Messages from Tom Cat - 2

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Ralph)))))) ~

You brighten our days with your wonderful accounts of life on the prairie. Thank you for sharing it with us. We are all very fond of nature and critters of all kinds. It is wonderful to see photos of them in their natural habitat. That you invite them all in is testament to your commitment to our oneness with them. Few of us have that view of life, so your view brings us back to the importance of saving our planet.

It is nice to know that we are helping you and supporting you, as you support and help us. Ann was all about that here on the forum, and it is a blessing for us to continue her tradition connecting with you.

Of course, we all thank Joan for keeping us connected with you. Joan is the hub, who keeps the wheel turning.

Many blessings to you, Ralph, and please continue to enlighten us about the world out there, far away from where most of us live. Nature is healing, and we all need that now.

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

*Virtual Hugs Are Germ-Free!

[agate]

This is from TomCat on Monday, and so he won't have seen Rose's message yet:

I'll try to get back to Parsi and Virginia before the end of the day. I just had a late lunch of stir fry. Had a CT-scan this morning and some blood work and my big weekly hemoglobin shot. A busy day. Want to send you a shot of deer in the backyard, at about 5 PM, sundown last night. Take care.

As you can see, I had a herd of 8 does. Seeing deer each morning and evening now. There are 3 bucks out there, that usually come in separately.

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[agate]

From Tom Cat on Wednesday:

Let's see I was going to get back to you, Parsi, Virginia, and now Rose.

I got really tired yesterday, so turned in early. This morning I made a 125-mile round trip to a hospital for a 15-minute conference with a pulmonary specialist, to tell me what they found on my CT-SCAN from two days ago. It was fine, and the lungs are clear except for some old scar tissue. I called yesterday to see if a trip was necessary if everything was okay. After two calls the doctor's office said I needed to come in. When I got there this morning I find out they never told the doctor of my call. He tried to get a hold of me, but I had left the house by then. These corporate medical facilities leave a lot to be desired. I'm fine now, but tired. More mentally than physically, though that too.

I came home and crashed on the couch for an hour, before doing anything else. I put big baby Smudge on my lap, and Maggie jumped on the back of the couch too. There were lots of pets and purrs, and it felt good. Maggie likes to break in when I put Smudge on my lap. She knows she's boss cat and wants me to know that, I think.

Cold, teens by day and minus night temps, but clear. Putting together some pipe drop on reflectors for my driveway markers and water line outlets, etc. I'll try to take some pictures when I'm done.

Joan, yes, you're right; there are only 7 deer in the photo. The other one is not in the frame. And I think it's Parsi that asked about the propane. I have a 1000-gallon tank, which will about make it through the winter most of the time. I prepay for around 900 gallons since, allowing for expansion, that is all I can get in it. Prepayment gives you a break in cost. Because I own the tank, I can go to any dealer. Each has different payment systems. This is the third company we've had, because the other two sold out. It's highly competitive with a product that has a very fluctuating price. It's around double natural gas. Before this in the rural areas it was oil or wood or coal. In my workshop garage I burn wood now, but burned coal in the past. The wood burning is cheap, since I have dying oaks falling each year, plus black locusts, some maple, etc. But cutting it with the chain saw and hand splitting it takes time. Also I need to make a new fire every day I work out there, unless I'd go out at night and feed logs to the stove. I lived in a house with a wood stove, and later a coal stove for heating until I was about 12 years old. That seems like another world now.

I'm going to call it a night. Take care.

271756535_699585808114165_4324673852514437736_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=ae9488&_nc_ohc=DoHBWrNvL_QAX_Bowya&tn=lie7b-DH8coMGfgu&_nc_ht=scontent-sea1-1.xx&oh=03_AVKjH_gW5dmZbUCujw-QwFVKMePFkq-zs-mvYuogJlnT9A&oe=620FC331.j

Maggie is sitting on this concrete block, staring at me. Like she might be saying, "What are we going to do next?" Or more likely: "Have you cleaned my litter box this morning?" She definitely is in deep thought.

