a huge iguana named Alex. He built Alex a nice roomy outdoor pen, but somehow Alex would escape and run around although he always came back to the cage when he was hungry. We alerted our neighbors, and I showed Alex to Bill one day. We were watching Alex from the road and he climbed to the top of the pecan tree, which was then losing its leaves for autumn, so you could see Alex very clearly. At that point he was about 5' long. When Bill saw him, he said he needed to warn his wife and daughters because he feared they'd about run off the road and wreck their vehicles if Alex ever ran out into the road in front of them. Bill was afraid the women in his family would think Alex was an alligator. Carol, I do think a lot of people know exactly how to play the system. Tim and Chris both work at D-FW Airport, which is incorporated just like a city, and has a large Department of Public Safety consisting of police, fire and emergency medical personnel employees. Their department has several hundred employees and most are wonderful, but there are a couple that of virtually worthless. How people like that keep their jobs is just beyond me. Dawn

Awww they are so cute!!! I can't imagine having to kill a baby bunny Susan. You are brave, and strong where needed. Our Humane Society is over-run with cats this summer, and they are running a program where when you buy one kitten/cat, you can buy another one, 1-year and older for $10. When that was on the news, hubby turned to me and said NO. Hmmmph. LOL

I started answering then had to feed the outside feral cats so Julia, Laura , and Nancy had commented and I didn't see it before. Yes, Julia, we did keep all of them since they had an eye problem which repeated vet visits could not seem to cure and we had bottled fed the younger ones and we figured no one wants a kitten with eye problems, and we couldn't bear to have their lives end badly....and so they are all ours and quite rotten.( My husband is at least as bad aobut cats as I m and has a very tender heart for animals.) Nancy, You did indeed see okra and tt has just been "coming in" for a couple of weeks but is really growing wellAand will produce all summer. (I have a row of it right next to the daylilies in the iris row.) When my husband was growing up, he lived on a farm and he repeatedly tells me he cannot believe I am getting so much from so few plants. It is a blessing. Laura, I am getting the nice harvest every day or two it has been a lot of fun, and it really is so tasty to have the veggies right out of the garden. Fuzzy is a little pet, Kate, as you know and he and Gracie the other spotted one, appear to have the same dad. Lucy probably has the prettiest face, and Tuffy, my little striped boy, has my heart. kay