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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] hungry voles and tasty trees

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  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] hungry voles and tasty trees
  • Date: Fri, 06 May 2005 09:19:53 -0500

Back 5 years or so ago, while my wife was still working as a practicing veterinarian, some low-life dumped a queen and box of kittens on the clinic doorstep. Voila! We ended up with three more cats - two whites and a gray tabby. She and the kids had every intention of making them housecats, but (thankfully, for me) one or more of them refused to use the litter box - preferring instead to urinate on my eldest daughter's bed or any piece of clothing the kids left lying on the floor - so, out they went - spayed and declawed on the front.
All are fat as hogs, but hunt continuously. Unfortunately, I rarely see them in the orchard - they prefer to eat bluebirds/songbirds in the yard or catch frogs from around the farmpond, which is located about 100 ft from the house.
Every morning from May to October, it's not unusual to step out the front door and find a couple of Leopard frogs lying on the welcome mat, sans rear legs, looking up with a 'Help Me!' look, kinda like Vincent Price in the original "The Fly". I usually pick 'em up, walk over to the pond, and pitch 'em in to the catfish. I don't have any frog-size wheelchairs.

When it comes to catching and dispatching voles, my son's mixed breed dog - she's the 'default' dog, kinda like those you see prowling the streets of Delhi or around garbage dumps in any third-world country in the National Geographic specials - is tops, around our place. She's constantly digging for them in the orchard & nut grove. I praise her for each catch, but there are some pretty bad holes out there anymore - I have to watch my step or I'll break an ankle.

Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY




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