And from this morning:

I put sunflower seeds on the rail each morning. I'm having over 30 gold finches on the feeders and rail each morning. I put out seed several times a day now, with the cold weather. It was --8° this morning, with a --15° chill factor. With standard gloves this morning, my fingers were hurting from the cold in 10 minutes. Stayed out just long enough to put seed on the rail and fill a couple of feeders. Also threw some corn on the ground. Other than squirrels, I have crows, blue jays, cardinals, mourning doves, lots of juncos, a couple of titmice, and a red-breasted woodpecker. The cats are back asleep, as usual. So, since it's going to be below zero each night and single digits by day, I'm pretty much staying in. It is clear and not much wind, but when you breathe out, you can't see out of your glasses. I tell my Canadian friends they can keep that cold stuff up at Fort Churchill or north Alberta for the polar bears.

And, Virginia, keep up the exercises. I know they can be a pain in the behind, but they do help. It was something I did with Ann each morning. She never was an exercise person but put up with me pushing her on to do some exercises and stretches each day. When my doctors or nurses ask me about exercises, I ask if cutting up trees, chopping wood, carrying buckets of sand and gravel, etc., constitutes exercises. And is walking 8/10 miles round trip in most weather included? Usually I just get a smile from the hospital staff. They have told me climbing trees to remove dead branches and dropping large trees is not considered good idea. No sense of humor.

All of you take care, keep up the masking in public and the booster shots. Take care and virtual hugs to you all.

[Parsi]

LP (liquified petroleum) is the only fuel our house had while growing up. I may have been about 3 when Dad started selling. There was still a tank there when Mom died in 1998. He had lots of people on his routes. Some people did switch to oil when it became more competitive. I remember riding along with him one time when I was quite young. I remember enjoying it, but for some reason he thought I wasn't interested. Never took me again.

It certainly was cold yesterday, Ralph. Frost bite warning was out.

I agree about those corporate facilities. Communication between the sections is atrocious.

[agate]

From Tom Cat (Wednesday):

A cold minus 18° this morning at daybreak. About minus 4° right now. Trying to spend most of the day inside. I had my hands freezing inside heavy gloves, for about ten minutes, while putting put corn and sunflower seeds for all the birds coming into the feeders.

And yesterday:

Heat wave today. Got up to 20°. Put out some corn and sunflower seeds. Flocks of goldfinch on the sunflower seed and mourning dove flocks on the corn. Plus at least 6 other species of birds. And the squirrels are back, after hunkering down through the subzero weather. Had 6 deer in last night next to the house.

Take care.

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[Virginia]

Ralph, your temperatures are really dangerous if you get out. I know you have lived there long enough to know that better than I do, but it concerns me that you go out in it at all. When you get into the minus temperatures it doesn't take long to get into trouble if you venture out. I do hope you are not driving in that weather. If for some reason you do have to go out dress in very warm clothes and put a couple of blankets in your car.

Is your freezer stocked with plenty of food? I think that is a must in your weather. If the power happens to go out you can sit the food outside to save it. My husband and I did that one time when we lived in France. We put it on a window ledge that didn't get sun.

The deer are beautiful. You are so good to feed the wildlife that can't find food the way the deer can. You definitely believe in taking care of the land and the wildlife that inhabit it. I wish we had more people who believed in doing that.

I hope Maggie and Smudge are doing good and keeping you lots of company.

We look forward to your post and knowing you are doing well, and also to the pictures of what is going on around you.

Take care,
Virginia

[agate]

Cat Dancer's birthday today. From Tom Cat:
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Yes, today was a solemn day for me. I went to a grocery store in the morning, for a few things, and a bouquet of flowers. I put them in a vase on the dancing cat marker or over her interred ashes. I think she would have said something like: "Why are you doing this? You known I'm dead." Then smiled at me. Putting out flowers for our gone companions and others is older than we are. It goes back to Neandertals & maybe before. It is a peaceful way to say you meant much to us, & you helped make us who are too. And she made certain that I would have all of you too. Thank you.

[agate]

Maybe now I can catch up on some of the previous messages. I had mentioned to Tom Cat a news story about COVID-19 being found among quite a few white-tailed deer and asked him about it. It's a health concern because apparently it means that COVID is jumping from humans to other animals.

