[CH] Re: Fortified pets (& Groundhogs) WOT (and a wander off topic)
George Nelson (70431.3065@compuserve.com)
Fri, 14 May 1999 08:23:19 -0400
There has been a thread about pets appreciating chile flavor and heat with
some truly remarkable tales (tails? !) in it including ones about dogs
preferring the hot ones to the sweet, bell-type ones.
My cat, Louie, has been the subject of a posting before; he still enjoys
puerco en adobo and the pork from chile verde as well as various chile
chicken chunks. He does stretch his lips and lick them occasionally
afterwards, but does frequently demand a second (and even a third)
helping. We do not make really incindiary jerk chicken or pork, so I do
not know where his limits are.
He does defend the garden very successfully against "small mammals" and
birds. The bit of chile in his diet has made him smart and fast enough to
catch a squirrel occasionally. He does appreciate the 300 plus square feet
of tilled soil as part of his "cat's box," but does not significantly
disturb our plants. This may be due to staking; each plant has a stick
close by for support which may help keep him at a distance so he does not
dig too close nor do his "rollings in the dirt" get close enough to
steamroller the plants.
There is a family of groundhogs in the vicinity, but I am not sure if they
get up to our area and through the fence behind the lot to the garden.
They certainly seem too big even for Louie and his 15 pounds to take on.
He might be able to attack and harass them so they go to easier pickings,
but I think they work during the day and Louie the cat is mostly on the
"night shift."
We did see tomato damage as described by danceswithcarp, but thought it was
due to a turtle rather than the groundhogs. Our staking soon lifts the
tomato fruit beyond the reach of most ground crawlers. Birds are another
matter...
WOT (wandering off topic)
It was good to see a posting from danceswithcarp again. Wow! Welcome
back, Carpo! Then there was Mike's "monthly" posting minus the statistics.
Good to see that again, too. Did Carpo's posting act as a reminder? No
matter, the list looks like it did a long bit ago, it's spring at 38 30'
north, chiles are in the ground and growing. Praise to El Grande!
George "still missing Scott 'of the many middle names' Sehlhorst" Nelson
70431.3065@compuserve.com