I woke around sunrise to the sound of an unfamiliar bird call. I looked out the bedroom window to see a family of Gambel's quail perched along the rail fence like barnyard fowl, the babies much like baby chicks, the mother with the one coquetish plume curled out from the top of her head and bobbing before her eyes. The chicks seem very young for this late in the year. Maybe this is her 2nd brood.
<img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Callipepla_gambelii_-Tuscon,_Arizona,_USA_-adults_and_chicks-8.jpg"/>
The other day, I startled a grouse in the yard off the stoop. Also, elk, mule deer, cougars, and coyotes can be found here. Even after a few months, their calls still seem strange to me. Their unfamiliarity makes one more aware of these creatures.
The coyotes' are the strangest. There is one coyote who whose weird howls can be heard every few nights. It sounds like the screams of a woman being tortured. The screams alternate with what sounds like insane laughter. And it is often close. Maybe as close as the barn. I've gone out there with my night-vision goggles to try to spot it but have had no luck.
The small yard area surrounding the cabin is like a golf course. It is full of ground squirrel/gopher holes. Not that there is any grass growing in it, but still the holes are annoying.
Later this afternoon, I looked up from a novel I have been reading and watched an insect drowning in a jar of drinking water I had set on the ground in the shadow of the house beside my bench. Its 6 legs thrashed around futilely.
After a few moments, my gf came outside and was very upset. She had heard an animal squeaking in distress. I had been so absorbed in watching the drowning insect that I hadn’t noticed. Just then her feline Eloise, a brown tabby with a white chin, bib, and socks, appeared from behind a brush pile with something dangling from her mouth. As she approached, I could see that it was one of those ground squirrels that has been digging up the yard. It was already dead when she dropped it at our feet. She looked up at us and purred happily. I have rarely seen her look so pleased. Sunshine sparkled off the bright trickle of blood on her white chin.
I've been thinking a lot about sustainable living lately. Along those lines, an idea popped into my head at that instant. In the spirit of living off the land and not being wasteful, what if I were to feed the squirrel to Eloise cat? Until now, my girlfriend has had me take away the tiny bodies of Eloise’s kills and had me bury them. Eloise has been very active this summer, and now there is a small graveyard full of the small graves on the other side of the brush pile. That’s a lot of meat going to waste. And it was her kill, and it only seems fair that she be allowed to enjoy it. This would also help replace the store cat-food we feed her. We would have to cook it first to kill any parasites or diseases. I glanced at my girlfriend who was still staring horrified at the poor dead creature. She is a vegetarian, but sometimes she will eat fish. I debated this inside my head for a moment.
I shared my thoughts: “In the spirit of living off the land and not being wasteful…..”
My gf looked even more distressed and went back inside. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. I won't bother trying to get her to let me use her frying pan. I will use the aluminum pan from my mess kit that I took backpacking. After she went inside I went around the corner of the house where she couldn’t see me and got to work.
As I skinned it with my hunting knife, it stank with a ratty musk. That was a strong smell for such a tiny carcass. I would have to be nearly starving before I would eat sometihng that nasty. But cats might not care. By the time I was halfway through, it had drawn a swarm of flies, yellow jackets, and hornets. I eventually removed the skin still intact. I scraped the skin, put salt on it to preserve it, stretched it out and tacked it to a fence post to dry. Maybe I will be able to tan it and sew it into a little fur collar for Eloise to wear. Eloise cat would look handsome in it. Or I will make it into a small cat toy and stuff it with catnip. She loves catnip.
Then I filleted the carcass producing 4 tiny ground squirrel fillets. I put them in a RubberMaid container and put that in the propane-powered refrigerator (Carnot cycle) while I decide what to do with the meat.
<img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Callipepla_gambelii_-Tuscon,_Arizona,_USA_-adults_and_chicks-8.jpg"/>
The other day, I startled a grouse in the yard off the stoop. Also, elk, mule deer, cougars, and coyotes can be found here. Even after a few months, their calls still seem strange to me. Their unfamiliarity makes one more aware of these creatures.
The coyotes' are the strangest. There is one coyote who whose weird howls can be heard every few nights. It sounds like the screams of a woman being tortured. The screams alternate with what sounds like insane laughter. And it is often close. Maybe as close as the barn. I've gone out there with my night-vision goggles to try to spot it but have had no luck.
The small yard area surrounding the cabin is like a golf course. It is full of ground squirrel/gopher holes. Not that there is any grass growing in it, but still the holes are annoying.
Later this afternoon, I looked up from a novel I have been reading and watched an insect drowning in a jar of drinking water I had set on the ground in the shadow of the house beside my bench. Its 6 legs thrashed around futilely.
After a few moments, my gf came outside and was very upset. She had heard an animal squeaking in distress. I had been so absorbed in watching the drowning insect that I hadn’t noticed. Just then her feline Eloise, a brown tabby with a white chin, bib, and socks, appeared from behind a brush pile with something dangling from her mouth. As she approached, I could see that it was one of those ground squirrels that has been digging up the yard. It was already dead when she dropped it at our feet. She looked up at us and purred happily. I have rarely seen her look so pleased. Sunshine sparkled off the bright trickle of blood on her white chin.
I've been thinking a lot about sustainable living lately. Along those lines, an idea popped into my head at that instant. In the spirit of living off the land and not being wasteful, what if I were to feed the squirrel to Eloise cat? Until now, my girlfriend has had me take away the tiny bodies of Eloise’s kills and had me bury them. Eloise has been very active this summer, and now there is a small graveyard full of the small graves on the other side of the brush pile. That’s a lot of meat going to waste. And it was her kill, and it only seems fair that she be allowed to enjoy it. This would also help replace the store cat-food we feed her. We would have to cook it first to kill any parasites or diseases. I glanced at my girlfriend who was still staring horrified at the poor dead creature. She is a vegetarian, but sometimes she will eat fish. I debated this inside my head for a moment.
I shared my thoughts: “In the spirit of living off the land and not being wasteful…..”
My gf looked even more distressed and went back inside. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. I won't bother trying to get her to let me use her frying pan. I will use the aluminum pan from my mess kit that I took backpacking. After she went inside I went around the corner of the house where she couldn’t see me and got to work.
As I skinned it with my hunting knife, it stank with a ratty musk. That was a strong smell for such a tiny carcass. I would have to be nearly starving before I would eat sometihng that nasty. But cats might not care. By the time I was halfway through, it had drawn a swarm of flies, yellow jackets, and hornets. I eventually removed the skin still intact. I scraped the skin, put salt on it to preserve it, stretched it out and tacked it to a fence post to dry. Maybe I will be able to tan it and sew it into a little fur collar for Eloise to wear. Eloise cat would look handsome in it. Or I will make it into a small cat toy and stuff it with catnip. She loves catnip.
Then I filleted the carcass producing 4 tiny ground squirrel fillets. I put them in a RubberMaid container and put that in the propane-powered refrigerator (Carnot cycle) while I decide what to do with the meat.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