From Tom Cat on Thursday:

Yes, white-tailed deer are what we have. I think you also have mule deer in the west. White-tailed deer are the most common species throughout the US and southern Canada. I haven't heard anything about COVID-19 in deer here.

We've had CWD (chronic wasting disease) in some of our deer populations here in the last 15 years or so. It's related to "mad cow disease", but supposedly not transmitted to people. It was brought in with elk farming here in the past. Most of the elk farms have been shut down because of it. Usually we hear of diseases in wildlife here right away because the hunting license dollar supports much of the state parks. Elk have been reintroduced to the state over the last 20 years. Most of it has been in the very north part of the state. This is by hunter demand. It makes no sense since elk are grazers, and deer are browsers. Elk haven't been native to this state for well over 150 years. Anyway the elk herds have remained small, without enough growth in herd size, to justify a hunt yet. I have to post more on game animals later. All kinds of critters have been tried out by multiple game/natural resource departments in most states because of hunter demand for raising money by the states. More failed than were success stories. Some have become real pests.

Oh! I want to tell you about a Cooper's hawk from an hour ago. It sat for several minutes on the handicapped rail, in front of the kitchen. It was about 8 feet away, with its back turned to me. All the birds in the area disappeared. It took off by the time I got this device to photo it.

This is from Friday:

Thanks for the info on COVID-19 being found in deer populations. The infected deer seem to be spread over a very large geographic area. For now hunting season for deer is over, and less human contact. I'll be watching this closely and seeing if this shows up in any testing of deer carcasses in Wisconsin. Moneys for testing deer in the state have been down in recent years. Keep me informed on any other developments here.

Waking up to a few degrees below zero. Going to grab some breakfast now. Will be taking in my tax papers to a CPA in the late morning.

[agate]

From Tom Cat today:

Well, back at it today. Spent yesterday getting my blood draw and a hemoglobin shot. With everything going fine.

Grabbed myself a stir-fry for a late lunch. Stopped at a WalMart for auto, garden, winter ice melt supplies, and some groceries. Some good bargains on last year's grass seed and fertilizer. Having plowed areas around the house down to the soil, I'll probably need to do some lawn reseeding.

By the way it was 5° this morning, but is expecting to get up to the 30°s by early afternoon. It's been really cold this past week with mornings starting out below zero, but hitting high 30's by afternoon. Most of the snow has gone just north and south of us. We're expecting a day tomorrow into the 40's, but back into the teens by the weekend. Real up and down weather.

I've been doing some time out each day, but not more then 1/2 to 1 hour at a time. By then the hands and to a lesser extent the toes start to hurt with the cold. Running out to put corn and other seed out to the critters each morning takes about 10 minutes, with leggings, down-lined slippers, a goose-down vest, heavy gloves, and a toque. By then the fingers and toes are feeling the cold.

And you can tell Virginia and Rose, yes, I always have my flip cellphone with me; just in case.

The deer, birds, squirrels, etc., were all out this morning by 6:45, 10 minutes after I put some seeds out. I no more than came in the house than they all showed up. Didn't even have time to ring a dinner bell.

Oh heck, it's 9 now. I best get a second cup coffee and some breakfast.

[agate]

Message from Tom Cat today:
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This Easter/Christmas cactus adds some color to the house right now. It tends to bloom up to 4 times each year. One of Ann's favorite house plants.

We had an inch or so of snow last night, at --2°. I call it aggravation snow. You need to remove it so it doesn't accumulate. Otherwise with the freeze-thaws now the drive can get icy underneath. Not good for driving down a 1200-foot drive, which has number of 1 to 2 ft. embankments.

Just finishing my first cup of coffee; getting the ambition up to fire up the work shed stove and get the ATV plow out. Take care.

[Virginia]

Ralph, what a beautiful plant. I can see why Ann enjoyed them. I have a Bromeliad that a neighbor gave me. Linda on this board told me to treat it like a cactus as far as taking care of it. It also has a beautiful bloom.

Your weather has been very cold for quite some time. We get some cold weather, but not for as long as you do and usually not as cold as yours. I remember Ann talking about the cold weather. By this time of year I think she was glad to start thinking about Spring. Next month that will roll around. However, when we wish for different seasons of the year we are kind of wishing out lives away.

