Watching

What I see every morning is this picture:



My favorite is when gus and dagny sit there - side by side. Maybe I will catch that one day but it took me a week to get this one! Gus was 15 weeks last Thursday and was 34.6 lbs! I am crazy about him. He is learning to be a great dog but still has fabulous moments of goofiness reminding me how much of a puppy he still is. While at the vet for his last puppy shot last week, the vet was examining him and all of a sudden - he began feverishly chasing his tail. And then stopped like nothing had happened.

It fills my heart to see him and Dagny together and watch them interact with a language I don't understand. I didn't expect Dagny would actually LIKE him. And she does and it makes me adore her all the more.

NEWman

Newman has not had much blog time. I decided to try and capture Newman with my camera. He was not cooperative in the least. He rolled in dirt and moved out of the frame SO many times. He is superstitious and fears the camera is stealing his soul. Or he is a cat and he doesn't want to do what I want him to do.



I did finally get him in a couple of cat poses thanks to 2 dogs walking by with their person. It was short lived and then he was back to rolling in dirt, walking out of the frame, and otherly manly things.



I am sure one night very soon - tonight - he will make me pay for pulling him off his sleeping spot on the porch to be photographed. I will get a paw in the face around 3am telling me to come watch him eat. And about the time I am back asleep I will get a stare down and meow and another paw push on the cheek to let him out.

AND back to the business of being a cat.

Marshmallow Man

Yesterday afternoon I found Newman in the possum trap on the side of the yard. Originally this trap was the one that had the burned marshmallow in it. On Friday, John added some wet cat food to this trap for the possum hunt. Apparently Newman only learns one trap at a time because in he went. He ate all of the wet cat food during his incarceration and somehow got marshallow all over him. I have been cutting out marshmallow out of his fur since yesterday. Washing him isn't going to happen and I am trying to brush some of it out but he doesn't enjoy that at all. Luckily he has long hair and I am easily able to cut the matted pieces out and this he doesn't mind too much.

Possum 0 Newman 2

1 for Newman

I watched from window today as Newman approached the trap with the wet cat food...the one he did time in yesterday. He put about 8 inches between him and the trap but kept looking and smelling. Trying to work out how he could the food but not loose his freedom. He looked and smelled some more - never entering the 8" free zone. Finally he turned and walked away. 1 for Newman.

Free Loading Guest

I discovered recently I have freeloader in the yard. I hired a professional, John, really good guy- today to give me the news. It's an opossum. I was completely relieved at this news! Seems so much better than the options that creep me out about in town living. There haven't been any horror movies about possums to freak me out or any baby eating possums that I know of. I don't even like saying or writing the name of the animal that won't be named. I don't like raccoons or squirrels either. Opossum suits me fine for an invader. And John will take my possum alive and relocate the guy - that's the way they do things. Another reason he is a good guy.

Today was our first day with the traps. There are 2 - one with burned marshmallows which look yummy- just like you would roast on a fire. The second one is loaded with canned cat food. If you know me - you know about Newman and you are probably a little worried or just curious. Well, nice John talked me through opening the trap and how to reset it. So sit easy, reader. Newman spent the early years of his life living in a parking lot forging and hunting for food so he will taste most things and I wouldn't be surprised to find him eating marshmallows.

I only had to wait 4 hours to find Newman in the trap with the cat food & on his back with his paws in the air and PISSED. I laughed as I sprung him free - only his pride was wounded. He shot out of the trap and ran for freedom. I finally coaxed Newman into the house for some food and a little R&R. Hopefully he has learned his lesson. We'll see. Perhaps we should take bets on the number of times I free Newman. And will he go for the marshmallows?