Terrorized and Speechless - UPDATED

As I mentioned in my prior post I set up a new feeding station for the boys and Katie. Little did I know the consequences this would bring.

When dad was alive he entertained a lot and had a second bathroom built so guests would not have to come into the house to use the facilities. There is no access to it from the house and was built next to my bedroom. Typically,  There are drapes on both the bathroom and my bedroom that are always closed...why would I want to look into the bathroom?  It is no longer a working bathroom...we use it to store stuff and Paquito has his bed on top of the chest of drawers.

Since I moved the feeding station I open the drapes so I could see when the cats come to eat and what time Paquito goes to bed. Last night I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and it was this medium-size animal that I would later identify as a possum. He set out to eat the boys' food even after I yelled at him. The good thing is that Paquito is a deep sleeper.

I apologize for the poor picture quality but I lightened it up as much as I could.

About an hour later another thing caught my eye and left me terrorized and speechless. It was this HUGE thing the size of a small pig and terribly overweight.  It scared me silly...I grabbed the cellphone and hit the record button to make a video...wish I could post it but I can not as it is profanity-laced and I do not know how to edit videos.

I went into a program that is supposed to over-ride the audio.  For some reason I can still hear myself in the background...if you are sensitive to profanity put your audio on mute...I just wanted you to look at the fat raccoon.

I had to calm myself down because I did not want Paquito to wake up and knowing him he would try to run it off and could be injured. This fat animal turned out to be a raccoon.  I pretended to throw things at it so it would leave and it would...then come right back in...this was not a good night!

If that was not enough excitement for one night...I would get a third visitor this evening...a smaller possum :-(

You can see his snout in the bottom left of the picture

I had no idea how much I was missing by keeping my drapes drawn and frankly I do not want to find out.

After reading up on these two animals I think I might have solved the mystery of what "may have" happened to Rudy and Sonny.  Google says raccoons can eat cats.  Sonny had become very territorial recently so I am not surprised if he tried to run off a raccoon.  Though it pains me to think he suffered :-(

This morning I had to clean the back bathroom with ammonia which is something I read these creatures do not like to smell.  They do not like mothballs either but I have not been able to find my stash...I use them in Terlingua to keep rattlesnakes at bay.

This evening though there was no food in the back bathroom/junk room/storage room/Paquito's bedroom both the smaller possum and the fat raccoon dropped by but did not linger.  I do not know whether to credit the smell of ammonia or the lack of food for their quick exit.

Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

Katie is a smart cookie

There is a big black cat that always comes around and eats the boy's food.  For some reason, they let him which is odd in particular for Paquito. It then dawned on me that perhaps this was their father who back in the day was thin. 

As much as I run him off he keeps on coming back so I decided to feed the boys and Katie and stayed outside until they finished and then took the leftover food back in the house until dinner time.

I, therefore, decided to change their feeding station and feed them in the back bathroom/shed/junk room/Paquito's bedroom.  I have no problem with Paquito and Nico following me there but how was I going to let Katie know?

I went into the house to get a paper bowl so I could leave her some food on top of the old washing machine and when I went to fill it from the bowl I had in the new location...Katie was in there eating!  How did she know?  Since she blends in so well with the landscape she probably saw me feeding the cats there!  Smart girl :)

Yesterday morning I set out to feed them when I think I saw Katie coming out of one of the "cuchas" but since I had it set up at an angle I could not be sure.  I hope she is making use of one of them I need to find another pillow so I can make her one of her own.

Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

Alternatives for cat or dog beds

Like I mentioned on my other blog Terlingua Dreams https://terlinguadreams.blogspot.com/
yesterday I went to Walmart to pick up a couple of items.  As soon as I walked through the door I spotted the perfect cardboard boxes to make a "cucha" for my boys.

They were empty boxes that previously held "On The Border" potato chips.  Grabbed two medium and two large ones would have grabbed more but there was not enough room in my car.

I arrived home when it was already dark so I did not set it out for them until this morning.  I only put them up temporarily since I have to find the old pillows and winter clothing to go in them.

What was my surprise when I came out later to find them making use of them.

The one I was most concerned with having a little cucha was Nico since Paquito will not allow him to share the dog bed I bought for them last Christmas...only HE can use it!

I was delighted that Nico took advantage of it right away and fell into a deep slumber.

During the day the temperatures have been in the low 70's but at night in the 40's a little cool for Nico because Paquito goes into the back bathroom/shed/junk-room and sleeps in his cozy bed.


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Looking for Sonny

I have been looking all over mom's property to see if I see any sign of Sonny dead or alive.  Being orange and white he is more likely to stand out than say Nico or Katie who due to their color can blend more easily into the landscape.

It makes me mad that Pollito has never come back to remove the weeds.  I did not like that Paquito followed me as he only has one eye and I did not want him to hurt it.

This is the area to the north which is easier to walk through than the southern part.

To the south where Walter's old corral is located has too many mesquite trees as well as thorny cacti.

I walked to the fence line but did not see or smell anything there either.

We do not have a County Animal Control Center and the City of Del Rio does not take animals from the county. Today is Veteran's Day in the United States so it is closed hoping to drive into town tomorrow just in case they have him.

It is funny because Sonny came here on his own and not even Blanca was able to get rid of him.  He did not like people or to be touched.  He barely allowed me to pat him in the head but only if he was busy eating and even then he would stop eating if I did so and take off until I left.


Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

I am very sad...Sonny is missing!

I have been so sad I have not even wanted to make a post.  As you know I spent nine days at the Terlingua Chili Cook-off and before I left I made sure there was plenty of food and water for my boys Paquito, Nico, Sonny and my little girl Katie.

I usually make two trips when I go to Terlingua to make sure everything is alright at home and to leave things I do not need and or stock-up on those that I require.  When I came back in the middle of my vacation they had eaten all the food I left them...though they had help from the other stray cats in the neighborhood but they are very resourceful and love to hunt prey.

All the boys and Katie were here but when I came back from my trip Sonny was nowhere to be found. I looked around but could not find him and somehow convinced myself he would be back.  Here it is six days later and he is still missing.

It reminded me of Rudy who also left earlier this year not to be seen again.

Who knew these would be the last pictures I would take of my boy...:-(