I hope you are well and will continue to be. This forum has been really slow so it was mighty good to see your post.

Take care,
Virginia





Thanks Joan

[agate]

I've been slow about getting to this but here is a message from Tom Cat on 2/21:
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This is the cats in a living room chair cuddled up with each other yesterday afternoon. I'm not so sure big baby (18 lbs.) Smudge is being enjoyed by her 12-lb. momma. They do spend much of the day cuddled up together.

It's a somewhat warm 20° morning right now, with moderate 15 to 20 mph winds. It got up to 50° plus yesterday afternoon. The next few days may be windy with slush and a little heavy snow, and icing up at night. A messy weather period.

I'm doing okay, with a little plowing on the ATV. Whenever I go outside in the early morning I do the penguin shuffle walk to make sure I don't fall down. Most of the areas around the house are slanted, so it's best to be cautious. Feeding the critters is my main goal before coffee and a light breakfast. Time for a bit of coffee now. I want to make an early Monday morning run for a few groceries in town. After the weekend, they have half prices on sub sandwiches, etc. Take care. .

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Ralph)))))) ~

Smudge and Maggie certainly have a strong bond. They are beautiful! I'm sure that all of the wildlife appreciate your kindness in feeding them, especially during your extremely cold weather.

Has anyone moved into Marty's house? I apologize if you have mentioned this, and I missed it.

Ann's birthday flowers are lovely. I like to have bouquets for my husband and sons on their birthdays and Angelversaries. It's a tribute in honor of them, but it also provides me with comfort. I have had several Christmas cacti, but they never bloom. Do you feed the plant? Maybe that's where I've gone wrong.

I'm pleased that you carry your phone with you and that you are extra careful on your outings. I think everything you do constitutes exercise! And requires stamina! I am always amazed at the many things you do on the prairie.

Please take good care of yourself, stay safe and know that we are grateful that Ann gave us you.

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[agate]

I'm slowly getting caught up here. This is from Tom Cat on 2/25. I'm just now sending your today's reply over to him, Rose.

[QUOTE]

Had a meal out with my past friend Marty's sister, Kay, last evening. It was at a nice Italian restaurant in town. First time in over a month. She's still cleaning up his house, doing the paper work, etc. She's over 300 miles out in Illinois and working a job there too. I'll miss seeing her once she gets the property and house sold. Nice having a meal out with a friend now and then.

Coffee & breakfast time now. Take care. I'll be in touch. Virtual hugs to all of you.[/QUOTE]

[agate]

This message is from February 26. I'm sorry that an apartment inspection plus the time change and my general slowness have caused some delays here.

The deer are always around. Putting out food just brings them up close. The first few years we were here I'd take food onto the field in back in the morning--corn, clean cut-up vegetable scraps, alfalfa hay, old orchard apples, squash that was being thrown out, etc. They'd be waiting down in the field at about 10 to 20 yards away. As long as I moved slowly they would wait for me to put stuff out. If I didn't try walking toward them, put down the food and walk away, they would come up within 10 feet of me. Once they got used to you they didn't seem to notice you unless you made sudden moves. Then they would take off. And they can cover 50 feet or so in a second when they jump [and?] run. They have very poor eyesight, seeing movement first. But they can smell you or hear you from a hundred yards or more, especially if you're upwind from them. I

If someone else whose smell is new to them comes with you, they can disappear in seconds. And they can move fast, crouched down on tall grass, and you won't know they're there.

Because we're 20 feet above the ground in back, which is a hillside, we can see them moving below us but they won't see us if we don't move around much. So it's kind of cool that way.

When we have the winter dark mornings, you get to see them take off when you turn lights on. But they come back if you're quiet.

It started out around 10° this morning but got up in the 30's by the afternoon. Some of the snow did melt off, but not much where most of the drive has trees growing alongside.

When we came here we had up to 15 deer on the land each day. I let some hunters in because that many [deer] will tear the land up. So I and the immediate neighbors are probably holding around 8 deer year around. We're surrounded by cornfields, which feed most of the deer. They're corn fed, which makes good eating, eh?

Take care.