Animals

A few days ago, Cayce started stalking the freezer. Very weird behavior but he’s a little weirdo so I was like, *shrug*, whatever dude. Then Billy started stalking the freezer, too. Then they alternated between stalking the freezer and the pantry. We’ve had our problems with mice in the garage, so it’s not too far fetched to think we might have a mouse in the house, especially with how cold it’s been recently.

On Wednesday when I left for work, Cayce was pawing at the pantry door so I thought I’d placate him and I left the pantry door open.

When Dave got home from work, he found some of the contents of the pantry shelves scattered about on the floor. After a bit of poking around (and having Cayce help) Dave found a mouse in the pantry!! He managed to trap him under a tupperware until I got home.

We put him in the same bucket we’ve used before and he jumped right over the side and freed himself! We had to chase him around most of the first floor before recapturing him and getting him back in the bucket, more securely this time. His athleticism and determination is what earned him his 12 oz. mouse title.

This weekend, we’re tearing apart the pantry and see who else we can find in there. Cayce was pawing at the door again this morning. *Sigh*

Three more overnight. Ally, I’ll have to not set the trap out again until this weekend or we might just get rid of them all before you get here! I can hope, anyway.

I took them to the same place to release them.

It turns out, unless you release the mice quite far away from your domicile, they might find their way back! This according to my boss, who is wise in the way of such things. So I started marking the mice with paint to see if I was just re-catching the same mice. I have recaught one, which tells me that I’m not dropping them off quite far enough away from the house.

This morning there were two mice in the bucket, one which had a paint mark. See it on the bottom mouse?

So I took them with me on the way to work. It was about a 12 mile drive, though probably half that as the crow flies. I released them into the woods. Run, little dudes, run!

I used Will’s great idea for a humane mousetrap after finding a mouse in our garage recently. They love the bird seed so I put an inch of birdseed at the bottom of a straight-sided bucket and left it out for them, buffet style.

It worked!

This little guy was quite active and very close to jumping over the sides, but couldn’t quite make it. I took the bucket up the street and let him go in a natural area away from the houses. I am so happy with this solution!

Look what we found in the garage this weekend!

We knew something had gotten into the birdseed a while back, but never found one of the little guys until this past weekend. Dave found him in a pot of dirt as we were cleaning up the garage.

We released him into the woods on the other side of the street. I had some indecision about this because the mouse was obviously quite young - it never opened its eyes. I hope that it managed to get along without momma or poppa mouse, but it more than likely ended up as a snack for some woodland creature. The cycle of life.

Unfortunately, we know there’s still a momma or poppa mouse in the garage. I saw it scurrying Sunday night. I debated letting the cats into the garage to find and kill the mouse(s). For some reason, that seemed more humane than setting out a trap. Then I decided I didn’t want the cats to catch any funk, what with me being preggo and all.

So, now I’m left with figuring out how to rid the garage of the mouse(s) that still lives there. Any “humane” solutions? I’d gladly release him into the woods on the other side of the street, if I could just get ahold of him.

They also have a herd of Texas longhorn cattle, about 21 head. They are huge and I will never get used to walking in amongst all those enormous horns.

Their donkeys, Fern and Felix, have two babies. They’re cute, but pretty shy unless they think you have food.  

A lovely, lazy weekend at Scott and Monica’s ranch in Wimberley. Thursday night started off with a bang when Monica discovered a snake in the chicken coop, bulging with the two eggs it had just stolen from the hens’ nests. Scott quickly dispatched the snake, a few feet long, with his rifle. It kept moving after it was killed, heightening my sense of how creepy snakes are.

Hanging out at the ranch is always a time for nature exploration. Aside from all the animals they own and actively tend to, there are a host of wild critters easily available to view. Dave spotted this jackrabbit by the way the sunlight made his ears pink.

This orb spider has woven a huge web outside Monica’s office window.

Care for a close-up? Click here OrbSpiderFull.

There are also teeny wild deer and a family of wild turkeys. We spotted one toad (larger than my fist) on Thursday night and another one Friday morning before the dew burned off. There was a spiny lizard sunning himself on the back porch, too. Monica keeps lots of hummingbird feeders out and it’s not unusual to see a half dozen or more hummers circling about. She also has some fabulous birds - we saw cardinals, titmice, and chickadees, along with a number of buzzards.

Wow. The Georgia Aquarium is just amazing. I’m so glad we made time to visit it before I left. If you love the fishies like I do, go!
Here are some of my favorite pictures.

A handsome picture of Dave, taking a rest.
Us in front of the ostrich, zebras and giraffe.
Mom and Dad with giraffes in background.

More fabulous photos!

An ocelot - so beautiful.
An ostrich, and what looks to be an ENORMOUS ant hill in the distance.
Zebras with Giraffes
Say it like the British - “zehb-rah”
Red wolf, on the hunt (not really)