Magic Portal

August 27, 2023

Howdy folks,

This week was a little bit milder than last week, keeping up the trend of it gradually lessening in heat out here week by week.  We did get some tremendous thunderstorms on multiple days, which doesn't always happen, and did it ever pour!  We're a little scared of the possible crop of mosquitos that we're probably going to be seeing in a few weeks.  And, inevitably, our squadron of 30 cats is now down to 29.  We lost GG, one of our soon-to-be year-olds, to the coyotes this week.  He was always one of the hardest ones to round up at night and lately it became nearly impossible to get him to come in.  And, then, sure enough, we were awoken with the sound of coyotes chortling in a sneaky victory dance on Saturday morning at about 2am.  It was right on the other side of the driveway from us(on the main coyote trail), along the lower edge of the boss's yard up at her new house, and it is a spot that the cats love to congregate in.  So, while we knew this was bound to happen, it still sucks and does make us sad.  But, in the never-ending balance that the universe typically spins out, two more of our cats are pregnant again.  Once we move next-door and all the cats are pushed into more of an outdoor situation, the birthrates will probably plunge.  Not that we like to dwell on it, but Bootsie, the lone outdoor Mama that has been here ever since we've been here, doesn't typically have much luck with kittens.  She's probably had kittens 4-5 times now since we've been here, but, to this day, our total outdoor cat number still is no higher than four.  Most just never make it to adulthood and it can be because of anything from dogs to coyotes to rattlesnakes to God only knows what else!  So, our herd will move next-door into the bigger house and be based out of the huge, fenced-in backyard, but, surely, just as has happened many times before, the coyotes will continue to pick off a few cats here and there and then there are always the other things like accidents and equipment snafus.  So, while you would think that our numbers will quickly skyrocket to 100, it's quite plausible that the land will hold the number to its own level that only it knows about.  The cats kill any number of lizards, grasshoppers, praying mantises, mice, rats and birds...it is only fair, on some kind of a cosmic level, that a few cats are taken by predators in the very same process.  The West would surely never be the same if the coyote wasn't free to roam and to be heard calling every night.  They tend to take rabbits and quail and any number of other smaller animals.  But, when opportunity strikes, cats, chihuahuas and chickens are eagerly grabbed, too!

And, speaking of quail, that is something that we are going to start raising once we move next-door.  My family raised just about every kind of poultry while I was growing up, as well as sheep, cats and dogs, but we always concentrated on game birds.  This was mainly quail, and in our case, Bobwhite Quail, but also at times included chukars, pheasants and just about anything else that you could think about relating to bird dogs.  Interestingly enough, out here in New Mexico, the native ranges of four different kinds of quail intersect!  They are the Bobwhite Quail, the Scaled Quail, the Gambel's Quail and the Montezuma Quail.  Many, if not most, of these types of birds are in severe decline.  The loss of habitat, coupled with the loss of interest in hunting(which, counterintuitively, tends to increase population numbers) has led to a dangerous decline in the numbers of these birds around the country.  On top of that, a lone female can produce over 300 eggs per year, if not actually maintaining the rate of one egg per day!  And, since the birds only ever live for 1-2 years, you cycle through them quickly without becoming attached to them and can also then readily use them for meat.  Males are not needed in great numbers, and, upon reaching the proper size, can be very humanely dispatched with a pair of kitchen shears quickly and quietly applied to the throat.  And, now that our little herd of Vizslas, bird dogs extraordinaire, has slowly declined from four to three to two, we are looking for an opportunity to get some more of them again and perhaps even begin to start breeding them.  Coupled with the quail, they can easily be trained for hunting, even going as far as getting the little, studded leather harnesses so that you can train the dogs to retrieve them gently, without damaging the bird.  Erin is also interested in some Japanese varieties, so, I'd say that by Christmas we have more than one breed established and laying eggs...with maybe one ready for Christmas dinner!

So, once again, I have a nice batch of pictures to share with everybody.  First up, an artistic rendition of some looming storm clouds as seen in a big puddle.  Then, a shot of some of the new batch of kittens stretching out and living large.  Next, a surprise on the front stoop one night when I let the dogs out before bed...a big tarantula roaming around three steps from the door.  Then, a shot through the fence at Erin's garden.  Next, a backlit shot of a smallish tree off of the porch of the house that we'll be moving into, with the sun setting behind it.  Then, a look back to the East on the same night, showing a colorful sky, just deepening in color.  Next, four rain shots: the first two with rain falling, literally, out of a clear, blue sky; then, two more shots of the deepening clouds as seen in a big puddle left from the thunderstorms.  Then, a reflective shot of Starvation Peak as seen over the top of the horses' water trough.  And, lastly, but not least, five different shots of a beautiful morning sky, with more clouds than usual, reflecting in the water trough...like the portal to some magical kingdom that can only be accessed from out here on the ranch!

That's it for now.  See you later.