Cat in the Hat or What!!!

Since Thursday last, I have been camping at Son's home watching TV.  Maybe a bit more than that as the animals need to be fed.  Plants need to be watered.  Except for one day when it poured rain.  That is about the first measurable rain in 50 + days.  Combine the lack of rain with the 68 days of 100+ ℉,  38+ ℃, temperatures, and everything is brown.  Lawns crunch like stepping on cellophane.  There has been a bit of greening in a few areas since the rains but not much.  The forecast gives a break in the heat with temps reaching only the low to mid-nineties this week.  We are not alone in the world with these temps but we do have air conditioning which helps us old folks.

Last evening around 10 PM I could not find DJ.  She was nowhere in the house nor in the yard.  Well, it was dark so hard to see where DJ might be hiding.  I kept calling and whistling.  I returned to the house to see if I could find a flashlight.  Within a minute or so DJ came through the doggie door.  The only description I could use to describe her was sheepish.  She walked in front of the fireplace and opened her mouth.  Out dropped what I thought was a mouse on the floor.  Yikes!  A closer inspection made me think newborn kitten.

Fortunately, it was hardly moving so I ran to get something to carry the critter outside.  A few paper towels should work.  By the time I returned, less than a minute, DJ had the critter back in her mouth.  Really?  She dropped the critter on command.  I grabbed the whatever, carried it outside, and tossed it over the fence.  I felt cruel but knew that if it was a kitten, I would never find the mom in the dark.  Back inside I closed the back door to avoid further encounters with unwanted visitors.  At least it was not another skunk encounter like in March of 2021.

This morning I was still curious about the critter from last night's adventure.  I knew I had let DJ out one more time last night as she was whining at the door.  One more potty time.  I did not let her go alone.  When I called her she came from the direction of the trampoline.  That was the only clue I had about where to look this morning.  However, first I checked for the critter in the area where I had tossed it over the fence.  Nothing in sight.  Okay.  Did a varmint eat the helpless creature?  I am so very sorry.

Continuing the search, I moved over by the trampoline to see if there were more small kittens.  Nothing.  Then I noticed DJ sniffing in a certain area.  The area was dug up and what appeared to be a small tunnel.  Could the critter have been a mole?  That made much more sense.  Now to google for photos of moles.  Absolutely no mole photo nor newborn kitten looked like what I picked up and tossed out of DJ's reach.  Finally, a photo with comparisons of moles, gophers, and voles gave me the answer.

The small creature did not have the vicious claws of the mole nor the pocket gopher.  It was a vole.  Yes, that is what DJ had detected, dug up, and brought into the house.  Life is always interesting when I care for Son's and DIL's animals and plants.  

Last time I overwatered the hydrangeas and killed one.  I did buy a replacement that looks fine.  A second one is still not looking too good after swimming in the water before I realized what was happening.  If my track record of skunk sprays, overwatering, and vole adventures continue, I will probably get fired.  At least my price is right, snacks and maybe a meal out.

At least DJ is a good dog, just a bit adventurous.  Oh, before I forget, The turtle named Norman.  Seems research by G #2 found it to be female, not male.  So Norman is now Norma.  Like I said, always an interesting adventure.

Peach and love!

Janice